The
Bangkok Post is a
broadsheetBroadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
,
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-language daily
newspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
published in
BangkokBangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
,
ThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. The first issue was sold on August 1, 1946. It had four pages and cost 1
bahtThe baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into 100 satang . The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand.-History:The baht, like the pound, originated from a traditional unit of mass...
, a considerable amount at the time.
The newspaper was founded by Alexander MacDonald, a former
OSSThe Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
officer, and his Thai associate Prasit Lulitanond. Thailand at the time was the only Southeast Asian country to have a Soviet Embassy, and the American embassy felt it needed an independent but pro-American paper to present its views. Some sources claim the financing came directly from the
State DepartmentThe United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
or possibly even the OSS itself.
Nevertheless, under MacDonald's stewardship, the Bangkok Post was reasonably independent and employed many young newsmen, including
Peter ArnettPeter Gregg Arnett, ONZM is a New Zealand-American journalist.Arnett worked for National Geographic magazine, and later for various television networks, most notably CNN. He is well known for his coverage of war, including the Vietnam War and the Gulf War...
and
T. D. AllmanT. D. Allman is an American freelance journalist best known for his exposés of the CIA's "secret war" in Laos and for his later interviews with world figures as foreign correspondent for Vanity Fair.-Life:He is a Harvard University graduate and a former Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal...
, who later became known internationally.
In a country where media censorship is common, the Bangkok Post portrays itself as being comparatively free. There are notable instances where this was clearly untrue and the newspaper has often been accused of self-censorship to avoid controversy or conflict with powerful individuals. A ubiquitous example of this is an unwillingness to criticize the Thai monarchy, which would constitute an illegal act and would, doubtlessly, be hugely unpopular as an act of lèse-majesté. Another example of self-censorship, until recent years, was an unwillingness to point out influential and corrupt individuals. Yet another example of censorship was the newspaper's failure, during the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, to report upon forays from U.S. Air Force bases in Thailand over North
VietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and
CambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. At the time none of these missions received coverage in the local press.
Alex MacDonald left Thailand after a military coup in the 1950s, and the newspaper was later led by
Roy, Lord ThomsonRoy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE was a Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur.-Career:...
. The paper has since changed hands. Major shareholders in Post Publishing include the Chirathivat family (owners of
Central GroupThe Central Group of Companies is a family-owned conglomerate holding company in Thailand that is involved in retailing, real estate, hotels and restaurants...
), the
South China Morning PostThe South China Morning Post , together with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is an English-language Hong Kong newspaper, published by the SCMP Group with a circulation of 104,000....
of
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and
GMM Grammy PclGMM Grammy Public Company Limited is the largest media conglomerate entertainment company in Thailand. It claims a 70% share of the Thai entertainment industry. Artists on Grammy include Bird McIntyre and Loso...
, Thailand's biggest media and entertainment company.
A rival English language newspaper, the evening Bangkok World, was begun in the 1960s, but was bought by the Bangkok Post in 1971 and not long afterwards was shut down.
Nowadays, the main competition comes from
The NationThe Nation is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper founded in 1971 and published in Bangkok, Thailand, and is owned by the Nation Multimedia Group.The Nation is a member of the Asia News Network...
, a Thai-owned and managed newspaper. The Nation includes more campaigning journalism and is more royalist than the Bangkok Post. It also has ties to the governing
Democrat PartyThe Democrat Party is Thailand's oldest political party and was the main coalition government party of the 23rd House of Representatives of Thailand. The Democrat Party's current leader is Abhisit Vejjajiva, incumbent opposition leader and former Prime Minister. The party upholds a conservative...
and reports more on the
South Thailand insurgencyAn ethnic separatist insurgency is taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Violence has increasingly spilling over into other provinces...
. The Bangkok Post, by contrast, employs several former student activists, the so-called "October people", and portrays news from an urban, middle-class point of view, styling itself as a "family newspaper." During the tenure of prime minister
Thaksin ShinawatraThaksin Shinawatra is a Thai businessman and politician, who was Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was overthrown in a military coup....
