Deconstructing Jeerawat Na Thalang: More Right-Wing Reactionary Spin From The Nation's Columnists

OFF THE BENCH

Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation

A tale of drugs, lies and lobbyists

I just hope the title of this article is able to turn our readers on in the same fashion as the Hollywood movie "Sex, Lies and Videotape" released in 1989 once did.

Nonetheless, our PG-13 audience doesn't have to be afraid to read the following. The Hollywood cliche I've heard in many films - "What you think may not be what it is" - applies here. Like the disappointing endings of many Hollywood films, the following story, which should have been "The Insider", might turn out to be simply "True Lies".

What's up with all the movie analogies? Not clever, not funny, stupid, and a waste of space.

The story that I am about to share with you is about a self-proclaimed American saviour who acts as if he cares about the plight of sick patients in a developing country. The lead in this movie, however, is not Angelina Jolie but Kenneth Adelman, the executive director of USA for Innovation.

I think his intent is to prevent Thais from stealing US innovation (most likely Big Pharma innovations) which seems to be his motto.

I must confess that in my 20-year experience as a trade reporter, I heard the name of USA for Innovation for the first time this week. It makes me wonder why the organisation chose to be active right now when Thai political life is less than ordinary.

I am sure in her twenty years experience as as a trade reporter she hasn't done any actual reporting. It makes her wonder? Instead of wondering, perhaps she should get off her butt and do some reporting.

Yes, I just heard of the organisation on Wednesday, after a small chaotic scene erupted in The Nation's newsroom. Reporters debated the merits of an advertisement that severely slammed the Thai government's decision to suspend the patent rights on selected drugs. The ad, printed on Thursday, reads: "The Wrong Prescription for Thailand".

She really is an awesome reporter. She just heard about this on Wednesday. Yet the website and the brouhaha has been around for a month.

Many of our readers phoned in to voice their anger, asking why the newspaper had not done a better job of choosing the ads. Some Thai non-governmental organisations threatened to stage a protest against the newspaper for choosing the ad money over the plight of HIV/Aids patients. A pharmacy lecturer said the paper had "sold its soul", to which our editor, Tulsathit Taptim, replied that we just sold our advertisement space.

I have no problem with people calling in to complain or protest The Nation. Good for the complainers. The Nation is a crappy newspaper on so many different levels. I say the more attention directed at its crappiness, the better. And I do think newspapers should be morally responsible about their advertisements. But The Nation will take money from people and organizations that they routinely denounce as corrupt, dishonest and immoral. Why not? The Nation could care less about morality and ethics. It proves that everyday.

In short, these critics disagreed with the statements in the ad and asked why The Nation let the US organisation use our newspaper's space to slam our own people.

Here is a glaring example of Jeerawat's and The Nation's dishonesty. USA for Innovation is not a US organization and it never slammed the Thai people. Jeerawat is a liar who cares more about her own personal political agenda more than the truth.

For your information: the advertising and editorial departments are absolutely separate. Normally, the editorial department has no idea which advertisers will buy space in the paper the next day. The dummy that we get says only whether the advertisement will cover half of a page or a full page. As our editor said, the editorial department is not supposed to know what ads we will carry to ensure that we will be able to work without advertisers' influence.

I love this bullshit excuse. Then how did The Nation's columnists know that the Thai government under Thaksin was withholding advertising based upon the editorial stance of The Nation?

The ad in question claimed that GPO-vir, a copy HIV treatment made by Thailand's Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), had one of the worst cases of HIV drug resistance. The ad ends with a strong statement: "We urge the leadership to protect the people of Thailand." I almost raised my fist to back up the powerful statement from the US activists, thinking that they might be people who really care about Thailand. But then when the ads briefly criticised the Thai government, I was enticed to check the website.

More lies or sarcasm, depending on which style you think Jeerawat has adopted in this column.
The ads don't really attack the Thailand or the Thai government. They attack Surayud, the junta and Health Minister Mongkol.

So I click on "www.USAforInnovation.org" to check what this group has to say to promote US innovation.

Frankly, before loading up the website, I was expecting something exciting about the US drive for innovation. I was expecting, for instance, to see pictures of sophisticated DNA diagrams to showcase US innovation and confirm that knowledge originating from the US should be sanctified.

Jeerawat either is an incompetent reporter or a liar. This website has been in the news for a while now, at least a month. What kind of website has sophisticated DNA diagrams demonstrating innovation? When I first read this, I was thinking that she was just being sarcastic, that is until I saw that she started the paragraph off with the word "frankly."

But the website turned out to be a disappointing climax to the movie in my head. And I must say that the title of the website is a shame for all American inventors.

Yeah, right.

The website didn't feature anything innovative by my level-headed standard. The website didn't seem to have any innovation to brag about, but rather was focused on saying bad things about Thailand.

Again, Jeerawat is lying. She has no level-headed standard. And the website didn't say anything bad about Thailand.

There's a picture of a boring grey-haired old man, Kenneth Adelman, the executive director of USA for Innovation. And the home page featured the press releases with the headline: "USA for Innovation Announces Advertising Campaign in Thailand", while some of the other releases accuse Thailand of the theft of American assets. There is also a letter from Adelman to the members of the US Congress to take action against on the Thai government because of the compulsory licensing decision, and a news article featuring Adelman published in the Washington Times that recommends Washington take action against the Thai government.


