Thaksin promises free press

Thaksin promises free press

THAILAND: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, embroiled in a row
with media critics, promised on Monday to keep the Thai press
free and said recent actions against a magazine had been taken
not by his government but by the police.

Thaksin said his administration had not been involved at first
in the suspension of visas of two reporters of the Hong Kong-
based Far Eastern Economic Review, but it had been responsible
for reinstating their visas later.

Thaksin also said he knew nothing about a confidential
investigation into the financial affairs of several of his
opponents in the Thai press, which critics have said was an
attempt by his administration to dig up dirt to mount a dirty
tricks campaign.

"It shocked me when I learned that such as thing had happened.
I asked my officials, 'How could such a thing happen? Why did
this happen?'," Thaksin said in an interview. --Reuters