The Bangkok Post is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount at the time when a baht was a paper note. It is Thailand's oldest newspaper still in publication. The daily circulation of the Bangkok Post is 110,000, 80 percent of which is distributed in Bangkok and the remainder nationwide. It is considered a newspaper of record for Thailand.
Thailand has a well-developed mass media sector, especially by Southeast Asian standards. The Thai government and the military have long exercised considerable control, especially over radio and TV stations. During the governments of Thaksin Shinawatra and the subsequent military-run administration after the 2006 coup and military coup of 2014, the media in Thailand—both domestic and foreign—have suffered from increasing restrictions and censorship, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt.
Nation Group (Thailand) Public Company Limited (NATION) is one of Thailand's largest media companies. The company operates two digital television stations, three national newspapers, a university, a book and cartoon unit, printing and logistics operations, and new media and digital platforms. Its symbol on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is "NATION".
Censorship in Thailand involves the strict control of political news under successive governments, including by harassment and manipulation.
Internal Security Operations Command or ISOC is the political arm of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. It was responsible for the suppression of leftist groups from the 1960s to the 1980s. During this period it was implicated in atrocities against activists and civilians. ISOC was implicated in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The Thai Public Broadcasting Service, or TPBS, is a public broadcasting service in Thailand. It was established by the Thai Public Broadcasting Service Act, BE 2551 (2008), which came into force on 15 January 2008. Under this act, TPBS holds the status of state agency with legal personality, but is not a government agency or state enterprise.
Wipas Raksakulthai is a Thai businessman currently serving a sentence for lèse majesté following a Facebook post to his account perceived to criticize King Bhumibol. Wipas has been named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
Prayut Chan-o-cha is a Thai retired politician and army officer who became the 29th Prime Minister of Thailand from 2014 when he seized power in a military coup, to 2023. He also served as the minister of defence, a position he held in his own government from 2019 to 2023. Prayut served as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army from 2010 to 2014 and led the 2014 Thai coup d'état which installed the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta which governed Thailand between 22 May 2014 and 10 July 2019.
Khaosod is a Thai daily newspaper with national circulation. Its online version is Khaosod Online. Khaosod is the youngest paper of the Matichon Publishing Group which also operates two other daily news publications, Matichon and Prachachat.
General elections were held in Thailand on 24 March 2019. They were the first elections since the 2014 Thai coup d'état that installed coup leader General Prayut Chan-o-cha as prime minister, and the first held in accordance with the 2017 constitution, which was drafted under the ruling military junta. The elections selected the five hundred members of the new House of Representatives, the previous House having been dissolved by the coup.
Pravit Rojanaphruk is a Thai journalist who works as a senior staff writer for Khaosod English. He formerly wrote a regular column for The Nation, an English-language newspaper in Thailand, but was pressured to resign due to his political opinions following the 2014 coup d'état. Before the military coup, he was a prominent champion of democracy and free expression and was consequently investigated several times. Immediately after the coup, he was arrested on a charge of lèse majesté and detained for a week. Since the coup, he has been critical of the ruling junta and its efforts to limit freedom. Pravit has been detained for "attitude adjustment" twice by the ruling junta and as of 2017, has sedition charges against him for Facebook posts he made earlier that year.
Iconsiam, stylized as ICONSIAM, and ICS is a mixed-use development on the banks of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. It includes a large shopping mall, which opened to the public on 9 November 2018, as well as hotels and residences. The ฿54 billion project was jointly developed by Siam Piwat group, a Thai retail developer, MQDC Magnolia Quality Development, and Charoen Pokphand Group. The complex includes the tallest building in Thailand: the 70-floor Magnolia Waterfront Residences, and the country’s sixth tallest building: the 52-floor Mandarin Oriental Residences.
Surachai Danwattananusorn is a Thai political activist and former political prisoner. He was the last communist to be pardoned in Thailand, and after his release he entered mainstream politics, becoming a committee member of the Thai Rak Thai Party and founding the Red Siam political movement. Surachai is known for his anti-monarchist views, which have resulted in a past arrest under Thailand's lèse majesté laws.
Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen, a Karen environmental and community activist, was last seen alive in Kaeng Krachan National Park, western Phetchaburi Province, Thailand on 17 April 2014. He was arrested at a park checkpoint by park superintendent Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn and four of his men for alleged illegally collecting wild honey in the forest. Three years earlier, in 2011, Billy had filed a lawsuit against Chaiwat over the May 2011 destruction and burning of houses, and eviction of over 20 Karen families living in Jai Paen Din, meaning 'heart of the land' in the park's Pong Luk Bang Kloy village, in the Huai Mae Phriang Sub-district of Kaeng Krachan District. The national park chief later swore that Billy had been arrested and released on the same day after being questioned for possession of an illegal wild bee honeycomb and six bottles of honey. There are no official records of his arrest or detention. Following Billy's supposed arrest he was never seen alive again. Searches conducted from April–August 2019 discovered human bone fragments in the Kaeng Krachan Dam reservoir. DNA tests of the fragments matched those conducted on Billy's mother, leading the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to conclude that the bones were Billy's and that he had been murdered. Chaiwat, the former park chief, immediately cast doubt on the DNA test, saying, "...this [DNA test result] is not enough proof to conclusively say the skull fragment is Billy's,..." Chaiwat and others had been charged with Billy's murder but were cleared due to insufficient evidence. Chaiwat was however sentenced to 3 years in prison for dereliction of duty for not reporting the arrest of Rakchongcharoen.
Palang Pracharath Party is a Thai civil-military political party with ties to the National Council for Peace and Order, the military junta that ruled the country after the 2014 coup. It was established in 2018 by Chuan Chuchan and Suchart Jantarachotikul as a "party of power" to support Prayut Chan-o-cha in 2019 Thai general election.
People Reform Party was a political party in Thailand. The party was established and registered at the Election Commission on 2 March 2018 by Paiboon Nititawan.
General elections were held in Thailand on 14 May 2023 to elect 500 members of the House of Representatives. The Move Forward Party, led by Pita Limjaroenrat, surprised analysts by winning the most seats, followed by fellow opposition party Pheu Thai who had won the most seats in the 2011 and 2019 elections. Turnout was a record 75.22%.
Ban Muang was a Thai newspaper published from 1972 to 2016, and since then operating as a news website. It was owned by Banharn Silpa-archa, who became prime minister in 1995. Ban Muang was middle-sized and positioned itself as a mass-oriented paper. It was one of the first to carry horse-racing programmes, and was known for its classifieds section.
Krungthep Turakij is a Thai-language daily newspaper published by Nation Group. It was established on 6 October 1987, and was originally positioned as a business newspaper, competing in the category with Manager Daily, among others. Its scope eventually expanded to more general topics, and it in effect came to compete with quality-oriented general-interest dailies such as Matichon. It operated as a sister paper to the English-language The Nation, with which it originally shared management and advertising sections. During the 1990s, when Thailand saw a vibrant and competitive newspaper industry, Krungthep Turakij was among the few that were consistently profitable, with a daily circulation of 70,000, and one of the two business dailies that survived the 1997 financial crisis.
