SHOCKING IMAGES, LEGAL ISSUES?
It came as no surprise to those in Thailand that crime scene pictures of the death of American actor David Carradine eventually found their way onto the front page of Saturday's edition of Thailand's most popular newspaper Thai Rath.
Attorney Mark Geragos, representing David's brother Keith, is reported as saying he will legally go after any publication which publishes the picture. Will this apply to Thai Rath?
Several pixelated images was also published on their website and have, by the very nature of the Internet, been published around the world. Could the attorney bring an action against a Thai publisher or any Thailand-based website under U.S. privacy laws?
ADD: In the truest sense of the word Thai Rath is not a tabloid, as has been widely reported around the world. It's a broadsheet format newspaper that is Thailand's best selling daily. Its coverage, however, can be likened to that of a tabloid style newspaper in other parts of the world.
You can read recent posts I've written about their often shocking coverage HERE and HERE.
ADD: 9th June | There is now some doubt as to whether that image is genuine See my subsequent post HERE for more.
UPDATE: June 11, 2009: Thai Rath publishes details of a g-string found in Carradine's room. See HERE.
3 comments:
As you said this picture is nothing unusual for Thailand and especially Thai Rath.
As with most of the Thai print media, their coverage is often creatively translated/summarized from foreign press releases.
It's a favorite technique of the Thai newspapers to state "a foreign news service reports..." (สำนักข่าวต่างประเทศรายงานว่า...) without explicitly naming it. Probably for two reasons: (1) they're often ripping off that news service by translating its work directly, likely without permission, and (2) it allows them to embellish the story however they want without anyone to answer to.
I've done close comparisons before of the details of events that are reported worldwide, and the way in which the details are either misunderstood or intentionally twisted in the Thai newspapers. They report on who the suspect is or what the motive is, when the police there are saying "We're not ruling anything out." They boost the number of dead and injured. They add all sorts of editorial remarks about the crime.
Sometimes it offends me and I've wanted to write about it, analyzing the discrepancies in their imaginative recreations of world events. But for one, it's not actually *news* that the Thai media is untrustworthy. Sad as the state of affairs may be. And since they rarely name the "foreign news service", you can't quite hold them accountable. Clever.
As always an insightful post Bugle. As a former journalist I am frequently appalled at the complete failure of Thai Rath to respect the deceased and screen horrific images. It is really strange in a culture that does actually revere and respect its dead. Also, slightly off topic, I have felt for some time that Thai Rath are incredible biased in their reporting of Burmese issues in Thailand. Of course there atrocities committed by both Thai and Burmese against each other, but it seems that barely a day goes by without Thai Rath reporting a story about the horrific acts of Burmese immigrants against Thai people, and no mention of the human rights violations against Burmese here ever seem to make its pages. In your much deeper knowledge of the media here, do you find that to be the case?
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