Where do you get the truth?

[Chas]

After three years here in Thailand, I am beginning to sense that there is some kind of conspiray to keep us from knowing what is going on around here. ( I know you might think me slow, or accuse me of being too lazy to have learned to read Thai fluently by now.. . or start that old, stale"you are a guest here" crap)

I have tapped into HHAD because I want to find out what is going on and I have honestly learned more stuff here about life in Hua hin than anywhere else. Frankly, I dont see any other resource around.

Take the weather for example ( and after four days of steady torrential downpour. . . I wish you would!) We seem to be in the middle of a major tropical storm yet every weather site I look at says "partly cloudy, calm winds, light rain possible" Now, either the people writing the forcasts are total idiots, or ( as I am beginning to suspect) the government has a policy of not forcasting anything that might hurt tourism. ( They couldn't hide the tsunami, but I bet they tried.)

So how much else are we NOT being told . ..and by the "we" I include the Thai people? Back home, if somebody were killed in a car accident, or a house burned down, it would always be in the paper the next day. What do we have here on this level? Where is there an honest look at what is happening day to day here in Hua Hin. . .preferably online?

OK so I should learn to read Thai. I am working on it. I can read some but it would take me all day to read news story. . .and do Thai people here even have access to detailed, unbiased local news?

[buksida]

Well you cant do any worse than this forum for local opinion and a bit of news. However it may be a little biased as a few of us are quite opinionated

As for the weather, I find looking out of the window usually gives you a good idea

And as for the media, yes there is a big conspiracy, its called Thai Rak Thai.

Look foward to your contributions to HHAD.

[lomuamart]

I was going to put this on the news forum, but reckon it's relevent to tack it on here. There were two interesting news articles that I picked up on over the weekend.
1. The Paris-based watchdog group "Reporters without Borders" recently published its annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Thailand's ranking had fallen sharply from 59th last year to 107th this year.
To put this into perspective, 167 countries were ranked. East Asia was among the most difficult areas for journalists, with 5 countries in the region placed in the bottom 12 places. North Korea kept its bottom place, Burma was 163rd, China 159th, Vietnam 158th and Laos 155th.

2. Following a Ministerial visit to China, Thaisnews.com reported that both countries had reached agreement that their respective governments should have more power to control any media that instigated social problems.

[VincentD]

Take the weather for example ( and after four days of steady torrential downpour. . . I wish you would!) We seem to be in the middle of a major tropical storm yet every weather site I look at says "partly cloudy, calm winds, light rain possible" Now, either the people writing the forcasts are total idiots, or ( as I am beginning to suspect) the government has a policy of not forcasting anything that might hurt tourism. ( They couldn't hide the tsunami, but I bet they tried.)

You can get fairly up-to-date weather info for the various locations in Thailand at this website.

http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/TH_cc.html

Car accidents, murders, suicides, et al, are pretty well covered on the front page of many Thai dailies. The gorier, the better. The local cable TV in Lopburi thrive on this - sick.

As for media conspiracies, I tend to agree with Buksi...

[Ancientmoron]

What has always amazed me is that whenever there is a particularly gory accident, beating or murder the TV cameras seem to be there before the police. So much for protecting the crime scene !!!!

[lomuamart]

What has always amazed me is that whenever there is a particularly gory accident, beating or murder the TV cameras seem to be there before the police. So much for protecting the crime scene !!!!

That's apparantly all coming to an end. Papers and tv will soon not be able to show these images if new regulations are passed.
The same goes for crime reenactments, unless the judge orders it in special circumstances.
There are a few threads currently running on press freedoms in Thailand. If these new regulations are enforced, I find myself agreeing with them - for once.
The Crime Reporters' Association of Thailand (or some such name) is up in arms about this.

[dr dave soul monsta]

Have to disagree with not showing the gorey aftermath of road accidents

this should nudge a few of our town ship into wearing saftey gear e.g,
a decent quality crash helmet ,they dont cost that much !

and after some of the recent fatalities around Hua Hin im still suprised to see the majority of expats still bimbling about without head gear on moto cycles 90% of the time your head hits the floor first even at low speed