What happens when popular media takes on the political class? In Thailand, it resulted in a $10 million civil suit, and a criminal libel suit, slapped on the young lady-campaigner who leads that country’s campaign for popular media reform. You can add your voice to an online campaign gaining momentum and drawing support from some prominent global campaigners.
In July 2003 Supinya Klangnarong, the Secretary General of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform in Thailand, had noted, in an interview published in the Thai Post, that Shin Corporation profits had soared since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had come to power. She had questioned the relationships between politics and commercial interests. Shin Corp was founded by the Prime Minister and is now owned by his family.
Supinya paid dearly for her comments. In late 2003, Shin Corp filed a criminal libel suit against her, followed by a civil suit seeking compensation for loss of earnings of approximately $10 million. The trial has a start date of July 19, 2005.
This petition is already supported by Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorfman, Bob McChesney, Bernard Cassen and Armand Mattelart. Follow suit by signing up to WACC’s call for SHIN to drop the case. The online petition is here.
