Is the latest Thaksin assassination plot genuine or a mere publicity stunt? Is it a bid for sympathy or a plan to scrap a meeting with disappointed red shirts who failed to secure ministerial seats as reported in local media?
Although reports about an assassination plot against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had emerged in the Thai press at least three to four times since 2001, the latest released on Sunday and Monday through www.facebook.com/oakpanthongtae has made sensational front-page headlines in several mainstream Thai newspapers.
The fact that previous reports of Thaksin murder plots had earlier met with scepticism among his critics and some members of the press, including key security figures (for instance, the car-bomb case in 2009 and an explosion on a plane in 2001), a question has cropped up over what factors contributed to some media professionals throwing weight behind the new report.
An article titled "See through Pheu Thai's three cyber-experts and track Oak Panthongtae fan page" written by Nattawut Karanyaso was published last month in Rajadamnern, a monthly political and media publication by the Thai Journalists Association. It featured an investigative report about people behind the Facebook page of Panthongtae "Oak" Shinawatra, Thaksin's son.
Since he posed a question on the webpage in August, "Oak, do you post messages here by yourself or do you have a team do it for you?" Nattawut said he had not received a reply from anyone.
Although in his Facebook profile, Panthongtae has indicated that politics is among his topics of interest, he has rarely taken to a major political rally stage or given interviews to showcase his political competence.
Before the writer started his probe, Panthongtae's Facebook page had seen 100,000 "likes" and it is undeniable the page has played a political role as significant as that of the Pheu Thai Party and its networks.
At the order of an "overseas person", Phumtham Wechayachai, chief of a 10-member special force named "Cyber Warriors", has opened a new political battlefront in the social networks with a "war room" at the Pheu Thai Party's headquarters. Their daily routine is to screen information from the cyber-world and forward it to the party's strategic team, which will order the party's spokesman team to call a press conference to counter or inform the public on certain issues.
The cyber-team also sends spokesmen's messages to Web boards, Facebook and Twitter and text messages to television stations.
Apart from Oak's fan page, the Pheu Thai Party has another team led by Chayika Wongnapachan, Yaowaret Shinawatra's daughter, to manage Yingluck Shinawatra's Facebook page by posting all positive information about the prime minister.
As the country's political struggles intensify and take on more complexity, are the Thai media being too naive to the fact they can be used by playing up stories without running checks? Thai Rat Online's political editor Wattana Pimolsiripol said his website did not publish everything posted on the Panthongtae Facebook page but only items with news value that had been approved by Thai Rat's editorial team.
Daily newspaper Ban Muang political editor Chingchai Runglapo said newspapers picked up stories from Oak's fan page because he is a major character representing his father, who is the key figure in the country's long and ongoing political conflicts. "What Panthongtae says carries more weight than Pheu Thai Party MPs," he said.
Nation Channel political desk editor Orathai Thongcharoen, however, said most of the messages posted on Oak's fan page had been focused on hitting back at political opponents.
"Panthongtae has never clarified or denied allegations that he has allowed others to post messages on his behalf on the page. The page therefore serves only as a political tool to counter political rivals. The information there should not be blown out of proportion," she said.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/11/the-growing-influence-of-social-media/
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