CATCHING UP IN THAILAND

The newspapers here give me endless material.

Have I mentioned that the only two English language papers are nothing but propaganda organs for the forces trying to unseat the government?

I probably have.

There was a rally here in Bangkok last Friday in support of Prime Minister Thaksin. At the rally PM Thaksin made several promises in an effort to mollify and compromise with his critics.

So what was the banner front page headline in the Saturday Bangkok Post?

NEW VOWS QUESTIONED.

There’s fairness in reporting for you..

The anti-government rally earlier was estimated to have drawn 40,000 people. The organizers of the pro-Thaksin rally claimed their crowd to be 200,000 people.

Conservative estimates put the crowd at 120,000.

Here is how The Nation, the other English language paper explains why the Thaksin crowd was so large:

50,000 were urban poor and people brought in from greater Bangkok.

50,000 were from 6 provinces outside Bangkok.

10,000 were Bangkok motorcycle taxi-drivers.

Only several hundred were “Thaksin fans.”

Therefore, in their reasoning, out of a crowd of 120,000, only several hundred were legitimate Thaksin supporters.

I’m not making this up. I would link to it but the links have already disappeared..

Oh yeah, that last was not on the editorial page. That was reported as news.

I’m afraid wire services might pick up this BS and start reporting it as real news. They’ve done a little bit of that already.