Men in green want more say on air.

Men in green want more say on air

The armed forces, which control about half the nation’s radio stations, want more say in the management of other stations. Military pressure is behind a Lower House committee’s decision to add another step to the selection of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, sources say.

The committee working on the bill to set up the NBTC has added a new selection process to help make sure men in uniform are represented on the commission, a committee source, who declined to be named, told the Bangkok Post on 06/01/10.

NBTC will allocate airwave frequencies. The original plan called for 22 candidates to be selected from eight professional groups such as broadcasters, consumer groups and universities. The new plan calls for an additional panel made up of representatives from 15 independent, public and state agencies, including the Permanent Secretary for Defence, to search for 22 candidates. All 44 candidates’ names would be forwarded to the Senate, which would pick 11 people from the list to sit on NBTC.

Col Orathai Amornsri, of the Broadcasting, Televisions and Telecommunications Office, told the Post: ”The Defence Ministry has to use radio and television frequencies for security purposes to counter southern insurgents and those posting lese majeste messages on the internet.”