The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has declared a 30-day broadcasting suspension of a TV station run by red-shirt leaders for allegedly threatening national security and ‘good morality’.
On 9 August 2017, the secretary-general of the NBTC, Takorn Tantasith, announced the commission’s decision to revoke Peace TV’s broadcasting licence for 30 days as punishment for publishing seditious content and violating an agreement with the NBCT. The ban will be put into effect as soon as the NBCT has delivered an official order to the station.
The punishment is related to two programs, “Do You Understand?” aired on 4 July and “Weekend Newsroom” aired on 9 July 2017. The first program is hosted by Nattawut Saikua, a key leader of the United Front Against Dictatorship for Democracy (UDD), also known as the red-shirt movement.
The NBTC deemed that the content of the two programs incited audiences against Thailand’s constitutional monarchy and threatened national security and good morality. But the commission has not clarified the specific content that lead to the ban.
Peace TV is run by a group of UDD leaders including Nattawut, Jatuporn Prompan and Weng Tojirakarn. This is the third time that Peace TV has been suspended under the junta regime. The first ban took place in April 2015 and lasted 7 days. The second ban occured in July 2016 and lasted for 30 days. All bans are related to seditious content and criticism against the ruling junta.