This paragraph is correct.


I don't have to tell you in detail what was said in the website, just check The Nation's Friday paper, which came in a package with the explanation from the Public Health Ministry rebutting every single point raised by the website. If you believe what the Thai Ministry said, the points appearing on the USA for Innovation's website are lies. I leave it to you to decide who's the liar in this game.

This paragraph really demonstrates to me the laziness and incompetence of The Nation's reporters. What is the job of a newspaper reporter? To find the facts. And, if that reporter is a columnist, he or she should analyze the news. Therefore, I think it is amazing that Jeerawat doesn't think it is her responsibility to get to the truth. She wants you, the reader of her newspaper, to sift through the propaganda and make up your own mind. Now, in my little world, I think it is a journalist's duty to find the truth and tell the audience the truth. Why doesn't she analyze the propaganda and tell her audience the facts?


Reading through the website, there were also moments when I was almost led to think that, perhaps, USA for Innovation really cared about Thailand. Otherwise, why would the website dedicate virtually all its space to Thailand while barely mentioning the piracy problem in China or Vietnam? Adelman must have had a touching experience in Thailand, which is why he wants to save our country from, say, the generic drugs from the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation.

Thai journalists love to fall back on fallacies, which proves they never went to a decent journalism school that trained them properly.

This is one popular fallacy you hear often: If another country does something bad to the US, then it is OK that Thailand does it. I have been to Vietnam. I have never seen entire shopping malls devoted to ripping off US IP stuff like movies, games, software, etc like you see in Thailand. And I don't recall either Vietnam or China issuing compulsory licenses for pharmaceuticals.

So, let's see who Adelman is. According to the USA for Innovation's website, Adelman also currently serves as a member of the Defence Policy Board. He also held various offices in the US administration. But it didn't say anywhere in his CV how he came across Thailand.

Adelman never held a position in this current administration, except for being on the Defense Policy Board, which advises the Defense Department. What does it matter how he knows about Thailand? There are many Thai journalists who think they know a lot about foreign countries even though they had never been abroad before. Regardless, she is probably right, so I would wager that Adelman knows little to nothing about Thailand, because if he did, he wouldn't have launched this unsophisticated PR campaign. Instead, he would have understood that all the right-wing reactionaries in the Thai media would line up like good soldiers and link him, however tenuously, to Thaksin and the American(Jewish) imperialists/financiers/capitalists who have been plotting to destroy Thailand for years.

People should go back and read the literature during the 1997 crisis. You didn't read about it much in the English press, but the Thai media had a field day about how the Jewish financiers, (see George Soros), and the US government conspired to destroy Thailand. Unfortunately, that Protocols of th Elders of Zion beast has been awoken once again.


However, for some unknown reason, USA for Innovation, or Adelman, is obviously and alarmingly obsessed with Thailand. Does this self-proclaimed non-profit-organisation act purely in good faith?


Well, The Nation is alarmingly obsessed with Adelman and Thaksin, and it certainly has never acted in good faith.

What these conspiracy theorists at The Nation need to understand is that in the United States people, NGOs, non-profits, corporations, etc can and will organize in the defense of their interests. If Thailand is somehow affecting their interests in a negative way, then they are going to attack that negativity. Also, I think it is ironic that The Nation is always quick to back groups like FTA Watch, crazy anti-American academics, worker's unions, the Campaign for Popular Democracy, and the PAD when they attack the US on a continuous basis with their lies and propaganda, yet US interest groups are somehow bad and wrong if they actually defend themselves when Thais are trying to screw them over.


Instead of citing the plight of HIV patients, whoever is behind the website and the ongoing effort might be better off explaining things in a clear and simple manner - that it all comes down to the profits of drug companies, which want to recoup high investments in research. The problem with Thailand is not the wrong prescription but rather an overdose of innuendoes about Thailand.

Oh, the irony! Jeerawat should really go over how The Nation reports the news. It is all based on innuendos and lies. Even when she is accusing Adelman of innuendo, it is based on innuendo. She didn't refute one thing on his entire website. She just wrote a nasty mean spirited attack on Adelman because she thinks he is attacking Thailand. In her mind, tit for tat, but she didn't provide facts or dispute anything Adelman wrote about Thailand

Also, I wonder whether Adelman, who is a frequent critic on American TV and a contributor to US newspapers, expresses his opinions on the basis of his conscience. Or whether he lip-syncs for whoever paid for the website and the drug companies lurking behind the scene.

Well, if we follow Jeerawat's record, one has to wonder if General Saprang is lurking behind the scenes at The Nation offices with his propaganda slush fund, giving her kick backs for writing her knee jerk reactionary views.

I'm probably being a little too hard on Jeerawat, but again, she spins a line of bullshit that has no basis in reality.

Did she bother to call Adelman up and get the scoop on his intentions? No

Did she ask Adelman why he was singling out Thailand? No

Did she call him and ask him who was financing his non-profit? No

Did she bother to investigate or refute any of the so-called lies on this website? No

Did she bother to do analysis concerning Thailand's lack of funding for medications? No

Did she bother to find out if the TPO has the capabilities to manufacture generics? No

So, in other words, Jeerawat didn't do her job--and this is from a woman who admits that she has 20 years experience as a reporter.