Head has been doing his job as a journalist, or as much as anyone is allowed here. I don't view him as a loose cannon or having crossed a line and the mess he is in is solely as a result of laws that don't exist anywhere else. If he hadn't filed the story he did, which the beeb editors were clearly happy with, then whilst those in Thailand would have already been aware of this, largely thanks to Drummond, a wider audience wouldn't have been.margaretcarnes wrote:A difficult one - Head has crossed the line many times and really should know better by now. It's as if the BBC have let him act like a lose canon in Thailand, because they should have known what he was getting into, and the risks.
As his employer the Beeb maybe believes it can sort out the mess Head is in, but if so it underestimates the way things work.
What we don't know though is how much freedom Head has been allowed in digging for his stories, and whether he has overstepped his BBC remit. If he has overstepped the mark do they abandon him to Thai justice? The alternative would appear to be that the BBC tries to accept responsibility, and I don't believe that would work.
When this matter was first reported on a couple of months or so ago. The beeb issued a statement that they were fully standing by Head. Nothing has changed in that respect. I think there's more at stake here than Head's fate. It's about the future of independent journalism not just in Thailand, but many other places and this has the potential to become a test case.
Phuketwan went out of business because of similar prosecutions, even though they were cleared. The Bangkok Post and other media outlets don't have the balls to stand up for what they believe is right and are a waste of space as a consequence, so maybe it needs a global organisation like the beeb to come along and be the standard bearer. Let's see who blinks first.