the(new)mediaslut

Smartbrain was at the mob last night and ran into a Brazilian reporter who was on holiday in Thailand and received a call from his editor to get to the protests and find out what was happening.

Quite why out of a huge crowd of people, this fellow journalist asked Smartbrain if he could speak English was quite unclear. However, after explaining the whys and wherefores of the mob, Smartbrain suggested that the chap make his way to the press room and drew him a simple map within the Government House compound.

“They have a press room? At a Mob?” he asked. Apparently the fact that most of Bangkok was still calm or the fact that a huge crowd of people (thousands according to he BBC, tens of thousands according to people who can count) was singing songs and having a garden party in the Prime Minister’s Office’s gardens paled in comparison to the news that the mob had a press room.

“Of course, all good protests have a press room. It has air-conditioning, Internet and most of the journalists are chummy and would be ready to fill you in if you ask nicely,” Smartbrain replied.

Despite a lot of high profile lawsuits, freedom of press here in Thailand is still pretty good. Whether it is because they - whoever they may be - believe in freedom of press or if they just want to use and manipulate is is another matter.

Two years ago, from day zero, Sondhi’s mob always had a press section. Most of the time it was just a area cordoned off with power plugs run off the protester’s generator, but still, it was a press room. Don’t they have press rooms in anti-government protests and riots in other countries?

Finally, another interesting point is whether a journalist is ever off the job. This chap was on holiday and dressed in backpacker mode, yet his editor told him to get down to the protests and report on it.