Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

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Big Boy
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Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Big Boy »

In our house, whoever wakes up first, leaves the bedroom, and puts the news on the TV.

- If I'm up first it's usually Sky News or BBC News (in English).

- If Mrs BB is up first, it's Thai News (usually Channel, in Thai).

I understand very little of what is being said on the Thai news, but I often find myself watching the pictures. What I notice is that probably 5% of the news is International stories, and even then often restricted to Asia. The rest of it is often reporting petty crime and motor accidents within the country. Probably the main exception is reporting of football.

Is Mrs BB watching the wrong (obviously right for her) channel, or do Thai live within their own bubble, in almost total ignorance of what is going on elsewhere on the planet?
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Ratsima »

No, you're absolutely right. In our house we watch either Channel 3 or Thai Rath until 8:00 AM when we switch to BBC in English. There is very little international coverage on either of the Thai channels we usually watch. If there's a big story (like the Paris attack) they will cover, but, IMHO, it's mostly for the shock value rather than for the news.

And, I agree, living within their own bubble is end result of this.
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buksida
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by buksida »

Similar situation here, I understand most of what is being reported in the Thai news and watch it on occasion for the odd (but rare) interesting snippet.

I would break it down roughly as follows:

35% local stories/crime
25% road traffic accidents
20% hi-so celebs
15% politics/royalty
5% international news

Planet Thailand.
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by jingjoe »

might be different for the face book generation,my ex,doesnt watch any thai news and gets it all from facebook/internet,she seems to know exactly what is going on in the outside world,often before I do.!
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Roel »

They produce the news programs for the uneducated masses so this is what you get (blame it on demand rather than on supply). However it is not fair to compare an average Thai news channel with BBC World. Compare it to a newspaper popular with John Doe back home and you will find a similar bulk of local news, accidents and crime. Lots of sports too. And then perhaps a small percentage international news.
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by buksida »

60 million Sun readers :shock:
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by oakdale160 »

Not really that much different from US. Each station puts on its local news, usually just a mention of International stories . "local woman in Paris for bombing" sort of thing. Then local politics and sports and weather--this is what most people watch not the National news that the channel will also carry.
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by StevePIraq »

Thais totally live in their own bubble and in some ways who can blame them. My wife saw about Syria on TV and asked what was going on, I explained and also showed her where Syria is, she said "oh long way not my problem". She has never looked or asked about Syria again
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Arlo »

Back in the United States as Oakdale mentioned, you will get the local news and maybe a little bit about what is happening overseas as long as what is happening involves the USA. Not much is mentioned about what the English are doing or the Germans or whoever unless it's a tragedy or the President is traveling there. When a coup happens in Thailand you won't hear about it unless you turn on one of the 24 hr a day news channels or a few other news programs we have. They may mention it briefly on a local station once but there won't be much detail.
StevepIraq mentions his wife not knowing where Syria is but if you do a quick Google search you will find that many Americans had no idea where Iraq was when we were invading their country as is the same for Syria.
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Big Boy »

OK, it may be a Brit thing then. In the UK we tend to get National News, which includes overseas, followed by a separate Local News programme. Maybe we've been spoilt :D
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Bamboo Grove »

Plenty of foreign news here in Finland, mainly European, though. For any bigger natural or man-made catastrophe the news will be shown on TV no matter where it happens.
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Sabai Sabai »

I'm an avid follower of the early morning channel 3 news show 'Reuang Lao Chao Nee', I confess I'm not normally up for the start of the show at 6am, so I have it set to record each day and watch it when I get up.

I started watching it as part of the process of learning the Thai language and over time have understood more and more to the extent that I now understand about 95% of it.

It certainly is mostly Thai news, although the big international stories do get covered, for example the goings on in France are getting a lot of coverage just now.

The advantage of having it recorded means any stories of no interest to me, I can just skip through. Although, I have to say I do like most of the stories, the coverage and how it's presented.

If I really want to find out more international news or news from back in the UK, I tend to do that online.
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by Khundon1975 »

5% World news. That is because, most Thais believe that Thailand actually consists of the other 95% of the World. :banghead:
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by migrant »

As mentioned before, in the US there are local stations and their purpose is primarily local news. There are often different shows highlighting international news and, for those with cable, or satellite, the international shows.

In the states I would watch the local news, since on more often, but tended to look to the internet for international stories
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Re: Thai News is What it Says on the Tin

Post by hhfarang »

^ yes, internet for international stories, even here. The TV/cable news media are so biased (one way or the other) in this country that I consider them no better than street corner gossip. At least on the internet you can sort through many reports of the same news and soon you know which sites are more honest, or like I do, get news feeds from Yahoo and other sources that include multiple media outlets for each story.

I try to find stories reported honestly with no hidden agenda by the media outlet. Difficult nowadays, but possible.
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