Deconstructing Tulsathit Taptim: I'm a Thai Reporter; Truth is Irrelevent

The Nation:

What's interesting, though, is how the partisans treat the respective scenarios. If you are pro-Abhisit, you tend to believe he was in the car, but you wouldn't lose sleep if there was evidence that he was in fact hiding somewhere else. If you are pro-red, of course, the ambush was staged - but if government politicians had died, it would have been a revolution going out of control.


And what if Abhisit wasn't in the car but the red shirts attacked it in the belief that he was? Does that make their whole action less heinous?


On the other hand, if he was in the car but the attack was staged, does this mean the red shirts "lied" to the public by claiming he wasn't in it?


Whatever the truth is, the "ambush" was an outgrowth of a symptom that has never been properly treated. It won't do either side any good to provoke a debate on something that senseless. After all, if people had cared about right and wrong, the controversial incident would not have happened in the first place.


We should let bygones be bygones; not that we can do anything about them, though. What matters is how we can haul ourselves up after sinking that low. Finding out how the attack was carried out will not help, as it was an act executed at the height of a nasty battle in which many dirty tactics were employed. Only when we can answer the question "why" it happened will there be a light at the end of the tunnel.


Some say that Thais were lucky, reasoning that with the military and police split and seeming ready to switch allegiance - while shadowy elements were lurking in the background - last month could have easily been the most tragic period in our modern political history. If we really were that fortunate, the question is whether we realise it.


Maybe it's time we ignored all the intrigues. Of course, it's fascinating to discuss who planted the "car bomb" purportedly intended to kill Thaksin Shinawatra, or who wanted to assassinate his arch-rival Sondhi Limthongkul, or whether or not Abhisit was in that black Mercedes, but political mysteries in Thailand are mostly meant to exploit, not puzzle, us. If you want some fun putting together the jigsaw pieces, fine, but never fall into the trap by taking these things too seriously.


I read something like this and wonder why the hell Tulsie is even a journalist.

I have been blogging for two and a half years now and it never ceases to amaze how The Nation's columnists ignore the basic tenets of journalism: Who, what, why, when and where.

They can't even get that right. There isn't even a pretense of real journalism.

Instead, they live in the world of pontificating and conspiracy theory development based on asking questions that they are either too lazy or too incompetent to answer by doing basic reporting.

Uh, maybe it is important to find out what the facts, so people know the truth as it exists.

Cognitive dissonance exists, indeed, but that is no excuse for a major metropolitan newspaper to just throw up its hands in resignation and leave important questions unanswered.

Let's see: Was there an assassination attempt on the prime minister or was there a conspiracy to frame the Reds?

Tulsie doesn't think political assassinations of major figures are major stories. Anywhere else in the civilized world this would be a major story. You decide.

Bangkok Post Reports on The Nation's Failures

The Nation alters structure to cut costs


Two new companies run paper's operations


WORANUJ MANEERUNGSEE

Nation Multimedia's The Nation newspaper, which was relaunched earlier this year as a business daily, is set for further changes to cope with rising costs. According to Pana Janviroj, president of The Nation, starting today the English daily is no longer operated by Nation Multimedia Group (NMG). Instead, it operates separately under NMG Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the parent company. Also, a separate sub-editing company partly owned by former sub-editors of The Nation will be set up with the backing of NMG.

Last week, the parent company offered a voluntary early retirement package for editorial staff. About 30 Thai and foreign workers out of 130 took the package.

The four-month-old free tabloid Daily Xpress has also been downsized from an initial 48 pages to between 24 and 28 pages currently. It stopped printing on weekends since the beginning of last month.

The changes are aimed at cutting costs, said Mr Pana. The company is suffering from declining ad spending and skyrocketing newsprint prices, now averaging US$870 a tonne, up from $540 at the end of last year.

The group owns a range of media in print, radio, satellite TV and the internet. But not every product, including The Nation, is successful.

''Hopefully, after the change, we can reduce our massive debt,'' said Mr Pana.

NMG reported total debt of three billion baht in the first quarter of this year, with a turnover of 790 million baht, net profit of 6.94 million baht and assets of four billion baht.

As for 2007, its total debt was 3.22 billion baht, with a turnover of 3.2 billion baht, net losses of 797 million baht and assets of 4.1 billion baht.

Actually, I read on their financial statement that they have more debt than they have in assets.

Correction(Courtesy of the Corporal): Nation Multimedia Group Public Co. Ltd. may have more financial risk than other companies in the Media industry as it is one of the most highly leveraged with a Debt to Total Capital ratio of 73.08%. This ratio actually increased over the last year. Additionally, an examination of near-term assets and liabilities shows that there are not enough liquid assets to satisfy current obligations.

Mr Pana said it was looking for strategic partners for NMG Co. In the beginning, management will hold 10% of the new firm and the rest will be held by its listed parent.

Strategic partners? They have run the business into the ground. If I were a corporate raider, I would have bought it before they sold off their assets, but now, there is nothing left but mountains of debt and the same shitty management and board of directors.

NMG will later dilute its holdings in NMG Co to below 50%.

The new sub-editing firm will not only provide service for the group, but also for outside clients.

The subs were smart to walk away and start their own company. Now they can no longer be exploited by the Thai management. However, they were not that skilled to begin with.

Mr Pana insisted that the changes were not meant to change the focus of The Nation from a business newspaper. Once political news does not dominate all media, its image would be clearer, he said. The newspaper now has more business columnists and analysis.

Crap columnists, irrelevant business news and analysis. If Thanong ranting and raving about the 1997 Crisis and the evil foreigners over and over again is analysis, then Pana needs to have his head examined. And who would want to listen to The Nation, a failing business, pontificate about business? It has no credibility in that area.

''At the end of the day, The Nation will be similar to the FT (Financial Times) or the Wall Street Journal, having primarily business news,'' he said.

I am sure most of the English speaking population of Thailand spat coffee all over themselves after reading that sentence. The Nation is not even worthy of being the recycled toilet paper at FT and the Wall Street Journal.

A media watcher said Xpress was premature for the Thai market.

''The group's free English tabloid has come out five or ten years ahead of its time. The English language market is still very small here,'' he said.

Actually, the entire newspaper market is small. A crappy English language tabloid is nothing but an insignificant blip in the overall market.

A staff member at the newspaper questioned management's efficiency.

''Was it the right time to launch a free tabloid amid rising newsprint prices and a sluggish economy?'' the staffer said.

How come nobody listened to this guy when Daily Xpress was launched?

NMG share prices closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at seven baht, down 85 satang, in trade worth 112,000 baht.


I'm surprised that the price remains so high. It doesn't have the cash to pay off its debts. It has lousy management. It makes only superficial changes so Suthichai Yoon can save face.

2Bangkok reports The Nation in its Last Death Throes

The Nation for sale - July 25, 2008

Sources report that the Nation Group is looking to sell off the English-language Nation and Xpress newspaper operations.

Among the rumored changes:
- deep cuts including firing all foreign staff and rehiring them on one-year contracts

- setting up a new company to hold liabilities (such as staff) to clean up The Nation balance sheet for an eventual sale (probably complicating this is are local rules that limit foreign ownership in media to 49%)

- replacing top editors with those "less strident" about Thaksin and the PPP to regain lost ad revenue


Well, what can I say. There is a certain feeling of satisfaction when your year and half of blogging is vindicated by the marketplace.

I don't feel happy that people will lose their jobs, especially those who are in no power to make editorial decisions. The publishers have had a long time to get their act together. They refused. Now some have to pay the piper.