Boar interviews come under fire
Foreign media acted improperly, says govt
Thai officials have slammed international news agencies’ exclusive interviews with the boys rescued from Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai, saying the media coverage risks violating child protection laws.
Deputy permanent secretary for justice Tawatchai Thaikyo yesterday warned that the foreign media’s questions may have a negative impact on the boys’ recoveries and lead them to suffer from posttraumatic stress.
He was responding to reports that some international news agencies have already conducted interviews with the boys since they returned home.
ABC News was among agencies which reportedly secured exclusive interviews with some of the members of the Wild Boars football team.
“The interviews should not have been done at all. Some questions can trigger fear in the boys, especially questions about the use of medication during their extraction from the cave. Such questions only serve to remind them of the trauma they went through and may lead to further psychological issues in the future,” Mr Tawatchai said.
Mr Tawatchai faulted the international news agencies for ignoring a request by Thai authorities for their cooperation in respecting the privacy of the boys and their families.
However, he praised Thai media organisations for cooperating.
“Although the foreign agencies claim that they had permission from the boys’ parents, it is not right because Thai and foreign journalists were given clear guidelines for their coverage. The parents of the boys might not be prepared to cope with what’s to come,” Mr Tawatchai said.
He urged the agencies to follow the same guidelines used when minors are questioned in court.
There, children’s testimonies are overseen by social workers or psychiatrists, Mr Tawatchai said.
“We thought that foreign media organisations understood conventions on children’s rights and procedures to protect the young but their standards have turned out to be lower than expected. It seems they lack common sense,” he said.
Twelve local football players aged 11-16 and their 25-year-old coach from the Moo Paa (Wild Boars) Academy football team entered Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district on June 23 and were trapped inside by rising floodwater.
An international rescue operation located them after 10 days and brought them out in batches over a three-day period from July 8-10.
The incident made international headlines as the cave extraction was considered to be the toughest of its kind and drew help from local and international rescuers and supporters.
Boonruang Triruangworawat, director-general of the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Mental Health, said interviews with the boys could affect their mental health in the long term.
Interviews should be put off for at least two months as the boys are still under observation, he advised.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam also warned that the foreign media’s interviews with the boys risk violating laws protecting children’s rights.
The government had instructed officials from the Social Development and Human Security to look after the boys, Mr Wissanu said.
However, Anira Thinon, a social development and human security official in Chiang Rai, said that foreign reporters had not obtained permission from officials and had conducted their interviews when the officials assigned to look after the boys were absent.
“The media will be held responsible under the children protection law which regulates media coverage and the foreign media is no exception,” she said.
Thepchai Yong, president of the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association, posting on Facebook, criticised foreign media intrusion on the boys’ privacy.
“While you are concerned that Thai media will disturb the Wild Boars, the foreign reporters have turned up in droves at their houses,” Mr Thepchai wrote
“They include ABC News, CBS and several others. They proudly declared that they had exclusive interviews with the children while the Thai media have been told to stay away,” he added.
Ithought we could let it rest, but apparently the post-rescue drama of the 13 cave survivors is here to stay. On Wednesday, the 13 Wild Boars members were put on stage in a live broadcast, a 6pm state-run slot usually reserved for military propaganda.
On Thursday, it was revealed that at least five foreign film producers have contacted the authorities about a possible film project based on the Tham Luang cave saga.
To ensure order, a national committee will be set up to review any film projects involving the Wild Boars. The government is reportedly considering making its own film, too.
Several issues are at hand, some political, others metaphysical: Who owns the cave story? Which version of it? Who has the right to the images, the reproduction, the simulacrum, of the reality that has gripped the world?
If the government wants to control the narrative — out of the need to protect the boys, granted — does that amount to censorship, or an appropriation of popular history? What about the boys’ rights? Then, if a Thai studio wishes to make a movie about the cave ordeal, will they be subjected to the same rigour of scrutiny?
First of all, this is a world where no government can control the trafficking of moving images. Anything can be a story and everyone can find themselves a character. A couple of documentary segments on the cave rescue have already been aired — on ABC and the Discovery Channel, and more will follow — not to mention countless three-minute clips and Facebook videos made by everyone from the BBC to local news sites. No control could be applied over them; no one can own a narrative that has spread beyond borders. Images are information and information is free — or it struggles to be free.
From what I’ve seen, some of these productions are informative, comprehensive, and you could even say inspiring (we need inspiration every day, like sleeping pills or transfat-free phad thai). At the same time, the mentality of the 21st-century media professionals to milk every possible angle, to squeeze an event bone-dry for the sake of clicks, likes, ads, organic reaches, etc, is at once thrilling, exhausting and trivialising.
A day after the boys appeared on TV, ABC aired an “exclusive report” from the house of the smallest boy in the group — even though the tacit understanding among the media was to respect the privacy of these youngsters (at least for a while).
Of course, we need stories — a daily fix of stories is what keeps the human race going forward — but we also need a variety of stories. With the images from the cave flooding our newsfeeds and airwaves for nearly a month, with the faces of boys (and their parents and grandparents) everywhere in print and in pixels, I watch them, like we all do, and then seek comfort in my own motto: One of the problems in the world is the overabundance of moving images and firearms.
Now let’s look at this “national committee” to be set up. In fact, a committee has already existed, for years, to perform this job, which can be somewhat delicate: to balance the economic benefit of foreign productions being shot in Thailand against the proper image of the country (thus some films are denied permission). You can check out the details at the Thailand Film Office website, which outlines the process required for shooting documentaries or feature films here. For instance, the producer of a feature film or docudrama needs to submit a synopsis, a treatment (a term for a long summary) and a full script. A bullet point also states clearly that, “In cases where the script is not approved, the Film Board may ask the filmmakers to revise it”. Meaning: If the need arises, we can control the narrative of the story set in Thailand.
For documentaries, you need to submit only a treatment. For news reports, permission to shoot is not required. But it’s apparent that in the age of visual storytelling — in this cave incident as well as others — the line is blurred and the rules can become fuzzy. Short clips are also short documentaries, and a large number of video works posted on Facebook can be everything from news reports to docudramas or pure fiction. In short, this is something too big, too hydra-headed, too postmodern for the bureaucratic regulators to control.
In the end, we’re all accomplices, because our desire to consume the cave story — or any story that excites armchair sensationalism — is part of the cycle that has spawned the scoops, the storming of houses to score interviews, the film scripts, and the official alarm. At the centre of it all are the boys, led out of the cave into the chaos. They’ve been rescued, and perhaps they’ll need another one soon.