The News Broadcasting Council of Thailand and the Broadcasting Journalists Association of Thailand urged the national police commissioner-general today to investigate and take legal action against a group of men who allegedly detained and intimidated a news crew, who were covering a shooting in the parking lot of a mall in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao area on Sunday.
In a joint statement, issued today by the two associations, they claim that the crew from Amarin TV, including a female journalist, went to the parking lot where a festival called “Kote Piak” was being held, to cover a fatal shooting.
The team was, however, temporarily detained by a group of “bodyguards”, who demanded the SIM card from the female reporter’s smart phone, which had been used to record the scene of the shooting. It is alleged that one of the guards was heard to have said that he would shoot the reporter in the head.
The news crew was finally released after the arrival of Lat Phrao police and later filed a complaint with the Crime Suppression Division.
The two media associations say that the actions against the news crew amount to intimidation of the media, who were only there performing their duty.
