TITV staff to contest PRD reshuffle order

General News - Sunday December 23, 2007

TITV staff to contest PRD reshuffle order

Abrupt transfer of top editors politically motivated, employees allege

TITV staff are set to file a complaint with the Central Administrative Court on Tuesday about alleged unfair orders to reshuffle its news director and 12 news editors, Tuangporn Assawawilai, a news editor of the station, said yesterday. Television station staff yesterday dressed in black to protest against the sudden reshuffle orders.

The director-general of the Public Relations Department (PRD), Pramoj Rathavinij, signed the reshuffle orders on Friday.

Ms Tuangporn said she and her team were angered by the orders because they saw them as a violation of the good governance principles of the organisation and a last-minute intervention in the editorial control of the station's election coverage just one day before the general election.

Ms Tuangporn said staff would file a complaint with the administrative court on Tuesday, asking the court to order a revision of the two reshuffle orders due to their unfairness.

For now, all TITV staff will continue to report on election day under plans drawn up earlier under the instructions of the since-removed management team.

TITV had been accused in the past of serving as a political tool by the Thaksin administration, but it has proven its impartiality to the public by reporting news with integrity and neutrality, said Ms Tuangporn.

''The latest [intervention] crisis in TITV would turn the station into a tool of the new power group.

''It's a group of dark influences from NLA (National Legislative Assembly) members representing the media that want a share of interest from TITV,'' she said.

Sonthiyarn Chuenruthainaitham (Nookaew), deputy director of TITV for news and programming, and the new acting news director, called a meeting of reshuffled staff yesterday.

He told reporters after the meeting that he had discussed with the reshuffled staff the station's new mission assigned by the PRD director-general. On Thursday, former news director Atcha Suwannapakpraek will explain the station's new plans to station staff and hear their responses.

Mr Sonthiyarn added that his acting news director position was temporary and that his task is to push forward the transition of TITV into a public television station.

On the protest against the reshuffle, Mr Sonthiyarn said he would talk things over with dissenting staff. If the TITV employees said they did not want him as their leader, he was prepared to step down, he said.

Mr Atcha said he was still baffled by the reshuffle orders.

He and the 12 other news editors that had been transferred from their positions were discussing how they should respond. He said filing a complaint with the administrative court was one of their options.

Nevertheless, Mr Atcha said he had heard that relevant authorities will propose an adjustment of the TITV programme chart to the cabinet on Tuesday.

He said he was concerned the adjustment could cause damage to the station's programme producers, as the new government might also introduce its own policy on the station's programme chart.

He suggested the station's programmes not be adjusted until the new government assumes office and the law on public television stations underpinning TITV operations takes effect.

In response to the reshuffle, The Broadcast Journalists Association issued a statement yesterday demanding the PRD clarify the reason behind the abrupt reshuffle.

The association also cited a study on the role of the media in the election coverage by Media Monitor, a public watchdog on news reporting. In the study, the group found satirical language has been used against certain news sources in some TITV news reports, while some other reports were apparently aimed at defending certain politicians.

The association urged TITV staff to hear criticism against its station, and ensure fairness and balance in the station's news reports.

Bangkok Post