The Nation (Thailand)

The Nation
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Nation Multimedia Group
Publisher Thepchai Yong, group editor-in-chief, NMG
Editor Jintana Panyaarvudh, managing editor
Founded 1 July 1971
Language English
Headquarters Bang Na, Bangkok
Website www.nationmultimedia.com

The Nation is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper founded in 1971 and published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is one of two English-language dailies in Bangkok, the other being the Bangkok Post.

The Nation is a member of the Asia News Network. It is owned by the Nation Multimedia Group (NMG). In January 2018 the Nation Multimedia Group, in a hostile acquisition, was taken over by Sontiyan Chuenruetainaidhama, founder of conservative outlets T News and INN News.[1]

History

The Nation was founded by journalists in 1971 as The Voice of the Nation. The name was eventually shortened to "The Nation."

The paper changed considerably in 1991, when several Thai journalists from the Bangkok Post defected to The Nation.

In 2008, The Nation laid off substantial numbers of staff and under the new editorship of former business editor Thanong Khanthong recast itself as a business newspaper, moving international wire copy to a free tabloid insert, the Daily Xpress.[2]

As of January 2018 the Nation Multimedia Group consisted of two digital TV stations, the English-language Nation newspaper, two Thai papers, and a publishing house. Its acquisition by T News is the result of a three-year effort to acquire controlling stock interests in Nation Multimedia properties. The Nation conglomerate has had financial difficulties for years.[1]

The two brothers who head The Nation, co-founders Suthichai Yoon and Thepchai Yong, will no longer be at the paper's helm. Suthichai retired on 12 January 2018. Thepchai will depart in April.[1]

Editorial line

The Nation and the Bangkok Post are similar in their coverage of international news. Their target audience is English-speaking Thai upper and upper-middle classes. After Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was elected in 2001, several companies associated with him ceased to advertise in The Nation. The newspaper reported the advertising cuts and adopted a vehemently anti-Thaksin editorial line.[3]

Though The Nation has a far right opinion page, which welcomed the 2014 coup and military rule, its daily news coverage is more center-right, criticizing, for example, Thailand's lèse-majesté law.[1] According to acclaimed, left-of-center journalist, Pravit Rojanaphruk, who worked at Nation for 23 years, in its heyday, Nation "...was a bastion of committed journalism and tolerance." But over the past decade, it "morphed from a progressive newspapers into a coup-apologist cheerleader for military intervention,..." Pravit was fired from The Nation in 2015 after release from a three-day junta detention without charge for "attitude adjustment", his second such detention.[4]

The acquisition by T News portends a further move to the right by the Nation group. T News is ultra-royalist and pro-junta both editorially and in its daily coverage.[1]

Satirical reaction

In December 2007 an unknown person started a satirical website called Not The Nation, a send-up of The Nation's website and coverage of Thai affairs. For a while the website was non-functioning, for unknown reasons. Its pages once featured an image of Abhisit with the quotation: "A perfectly legal site. but we're working on that" and another of Thaksin with the legend, "didn't I sue them out of existence in 2004?"[5] The site later satirized itself with a link to Who Do We Wrongly Think Is Behind NTN?[6]

Linking directly to the site post-2014 Thai coup d'état redirects to a site-suspension notice modified Thursday, 30 September 2010 at 22:59:26 UTC with an image of a hat-rack, hat, and orange beach shirt, and the legend: This site has stepped out for a bit.[7] On 3 March 2015, the site restarted "with a new executive staff appointed by Thailand's military government."[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Thaitrakulpanich, Asaree (22 January 2018). "NATION MULTIMEDIA TAKEN OVER BY FAR-RIGHT NEWS CORP". Khaosod English. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Nation creates history". The Nation. February 27, 2008. Archived from the original on December 4, 2009.
  3. ↑ The Asia Sentinel, "Gunpoint Democracy", 27 October 2006
  4. ↑ Rojanaphruk, Pravit (27 January 2018). "DEATH OF THE NATION AS WE KNEW IT". Khaosod English. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Anonymous (28 September 2011). "About". Not The Nation. Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 28 September 2011. Not The Nation is for entertainment purposes only. Redistribution of Not The Nation content with attribution is permitted. Some photos and images used on Not The Nation are taken from the Internet. If one of them is yours, we apologize and are grateful. The author(s) of Not The Nation choose(s) to remain anonymous.
  6. ↑ Anonymous (4 December 2012). "Who Do We Wrongly Think Is Behind NTN?". Not The Nation. Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  7. ↑ This site has stepped out for a bit
  8. ↑ Anonymous (3 March 2015). "NTN Welcomes Glorious New Junta-Appointed Editor-in-Chief". Not The Nation. Archived from the original on 2015-05-14. Retrieved 14 May 2015. The new editor-in-chief, Brigadier General Somyut Phraemonwichitmuang, was presented at a press conference to exhibit his credentials and to announce the exciting future of the now junta-controlled news operation.
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