For anyone who has been in Thailand would know about the local Thai newspapers and the shocking pictures they print each day on their front covers. There would not be a day go by where a gruesome picture isn’t the main eye catching feature.
I have always been disgusted how the Thai government doesn’t have restrictions on what can actually be shown. Pictures are blurred or pixilated at times but most the time you can see all sort of morbid things.
I was walking past our school library. Yes, school library. I could see this picture peering out through the glass for all to see who went by.
This is a foreigner who had committed suicide in Bangkok. He tied a long piece of rope around his neck, the rope was way too long and it decapitated him. At first it was reported that he had been murdered but this wasn’t the case. Look at the picture, sorry but it is not something that should be on the front page of any paper.
Accompanying the story to the right is an 11 year old girl who was raped and murdered. The girl is a minor and her face hasn’t been blurred. These pictures are tame to last week when a twelve year old girl was raped and murdered and they had thankfully covered her private parts but had shown blood all over the inside of her legs. It was such a sad and sickening picture that didn’t need to be shown.
On another day there were 3 gory pictures to tempt readers. A man beaten to death, a suicide and the foreign man’s body to match his head.
This is of a man who has been seriously beaten by something very heavy and his head was caved in, thankfully they did blur this but still very gruesome.
This is a student who decided to shoot himself in the head.
I don’t know why Thais seem so detached to the fact that this shouldn’t be on the front page or actually any page in fact. If Thai papers have to rely on these pictures to sell their papers and not the story writing they should be out of business.
I still remember vividly a horrible crash I had attended a while ago where a drunk Thai guy (surprising) ran into some girls on a motorbike. One girl was killed instantly and she was not a pretty picture to see. Another girl was in a bad way. As the crowd of gawkers gathered to do nothing other than rubber neck, there were tiny kids standing in front of their parents looking at the scene while parents talked.
It made me sick to see this and I couldn’t believe that people could be such terrible parents. There are things that kids can see and other things that they just shouldn’t see.
The government of Thailand need to look at media laws and what is considered okay to print. This is not something that little kids can see every day on street corners, on shop tables and in their schools.
I won't even start on Thai TV and what they show on this. Thai TV needs to be banned.
That’s just my opinion.
Brunty
8 comments:
I can only agree, I also cannot understand that so many people like to see all the bloody details of victims. Here no newspaper will ever print anything like that, not just to "protect" minors or people with a weak stomach, but much more out of respect for the deceased or injured person. I doubt anyone would want to see a photo of oneself in such a state displayed anywhere.
While so much blood is not just acceptable, but apparently necessary for these cheap newspapers to sell, on the other hand in cinemas or TV cigarettes, alcohol or slight nudity gets censored with a blur right away.
Damn man - those are some harsh shots. I don't agree either with showing what all they do in the newspapers...
Sometimes you get stuck in a traffic jam... while you slowly proceed with the rest of the traffic, you see the reason why there's a jam. A traffic accident had occured and cars and motorcycles are slowing down to look. Then at the back, the ambulance is trying to force its way through the traffic... - BUCKY
"I won't even start on Thai TV and what they show on this. Thai TV needs to be banned."
How about that hit drama where the male lead raped the female lead who married the male lead's father (step mother?) and in the end, begged for her forgiveness and they lived happily ever after? Classic. And they blame video games for the crimes....
Funnily enough Brunty I saw the paper and was going to scan and write a very similar post to yours!
What gets me is the incosistency. On TV, cleavage is pixelated, smoking blanked out yet these shocking images make the paper on a near daily basis.
That's Thailand for you I guess.
I agree that this is a huge intrusion on the privacy of the victims and their families and a breach of good taste that brutalises people and makes violence a commonplace.
It is for the journalists' professional bodies to introduce principles that stop newspapers from exploiting the situation.
Andrew Hicks
Andy, no country should allow pictures like these to be printed. There just isn't any respect for the deceased person. Why alcohol and cigarettes are censored on Thai TV but girls being bashed and raped in tehir daily dramas are just too mind boggling to understand.
Hi Vern, I cannot believe when they plaster passport details of foreigners who have died in Thailand. How about identity theft.
Bucky rubber necking as I call it causes accidents, and here in Thailand people don't seem to understand that an ambulance with sirens and lights going means get out of the way.
Anon Thai dramas and the story lines are just pathetic. The final show of one drama involved the lead actress being gang raped by 12 men and murdered, this was apparently because she deserved it for all the bad things she had done, Thai Karma.
Jon, I cannot work out censorship laws here in Thailand, what is censored seems so lame and what isn't is just so scary.
Andrew, it is such an invasion of privacy and the Thai journalist bodies seriously need to meet and set guidelines on what is acceptable. Words can paint an amazing picture of a scene, just read a good book. Pictures aren't needed.
Thanks for commenting everyone.
Well... it's a different culture there from the West, I'm afraid. They have different perceptions than we do. The Thais I know don't seem to have much of an idea what 'privacy' is. They don't even call ahead to let you know when they're dropping in for a visit.
I remember how Thais think nothing of telling a farang woman that she's fat or tall (the lady spent the evening crying in the bathroom after that, feeling like she was ridiculed, which, of course, she wasn't... The Thais were just not sensitive in that way).
And then, another American went and pointed at something with his foot during a conversation, and a bunch of Thais were very disgusted by the rude gesture (and ya' should have seen what ugly looks he got when he touched a grown Thai on the head).
I guess it's the same sort of thing about how the Japanese sees suicide as honorable under certain circumstances while we don't like it under any condition.
That said... the next time I visit Thailand I'll be sure not to have a paper lying around while I'm having breakfast... ;o)
Post a Comment