Thread: Thailand, Channel 3: Politically tinged drama abruptly taken off air

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

To neither be a hypocrite, hosting the show while criticising the channel, nor be false and shameless like someone in that society and in that television station, I have decided to quit the show, despite hosting it for 10 years," he said on his Facebook page, which attracted many likes and has been shared widely.

ah a Thai with some principles, quite refreshing

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

a senior investigator running an agency called TSI, may have irritated the Department of Special Investigation (DSI),

I wonder what other crap they will replace with. Women being slapped. Children imitating a murder perhaps? Either way, more nonsense to keep the masses away from real life!

"...seriously affecting people's minds..."



Well, if that's the case, they'd better drop about 90% of the programming and start again from scratch.

Anyhow, if I owned the rights to the show, I'd be rushing it out on DVD as soon as possible. Shit, even I want to know what happens now.

Jeez, violating viewers' constitutional rights? That's going a bit far.

They're douches/cowards/flunkies for doing it, but certainly it's not a rights issue.

Rights group demands re-airing of controversial soap opera | MCOT.net



Rights group demands re-airing of controversial soap opera

By Digital Media | 7 ม.ค. 2556 18:18

BANGKOK, Jan 7 – An activist group will officially protest to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) tomorrow against the abrupt suspension of the airing of the Thai soap opera Nua Mek 2 on privately-owned Channel 3 last Friday.

Srisuwan Chanya, secretary general of the Thai Constitution Protection Association, said the association and a group of viewers will submit a letter to the NBTC, asking it to order Channel 3 to broadcast the remaining episodes of Nua Mek 2 without editing in seven days.

The association will also demand Channel 3 compensate the audience as stipulated in Article 40 of the NBTC Act (2008) and conduct an investigation as well as punish the channel if it is found to have breached Section 45 of the constitution.

If Channel 3 has violated the law, its licence must be revoked and broadcasting frequency returned as public property, Mr Srisuwan said.

He added that the association will file suit with the Administrative Court if the NBTC fails to respond to the association’s demand within seven days.

Channel 3 stopped airing Nua Mek 2 last Friday despite the fact that many remaining episodes have yet to be shown. The content and many dialogues in the soap opera involved a crooked and corrupt politician who resorted to black magic and sought the help of a sorcerer to obtain an unscrupulous satellite project amid strong objection from the honest prime minister and his wife. (MCOT online news)


-----
NBC probes Channel 3's lightning removal of Nua Mek 2 - The Nation

NBC probes Channel 3's lightning removal of Nua Mek 2

January 7, 2013 5:58 pm

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is looking into the Channel 3's sudden decision to take one of its TV series, Nua Mek 2, off air.

At its Monday's meeting, it assigned a subcommittee to seek more information on the case and tabled it for the NBC to consider next week.

Nua Mek 2 was pulled off air on January 2, two episodes ahead of the schedule, amid widespread speculation that those in power are unhappy with the series' political parody.

The Nation

Bangkok Pundit has a piece on this too.

Why was the Thai soap opera Nua Mek 2 pulled from the air? | Asia News – Politics, Media, Education | Asian Correspondent

Why was the Thai soap opera Nua Mek 2 pulled from the air?

By Bangkok Pundit Jan 07, 2013 3:30PM UTC

Channel 3: 'No politics' in soap ban | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

Channel 3: 'No politics' in soap ban

• Published: 8/01/2013 at 08:12 PM
• Online news:

TV Channel 3 said violent content forced executives to cancel the finale of the soap opera "Nua Mek 2" and insisted no political interference was involved.

It was the first time the TV station publicly addressed the reason for its decision to abruptly end the series last Friday, with three episodes still to go. It was replaced by a new show.

Officials at Channel 3 screened the content of the last three programmes and decided to cancel public showings, said Borisut Buranasamrit, public relations managing director at Channel 3.

The decision to end the soap opera was not politically motivated, he said. "The station has not received any orders from any politician," Mr Borisut said.

The station found the content of the controversial drama series to be too violent, leading to the decision to end it prematurely, he said.

The station's action drew heavy criticism from many viewers, who believed that political interference was the reason behind the cancellation of the show.

But Suwanna Sombatraksasuk, former president of the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand, told a seminar organised by Chulalongkorn University's Communcation Arts Faculty on Tuesday that she was worried that the saga showed media freedom is under threats.

Channel 3 claimed that the series breached Section 37 of the Broadcast and Telecommunications Operations Act.

But Ms Suwanna said the claim was groundless. "I have watched 'Nua Mek 2' and found nothing that would suggest such thing," she said.

Section 37 bars broadcast content that seeks to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, threatens national security or morality, constitutes profanity or harms people's mental or physical health.

Supinya Klangnarong, a commisioner of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), challenged the station on the claim.

"If Channel 3 really believes 'Nua Mek 2' violated Section 37, it should send NBTC the tape. We will then investigate and verify. If it does not violate the law, then it will be aired," Mrs Supinya said.

The NBTC will use its authority to arrange a meeting with Channel 3's representatives as soon as possible. The commission will try to resolve the conflict within the upcoming week.

