UNESCO strengthened Thai PBS staff's capacity to be media trainers

@ Thai PBS

Bangkok: UNESCO supports a series of training of the trainer workshop to build staff capacity within the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS). The first workshop was organised in September 2011 in Bangkok and attended by 20 participants.

“It is important for staff members of Thai PBS to clearly understand the concept of public service broadcasting and they must be able to explain the differences between public and the state-owned and commercial broadcastings.  Public media is crucial to the democratic development of the country. Trainers of Thai PBS will have vital roles to play in this regard”, said Mr. Thepchai Yong, Managing Director of Thai PBS, in his opening remarks.

The topics covered in the workshop were Media and Information Literacy (MIL) for media professionals, universal concept of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB), media landscape and media development in Thailand, and TV audience measurement. Experts were invited to facilitate each session.

Dr. Nuntiya Doungphummes from Suan Dusit Rajabhat University and Dr. Palphol Rodloytuk shared their research findings on media landscape and media development in Thailand respectively. Both of them highlighted the issue of press freedom and control, access to official information, the roles and limitation of media in presenting information, and the setting up of the Thai PBS as the first public service broadcasting in the country to serve the interest of the public. Additionally, they also underlined the coordination work between Thai PBS and the Audience Council as well as the function of the public media in promoting ‘Critical Thinking’ to the people.

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is broadcasting made, financed and controlled by the public, for the public. Dr Susanne Ornager, Advisor for Communication and Information in Asia, UNESCO Bangkok, stressed that PSB has to be independent, free from political or commercial influence, promote free flow of information, public participation and democratic development.

“Having quality programmes which empower the citizens and democratic society will ensure the sustainability of the PSB”, emphasized Dr Ornager.

Thai PBS is at the media forefront to promote Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in Thailand. One of the MIL experts, Dr. Uajit Virojtrairatt, explained how the media professionals can help increase the understanding of the civic society    to make sense of the information they get from the media.

The group discussion was led by Mr. Somchai Suwannaban, Member of Thai PBS Board of Governors, and Mr. Anothai Udomsilp, Director of Academic Institute of Public Media. The participants proposed 3 priority topics to be included in the future training curriculum. These are the Universal Concepts of Public Service Broadcasting, the Conceptualization of Public Service Broadcasting in the Thai Society, and the Work and Achievements of Thai PBS.

The discussions at the end of the workshop shoved that the participants had gained more knowledge and understanding about the overall picture of media landscape and development, particularly the important issues pertaining to the linkage of media and society.  The suggested list of topics will be included in more details in the next two trainings which will be held in December 2011.