MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

Post defends dismissal of journalists

The management of Post Publishing Plc, publishers of the Bangkok Post, yesterday defended its actions in sacking former chief reporter Sermsuk Kasitipradit and requiring the resignation of former news editor Chadin Tephaval over the Suvarnabhumi runway-cracks story in August 2005. The disciplinary action was taken because of a problem involving professional journalism standards, according to a statement issued by the company.

The dismissal of Mr Sermsuk and the forced resignation of Mr Chadin re-emerged to public attention following reports of a considerable number of cracks on the runways and taxiways at Suvarnabhumi airport, the statement said.

A number of news articles published in the Thai press in recent days said this had vindicated a story written by Mr Sermsuk and published in the Bangkok Post on Tuesday Aug 9, 2005 under the headline: US experts insist runways cracked.

The company statement said: ''Unfortunately, this is not the case.''

The statement said Mr Sermsuk was not fired because he made mistakes in his reported story.

''....mistakes can and do occur. And when they do occur our readers can trust us to admit to those mistakes and work to improve our internal processes,'' the statement said.

Mr Sermsuk and Mr Chadin faced disciplinary action because an investigation committee set up by the company management had found that they did not perform their duty properly, the company statement said.

The Bangkok Post first ran the story of the runway cracks in its Aug 6, 2005 edition, quoting an unnamed source saying a team of US experts was insisting that both runways at Suvarnabhumi airport need reconstruction as there were severe cracks, large enough to sink the nosewheel of an aircraft.

The report was denied by airport authorities and by government officials of the day.

A trip was also organised for reporters to visit the runways, the company statement said.

Mr Sermsuk had again written a story published on Aug 9, 2005 without any verification of the existence of the report or the US expert team, according to the statement.

Subsequently, the newspaper had to retract the story the following day and an internal investigation was conducted.

''In the highly charged atmosphere of Thai politics, there will always be some people who believe that the company acted the way it did because of political pressure.

''The fact is the company action was taken based on the findings of the investigation committee that those key persons involved had not performed their duties properly,'' the statement said.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007