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