Representatives of television stations will be summoned for a meeting with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC), Thailand’s broadcast regulator, for discussions about their live broadcasts of the siege drama in Nakhon Ratchasima.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tanthasit said today that, during the siege at the Terminal 21 shopping mall, he had ordered all TV stations to stop their live broadcasts and any other broadcasts which could hamper the operations of the authorities engaged in the performance of their duties.
He said that some stations failed to comply with his order, prompting his office to issue them with warnings.
He implied that action would be taken against those stations which had defied his warning.
Meanwhile, Palang Pracharat MP Ms. Kalaya Rungvichitchai and chairman of the House Committee on Media and Telecommunications will invite the NBTC, the Ministry of Digital for Economy and Society and Facebook Thailand for discussions next week to prevent live broadcasts or livestreaming of similar events in the future.
During the early stages of the dramatic siege at the mall, the gunman managed to post messages and selfies on Facebook, before the Ministry of Digital for Economy and Society asked Facebook Thailand to block his posts.
Live broadcasts by the media have also come under criticism from the public for allegedly giving the gunman information about the movements of officials.
