Thailand's media not free: Freedom House

According to Freedom House's latest annual report on Freedom of the Press, Thailand's press is now classified as "Not Free." Thailand was ranked 138th in the world compared with 124th position last year. Freedom House wrote:

Also in 2010, additional pressure on the media in politically turbulent Thailand led to a four-point score decline,  from 58 to 62, and a status downgrade to Not Free. Key factors included the use of the restrictive new Computer Crimes Act to punish online expression, a continued increase in lèse-majesté prosecutions, and periodic violence between political factions that caught journalists in the crossfire and led to censorship of media outlets.

The downgrade is not surprising considering the deaths and injuries to journalists during the protests in May 2010 and the continuing use of lèse-majesté as a tool of political repression.

The downgrading of Thailand's status is part of a long-term downward trend in press freedom in Thailand. Thailand's media was classified as free in the period from 1999 to 2002. The graph at the top of this post shows Thailand's decline from 2005 to 2010. It doesn't show the additional decline in 2011.

*More details available at Freedom of the Press 2011 Survey Release.