Keep questioning

Re: “Media put lives at risk,” (Opinion, Feb 13).

The BP editorial team was right in assessing that some recent media coverage in the Korat massacre was irresponsible and may have put lives at risk. I also agree when they said “journalists and editors should give priority to saving lives, not just their own gains”. But, while I interpret this BP editorial to mean that some members of the Thai press may have risked lives in the Korat mass-shooting by being “overzealous”, I think I see a dimension to this quote which the BP editorial team should also keep in mind — journalistic timidity also risks lives.

Right now, we are all aware of the Covid-19 pandemic in China. Yet, as a reader of multiple international news sources, I’ve noticed that many (if not most) Thai newspapers are presenting the death toll and patient count as it is reported by the Chinese government and media.

However, one must understand that China is an authoritarian state which strictly controls the levers of media. In such an authoritarian state, the truth can become difficult to ascertain.

Presently, a rising number of major US news networks such as Fox News, the Spectator USA, the National Public Radio (America) and even the New York Times are starting to openly question the official numbers.

Questions on the virus death toll have been appearing for at least a week in respected publications outside Thailand. Yet, most English-language publications that I read in Thailand seem reluctant to pose these questions.

JASON A JELLISON