ASTV-Manager Weekly Magazine publishes black cover on its latest issue and it will temporarily stop publishing for three weeks as a response to the junta’s intimidation.
According to Thai PBS, the black cover is to protest against media intimidation by the junta. The magazine will stop publishing for three weeks to “ease pressure” during the investigation by the Press Council of Thailand.
The junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) last week issued Order No. 108 stating that issue 253 of the magazine, published on July 23, contained “several issues” based on “false information with dishonest intention” and that the magazine intended to “destroy the credibility of the NCPO.” If the magazine repeats the offence, the NCPO will prosecute the editor under martial law. The NCPO also ordered the council of media professionals to investigate the issue and report the results to the NCPO as soon as possible.
According to ASTV-Manager Online, an official letter from the junta to the publishing house says there are three messages on three pages in the magazine which upset the junta.
One of the messages reads “Prayuth’s charter: NCPO is dad of all institutions” on page four. “The message parodies [the NCPO] and may cause people to misunderstand that the NCPO is above the higher institution.”
“Dad of all institutions” is an expression originally used by vocational students to humiliate vocational students from other institutions or schools because in Thai culture, one can get angry if one’s parents are insulted.
ASTV-Manager Weekly Magazine is part of the ASTV-Manager media camp, owned by Sondhi Limthongkul, former leader of the now-defunct ultra-royalist yellow-shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy.