Supaporn Pohkaew, the Mass Communication Department chief, said the ban was a curb on freedom of viewers to watch soap operas.

"The public has the rights to choose what to watch and to decide what to believe. Is it justifiable for our rights to be taken away in our own home?" she said.

^ So why not just edit out the violent bits?

Nah, this doesn't make any sense at all. Someone is lying.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Everyone is lying.

Fixed for ya SD.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

^ So why not just edit out the violent bits?

Why?
Allow the individual to filter and decipher what might be offensive or threatening to him/her. If such shite offends you - don't watch. That's what the remote is for.

[fuzzy romantic theory] It's not government's place to set moral or ethical standards, less place control and lawful rules upon social consciousness.

Originally Posted by Norton

Originally Posted by KevyChase

Thailand is not ready for reality TV

To be fair they have a couple "reality" channels. I especially enjoy watching a Panda eat, shit and sleep 24/7.

Same Panda that used to post on here, or a different one?

Netizens protest soap opera ban | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

Netizens protest soap opera ban

• Published: 13/01/2013 at 12:29 PM
• Online news:

About 50 members of a social network group rallied on Sunday morning in front of the Maleenont Tower on Rama IV Road which houses Channel 3, demanding the prime-time political soap opera "Nua Mek 2" be put back on air immediately, reports said.


Post photo

The group called on Channel 3 to "stop following orders from corrupt politicians" and broadcast "Nua Mek 2" until it reaches its final episode.

Thonglor police said a team of officers had been dispatched to oversee security at the rally site.

On Jan 5, Channel 3 abruptly pulled "Nua Mek 2" off the air, citing “inappropriate" content.

The storyline of "Nua Mek 2" (beyond the clouds or beyond comparison) focuses on a corrupt politician keen on profiteering on a satellite launch and a sorcerer who performs black magic to manipulate politics.


-----
Photos-Daily News

à¸�ลุ่มสังคมà¸[at]à¸[at]นไลน์บุà¸�ช่à¸[at]ง 3 จัดà¸�ิจà¸�รรมค้านà¹�บภ™à¸¥à¸°à¸„ร "เหนืà¸[at]เมฆ 2" | เดลินิวส์

They need to put extreme pressure towards advertisers....in general.
Has to be a unified campaign.

OK everyone here in this demo - hands up. Who likes Thaksin? (no hands) Who likes Mark? (all hands up). Who wants a fairer country for everyone, hands up? ( quizzical looks all around ). Who wants the present chinky-gaunxi system to reign forever, hands up? (all hands rise). It's just the usual bullshit by the usual suspects.

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

OK everyone here in this demo - hands up. Who likes Thaksin? (no hands) Who likes Mark? (all hands up). Who wants a fairer country for everyone, hands up? ( quizzical looks all around ). Who wants the present chinky-gaunxi system to reign forever, hands up? (all hands rise). It's just the usual bullshit by the usual suspects.

And superficially promoted thusly by those whom consider to absorb info from the same sources [Thai Establishment] that look to suppress disguised as independent.

Is it why we never find real alternative and independent news/info sources from the same old TD bot....instead, the old redirected patterns of pablum.

Problem is there is no alternative to the pablum, by and large, except for a couple of sources that the MICT likes to watch closely. And of course some of the foreign media. True though that some children like to keep re-posting the pablum to the other deks.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Tossaporn

<snigger>

Culture Ministry website hacked by "Bad Piggies" - The Nation

Culture Ministry website hacked by "Bad Piggies"

January 16, 2013 3:14 pm

The official website of the Cultural Ministry was still off the air on Wednesday, as police continued to hunt for hackers who tampered with the website yesterday and again today.

The Ministry's permanent secretary Prisana Pongtatpitakkul said the hacking violates the Computer Act and the hacker or hackers could face a jail term of not more than one year or a fine of not over Bt20,000 or both.

On Tuesday, at 5pm, suspected hackers replaced the website mcultural.go.th, with a footballgambling website. The ministry had it fixed and resumed services. However, at 2am today the hackers, using the name of "The Bad Piggies Team", compromised the security of the website again, forcing the ministry to suspend the site once more. On this occasion, they replaced the homepage with photos of a controversial TV soap opera, "Nua Mek 2" ("Above the Clouds") and a statement reading "Return My Nua Mek 2. The drama was abruptly pulled off from Channel 3 last week because it contained what the station called "inappropriate contents", sparking a flurry of protest on social media as the government denied claims it was behind the decision.

Prisana said the ministry had asked the Information, Communications and Technology Ministry and IT experts to prevent the recurrence of the incident and was cooperating with police in order to find the hackers.

-----
Nua Mek producer still in the dark | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

Nua Mek producer still in the dark

• Published: 16 Jan 2013 at 18.04
• Online news:

Prime Minister's Office Minister Varathep Rattanakorn has denied the government had any role in the banning of prime-time political soap opera "Nua Mek 2", while the show's producer said he has still not been told exactly why his show was cancelled.

The House committee on political development, media and public participation, chaired by Ubon Ratchathani MP Supachai Srila, held a hearing on Wednesday over the axing of the final episodes of the popular soap opera.


