BBC Documentary Thailands Red Rage 2010

JohnT · Veteran Member

BBC Documentary Thailands Red Rage 2010

Lucky · Lucky Phill

I have not yet viewed the videos (busy, arn't we all) sadly I do not have much confidence in the media to tell the real story. The media have mislead the world about the politics of Thailand, in particular over the past 12 mths.

I believe I'm fair in my comment in regard to the Tourism issues and general situation of the people of Thailand. I visit Thailand every month from Australia and see a different situation than what the media portray.

Newspapers (Media) need readers to satisfy the sponsors advertising costs.

Sawasdee · Senior Member

The videos are the subject of this discussion in a Business Network "Linked in", I have copied the thread for our readers

THE TOPIC WAS STARTED BY THIS QUESTION

If anyone doesn't understand the current political conflict, there is a great documentary by the BBC, 'Thailand's Red Rage', which sums it up nicely. You can watch from the link below

THE ANSWERS FOLLOW
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16 days ago

Phillip all three (3) videos of the BBS show are displayed on 1 page here http://auswathai.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=127609&p=3&topicID=38675269

George • Sorry to disagree, but how this documentary can be described as 'Great', and a true indication of the 'Political Situation' in Thailand is totally beyond me. It is a typical shabby piece of BBC journalism at its best and has some huge glaring omissions of information and detail and is quite frankly biased. it may as well have had listed on the credits "Brought to you by the Thaksin Shinawatra propaganda machine" . Watching this will in no way aid to your 'understanding' of the current political conflict. Both the BBC and CNN seem to wear rose tinted spectacles. The only decent journalism concerning the political conflict in Thailand which has been presented in a detailed, factual, unbiased manner is that conducted by Al Jazeera. The editing of the documentary leaves the unfamiliar viewer with absolutely no perspective on the course of events out here.

10 days ago

Phillip• Hi Geroge excellent comment. If you are referring to the videos in my auswathai forum ...it would be invaluable to attach your comments to the forum article so they are sene by viewers. If you prefer .. I can copy and paste them (I have not given my comments in the forum as i'm a moderator (politics).

10 days ago

Tul Lek-u-tai i have seen a lot of totally biased clip or presentation of the red, i live in the capital of the red shirt protester but i am still not understood what're their exact purpose except violence. Red protesters love to shot cut the real cause of the root of political unrest. I agreed with George "Thaksin propaganda". Why you don't just think if that kind of situation (Bangkok burning) take place in US., England, France or other western countries. I can assure you that number of casualties will be much much more.

Phillip Hi Khun Tul. yes George is on the money. George will visit the link to where i have the videos posted on my forum and post his comment in the forum here http://auswathai.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=127609&p=3&topicID=38675269
so check and add your comment or I will copy it over later. in the forum article is a link to other posts about thai politics.. they are a good read

10 days ago

Klaus I do 100% agree with all of Mr. George's comments.
This Videos do not show at all the true and deep-rooted problems and challenges Thailand is currently facing.

9 days ago

Richard • I hardly think the BBC totes Thaskin propaganda. Although I agree that the documentary was sensationalist. I think the title of the documentary sums it up, 'Thaland's Red Rage' and depicts the anger of the rural poor who feel ignored in Thailand's political arena. Thailand needs a major overhaul of it's tax system in order to re-distribute wealth more fairly.

George • Richard
Whilst I agree with your comments re the 'rural poor', even the title of the documentary is misleading. There are a number of reasons why the rural poor have been kept poor, and how with the various 'vote buying' strategies adopted in particular by Thaksin, the situation has been exacerbated. A documentary professing to show why the reds took to the march on Bangkok is totally misleading if it does not cover the reasons for the seemingly unswerving support for Thaksin and his cronies. I take neither side but have an understanding of what occurred. There is no mention in the documentary of the extensive court cases concerning Thaksin prior to all this kicking off, and little if no mention at all of the external meddling and goading from Thaksin to wreak destruction on Bangkok. No mention of the invasion of the Hospital, an event that in almost isolation, swayed nearly all public support away from the reds. Importantly, no mention at all of the pre meditaed planning and laying of incendiary devices to cause the intended destruction of Central World.

I would not describe the documentary as sensationalist, i would describe it as totally one-sided. The fact that Thailand needs an overhaul of the Tax system to redistribute wealth to the poor was nothing to do with the 'Red Rage' assault on Bangkok. In order to distribute Tax to the poor, perhaps a starting point would be to get everyone to pay tax in the first place. The criminals stood on the stage, whipping the rural poor up in to a frenzy were not doing it because of a motivation to ensure the poor get Tax concessions. They were not doing it to even get the rural poor any money, they were all in it for personal gain. From the diabolical blood letting event to the smearing of excrement on the PM's family house. Arisman is not currently in Cambodia, where there are weapons training camps for reds, to ensure the government give tax rights and shift wealth to the poor. The reasons appear far more sinister, and this documentary failed dismally to probe the sinister side to what has recently occurred in Thailand. It is a whole series of events that I would have expected a quality Independent Newspaper to investigate thoroughly.

I don't think the title of the article/post above is at all appropriate coming from one of Thailand's major English newspapers. Just my opinion though.

8 days ago

Bruce • amen!

Anontawong • Thank you George. Your comments have shown you have a thorough understanding of Thailand's situation. During the political disturbances I found that many of the coverages by international news agencies were 'romanticized' and rather shallow.

Heneage • For me, the most telling indictment of the BBC's failure to grasp the essentials, or even research the facts properly, came at the end of a hostile Interview with K. Korn conducted by Zeinab Badawi at the hight of the Red Shirt's demonstration, at the end of which she asked if Korn had any proof to back up his statement that Thaksin was inciting the crowd of red shirted protestors. His response - a raising of the eyebrowes and: "Every Thai knows it!" was as honest as it was true, as the BBC ought to have known for itself if it had bothered to translate Thaksin's highly public diatribes that were broadcast over the red shirt's PA system at the protest site and online. The fact that Badawi aparently either didn't know this, or chose to ignore it, coupled with her derisory and abrupt ending of the interview, clearly shows the BBC is no longer the paragon of unbiased, fact-driven reporting it continues to claim to be. The documentary is similarly one-sided and innaccurate. Frankly, things have come to a sorry pass if one has to rely on Al Jazeera for one's news...

Richard • Hi George,

Vote buying strategies have existed on both sides and I think to suggest that the only reason that the reds are protesting is based on them being paid to be there is a stretch. I think that most of the red shirts are genuinely there because they are fed up of not having their voices heard. Whilst there is a hardcore movement who seem intent on trying to whip up the next coup, I don't think this represents the majority of the reds who attended the last couple of demonstrations, who simply wanted their voices to be heard.

I appreciate all opinions and discussions on this matter.