, the Post largely toed the government line—at one point bowing to government pressure by firing a reporter who had exposed cracks in the runway of the prestige project
Suvarnabhumi AirportSuvarnabhumi Airport , also known as Bangkok International Airport, is an international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. It was officially opened for limited domestic flight service on 15 September 2006, and opened for most domestic and all international commercial flights on 28 September...
along with the news editor
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-08-29-thai-journalists_x.htm—while the Nation actively campaigned for Thaksin to resign. This should, however, not be taken as all-out support for Thaksin but has its roots in the fact that the premier drew a number of October people into his government and in concerns for advertising clients. Since the military coup that deposed Thaksin in 2006, the Post has been more outspoken in its criticism of the old power clique that took over and urged a swift return to democracy. (Source needed)
The daily also campaigns in columns and features for an austere, reformed version of
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
free of Thailand's traditional animist elements, which it views as superstitions, and against corruption in the official Buddhist establishment or
SanghaSangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...
. (Unverified, and probably unverifiable. Source needed.)
The Bangkok Post was well-known for
Bernard TrinkBernard Trink is a former columnist for the Bangkok Post. A native New Yorker, Trink came to Bangkok in the mid 1960s and taught English at various universities before taking over the "Nite Owl" column in 1966 at the now defunct Bangkok World, Bangkok's evening English-language newspaper...
's weekly Nite Owl column which covered the nightlife of Bangkok. Trink's column was published from 1966 (originally in the Bangkok World) until 2004, when it was discontinued. The newspaper has a lively letters page where expatriate and Thai regulars exchange opinions on local concerns.
An investigation (Source needed) into the widespread censoring of commenters by the Bangkok Post to its website further underscored the many public accusations and criticisms of censorship that have plagued the Bangkok Post over the years. Calling into question its policies and neutrality as a news organization. Numerous websites have arisen in response to the issue of arbitrary censorship of commenters (Source needed) and have threatened to launch an effort to boycott the Bangkok Post entirely. (Source needed) A boycott or public backlash over censorship would likely have negative repercussions to the Bangkok Posts already declining circulation. (Source needed on declining circulation) The Bangkok Post has yet to respond publicly to the issues of censorship.
Sections
- Main body: Local, regional and world news, opinion and analysis pages, and sports news.
- Business: Local, regional and world business and financial news and stock-market tables.
- Outlook: A features section, including human-interest stories, entertainment news, a society page, advice columns, comics, puzzles, local television listings and movie ads.
- Database: A weekly information technology section, inserted on Wednesdays.
- Horizon: A weekly travel section, inserted on Thursdays.
- Motoring: A weekly automotive section, inserted on Fridays.
- Sunday Perspective: A weekly news analysis and investigative journalism section.
- Real Time: A "what's on" arts and entertainment section, inserted on Fridays, including reviews of movies, books, music, restaurants, plus events listings.
- Education: An English-language education section.
- Guru: An entertainment magazine, inserted on Fridays and aimed at young adult readers. It has often been accused of being nationalist in tone and very much antagonistic towards westerners living in Thailand.
- Classified: A classified advertisement section containing extensive listings for jobs, housing, automobiles, entertainment, dining, travel and other services.
English language education site
A special Bangkok Post website
readbangkokpost.com helps Thais learn to read English by using the daily newspaper. Vocabulary, reading questions, and web resources are provided for a selection of articles every day. Articles are taken from the general news, tourism, entertainment, and business sections of the newspaper. The targeted audience includes individuals studying English by themselves as well as teachers using articles in the classroom.
See also
- Media of Thailand
Thailand has a well-developed media sector, especially by Southeast Asian standards. Compared to other countries in the region, the Thai media have historically been relatively free, although the government has always exercised considerable control, especially over broadcast media...
- Edith Clampton
Mrs. Edith Clampton was a pseudonymous writer to the "Post Bag" of the Thai English newspaper, the Bangkok Post. Because of her frequent, comedically opinionated and often bizarre letters she came to be identified with the paper's letters page.She first appeared in the early 1990s and continued...
, a controversial and regular contributor to the "Post Bag" letters to the editor page
External links