Post Today photo

Mr Varathep testified that the government had nothing to do with it and said that he personally had never watched the show. Mcot Vice President Polchai Vinijchaikul said Channel 3 executives has already been asked about the decision to pull the soap and he was awaiting a reply from the television network.

Chatchai Plengpanich, the producer of "Nua Mek 2", told the panel that Somrak Narongwichai, an executive producer at Channel 3, informed him on Jan 2 that the soap’s final three episodes, to be shown in one night, would not be aired - but gave him no explanation why.

Normally, a script must be approved by the network before a show could be produced and any inappropriate content would be censored out by the Broadcasting Commission before it was broadcast, Mr Chatchai said.

The producer said the plot had been finalised and was not changed later. All of the events depicted in the series were fictional and about the human nature and morality, he added.

Nonsi Nimitbut, the soap's director, said that his responsibility was limited to directing the show according to the script given him. Whether the show was aired was not his concern. The final episode was handed to the station before the New Year, Nonsi recalled.

A member of the cast, Sinjai Plengpanich, aid that what happened clearly demonstrated how much impact the show had on the viewers. She also tearfully apologised to the fans and thanked them for their support.

Producers 'Do NOT Know about politics' - The Nation

Producers 'Do NOT Know about politics'

Khanittha Thepphajorn,
Pakamard Jaichalard
The Nation January 17, 2013 1:00 am


Chatchai Plengpanich, producer of TV Channel 3's Nua Mek 2 and director Nonzee Nimibutr yesterday said they had no idea whether political interference had led to the abrupt cancellation of the SHOW on January 4, when the reason given for the withdrawal was 'inappropriate content'.

Chatchai told the House committee on political development, mass communications and public participation that the "Nua Mek 2" script and characters had been approved by Channel 3 before shooting, and the tapes had been submitted to the TV station. He added that he had not yet been told of Channel 3's reasons for pulling the series.

Asked if the script had been modified to satirise a certain group, the producer said the show followed the previously submitted plot, and that "Nua Mek 2" was fictional and had no intention of satirising anyone.

Nonzee said he had modified the last three episodes of the series by adding more action.

Chatchai's wife and series co-star, Sinjai Plengpanich, said: "We are saddened to see this happen because we followed all the procedures … We'll keep working, with more caution and discussion. As Nonzee said, we are like shoemakers, we get the job done, submit it and get paid. But if the shoes hurt the person who is wearing them, then that's another thing. We can't help it ..."

She said the unaired episodes could not be broadcast via another channel because Channel 3 owned the copyright.

PM's Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn, who supervises Channel 3's concessionaire, MCOT, told the panel that the government had no special policies for media outlets under its supervision, that the series' cancellation was not the result of political interference and that MCOT was also demanding an explanation from the channel.

National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission chairman Natee Sukonrat and Prasan Maleenont, vice chairman of the Channel 3 executive board, did not attend. They will both provide information at a later date.

Meanwhile, Culture permanent secretary Prissana Pongtatsirikul yesterday said the ministry's website had been hacked and posted with a football gambling link at 5pm on Tuesday.

This was followed by a further hacking at 2am yesterday by "the bad piggies team" to post two "Nua Mek 2" pictures demanding the airing of the remaining episodes.

The hackers potentially face a one-year jail term and/or Bt20,000 fine, she warned.

-----
Scripts were approved, producers say | Bangkok Post: news

Scripts were approved, producers say

• Published: 17 Jan 2013 at 00.00
• Newspaper section: News

The script for the banned political soap opera Nua Mek 2 was inspected by Channel 3's censor before the series was abruptly pulled off the air, a House panel was told.

The show's production team told the House committee on media affairs yesterday it had submitted a copy of the series script as well as the finished product before the series was to go to air.

Before the team began producing the series, an abridged version of its script, synopsis and a cast list was submitted for approval to Channel 3, Chatchai Plengpanich, the series' producer and lead actor said.

When finished, every episode of the series was resubmitted to the channel's censor before they were allowed to go on air, Mr Chatchai told the committee.

He said the series was a fictional story and was not intended to offend any particular person.

Nua Mek 2 tells the story of a prime minister, his crooked deputy who is involved in a dubious satellite project and a sorcerer who performs black magic rites to manipulate political events.

Nonzee Nimibutr, director of the series, told the committee certain parts of the series were edited out for production reasons but nothing was added to the original version of the approved script.

He said he had never received a clear explanation from Channel 3 as to why the last three episodes of Nua Mek 2 were abruptly pulled off the air.

Actress Sinjai Plengpanich said she still didn't know which parts of the series upset Channel 3. The channel has said the banned episodes were not fit for airing.

As for fans of the series who called on the production team to distribute the banned episodes on DVD, she said Channel 3 holds the copyright of the series so that is not an option.

You got a real panty-twist over this one, don't ya SD? Waddaya think about the guy who just got sent to prison for covering his mouth? Ooh, yeah, "redacted" - so convenient..

^ Forum rules Tom and no it isn't convenient.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

^ Forum rules Tom and no it isn't convenient.

Yes....forum rules.