Aussie press ban questioned

It is indeed unfortunate that the entire Australian press corps has been slapped with a visa ban by the Thai Foreign Ministry.

Equally disturbing is the cartoon accompanying a story last December in The Age of Melbourne after an Australian jailed on drug charges in Bangkok was released as a result of a Royal pardon on the occasion of His Majesty the King's birthday.

The cartoon was later reprinted in the Daily Telegraph-Mirror despite a protest note by the Foreign Ministry.

Also, the Melbourne-based radio station 3AW has joined the fray by soliciting comments on Thai Royalty.

According to the ministry, the ban became effective in August after Bangkok "failed to prevent the Australian media from publishing and airing inaccurate and disrespectful news on the King".

"The Australian press should be responsible for their colleagues, no matter where they work, whether in Thailand or Australia," a foreign ministry official told this paper on Wednesday.

The impending question now is whether a blanket ban on all Australian journalists is warranted following the culturally insensitive acts of a few black sheep in the profession.

We do agree that Australian newspaper editors need to be more sensitive to culture in the Asia-Pacific region, especially at a time when Canberra has the intention of gravitating toward Asia.

This cannot, however, be achieved overnight especially when media barons like Rupert Murdoch have their own hidden agenda.

But slapping visa curbs on Australian journalists is not the way to go about it.

Other avenues should have been explored and the very fact that they were not is a sad indication of the short-sightedness of the foreign ministry in an era when Thailand is supposed to be open- minded and democratic.

-- The Nation, Bangkok