Were the Journalists Targeted?

I didn't realize the large number of journalists and photographers who were injured during the Red Shirt riots of May 2010. But it's a shocking number and begs the question: were members of the media deliberately targeted by the army?

Media organizations mourned the deaths and injuries of their colleagues and called for immediate efforts to establish facts and bring to justice those responsibility for the losses of people’s lives.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) said in its statement today that it is deeply saddened by the death of Italian freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi on 19 May from gunshot wounds, and extends its condolences to his family and friends.

Mr Polenghi, who worked as freelance for NASA news agency at the time of his death, was the second media fatality during the current political unrest in Bangkok following the fatal shooting on April 10 of Reuter’s Japanese cameraman Hiroyaki Muramoto near Ratchadamnoen Avenue.

As many more civilians have also been killed, every effort should be made to correctly identify those responsible for each individual death so that similar tragedies would not be repeated, the FCCT said.

Two other foreign journalists, both Canadian, have been seriously wounded but are in stable condition.

Nelson Rand, for France 24 television network, sustained three bullet wounds in his arm, leg and abdomen, whilst Chandler Vandergrift suffered shrapnel wounds to the head.

Three Thai photographers and one reporter have also wounded, including a veteran Nation senior photographer Chaiwat Phumpuang.

Dutch journalist Michel Maas, working for Dutch television and newspapers, as well as Radio Netherlands Worldwide, was hospitalized after being shot in his shoulder British correspondent Andrew Buncombe for The Independent have also been injured.

A number of other journalists have been less seriously hurt, but there has been concern over intimidation that has led to assaults on reporters and the loss of reporting materials and images. Some Thai newspapers have closed their offices early due to such intimidation, and local TV station Channel 3 was the target of an arson attack which took it off air for two days.

The FCCT reiterated President Marwaan Macan-Markar's earlier statement that all parties concerned should respect the rights of the domestic and foreign media to report these complex and volatile events with impartiality and accuracy.

“These are important and difficult times for all the people of Thailand and the free flow of correct information is more important than ever," Mr Macan-Markar said.

Earlier on, three media organizations, one each from the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, issued separate statements calling on the Thai government to ensure protection and safety of journalists covering the aftermath of the dispersal of the Red Shirt protesters and the subsequent rioting that broke out in Bangkok.