WHAT'S HAPPENING IN BANGKOK?
That's a question I've been asked quite a few times during the past 36 hours as news of the current outbreak of protests in Bangkok spreads around the world.
Print media regionally (above) covered the attack on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's motorcade in Pattaya on Tuesday and will no doubt give equal prominence to events here on today's front pages.
There is a lot of what I would call scaremongering in the global media. Take the number of protesters for example; anywhere between 20,000 and 200,000 people took part depending on your choice of media. There's also no reason why anyone should delay or postpone any planned travel to Thailand. It's very, very unlikely the current protests will escalate to the levels we saw late last year that resulted in airport closures. The Daily Telegraph's suggestion that: "Holidaymakers planning on visiting Thailand could face travel disruption .." is totally misleading, and Bangkok is most certainly not "under siege" as many outlets including the Agence France Press wire service has been reporting.
I've said it many times during the last 12 months but it's business as usual for 99.9% of Bangkokians. Even my morning taxi journey to work today, which passes one end of the road where the "red shirts" are massed, was extremely uneventful.
2 comments:
Well said. I have been following developments on CNN and BBC which of course show the demonstrators and constantly hark back to the airport occupation. What does not ever come across is it's business as usual for the majority here in Bangkok. Run around Sukhumvit for example and everything is perfectly normal.
Unfortunately, hotels are getting cancellations because of media reports.
A couple of my friends saw those same airport images yesterday and thought the protesters had forced another closure. That's seriously bad reporting if viewers are left with that impression.
I am so frustrated with the misleading and exaggerated reports in the foreign media about what's happening. Actually it's not just the foreign media. I got an 'insight bulletin' from a U.K.-based company that provides risk analysis to thousands of companies around the world That report was factually inaccurate in many cases and gave the impression that the Kingdom is on the brink of a catastrophe. I certainly don't see that myself and, as I keep saying, it's business as usual for me and almost everyone in Bangkok.
I can understand, having worked in the media for 18 years now, that factual news doesn't sell too well. "Tiny proportion of Thailand's population demonstrate in Bangkok" doesn't quite have the same selling power as "Bangkok under siege". But when those headlines are just plain wrong someone needs to say something.
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