Although the first coup announcement was broadcast around 11PM on September 19, people in Bangkok and major cities in Thailand began to witness the appearance of armed soldiers and military vehicles around important places, such as government
houses, royal palaces, government offices, media stations, and major streets, earlier that night. As the situation was unusual to many people, many decided to take photos and videos of the happenings. As the story developed, people began to speculate that there was an attempted coup.
For example, AbsoluteInsider1, a Thai medical doctor, explained his experience in the description of the video he posted on YouTube.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/20/coup.email/index.html – Rite, so I took the dogs to the vet, and ran out of gas when the Coup d’´etat was taking place. The intention was to park and see, but then they blocked off the roads on both sides, trapped in between the media of the world. So - I usually have a camera sometimes, so just stuck around the place along with dazed tourists and everybody else. So here’s what I saw, and the rest of the world didn’t see much coz they blocked off the satellite feeds.
(AbsoluteInsider1 - Video description)
AbsoluteInsider1’s video captured an American journalist on duty reporting the sit- uation live on the first night of the coup. While leaving the audio in the background, he inserted the photos he took while he went out at the end of the video. These photos were also uploaded to his Flickr account. These actions suggest that people who witnessed the situation in Thailand did not only capture the moment for personal record, but they also tried to disseminate information about what they saw to either their personal contacts or the public. It is apparent that AbsoluteInsider1 is an active Internet user as his profile can be linked to his other accounts of online social media sites such as BlogSpot, Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Firsthand experience was not specific to only bystanders on the street. People who worked inside major media facilities (e.g., government houses, media stations, and telecommunication facilities) also witnessed the situation from a very insider perspec- tive. For instance, OutsiderIn1, a foreign journalist and TV personality in Thailand, who is famous for his English-learning program, wrote on his blog about his experience while he was working for one of the free-to-air TV stations.
It was about 8.30 pm on Tuesday night, as I was leaving Channel 3, that I received a phone call. “There’s going to be a coup tonight,” I was told. I quickly turned around and went back to the Channel 3 newsroom, where we were preparing for that night’s edition of [an illegible name of a news program]. It seems I had been the last to know about the coup... everybody in the newsroom knew already.
In the channel 3 newsroom there are six TV screens in a row, with each of the free to air channels being shown. We watch them to monitor the news. We watched as Channel 5 started playing songs in honor of His Majesty the King ... then Channel 9 (after it had broadcast the State of Emergency address by Taksin Shinawatra from New York)... then iTV.
We received a phone call that the military, along with their tanks, were coming to Channel 3. We were told to go home, but we decided not to. We just waited. ...
Soon, Channel 7 changed over to the royal music. We knew then that it would only be a matter of time before we, Channel 3, the last of the stations, would be cut off.
...
Back in the newsroom, we heard word from downstairs that the military had arrived. Not a tank. Just a group of soldiers carrying M-16s. They were very polite, and asked us to switch our signal over to Channel 5, the military channel. And so, just at the end of the soap opera, and just before [illegible text] was about to start, Channel 3 joined all the other free to air stations in showing the royal music.
...
“Why don’t you teach us some English while you’re waiting?” one of the soldiers joked, and we all had a laugh.
Yesterday . . . there was a big tank outside Channel 3. Lots of people were taking pictures of the soldiers and the tank. The soldiers were very friendly. I invited them in to learn some English with me. They smiled and said they’d like to, but they weren’t allowed to leave their posts. Channel 3 was deserted yesterday morning. Finally, just after 9 am, we went back on the air, with shows as normal.
...
There are still soldiers in and around the building today, but we are getting used to them now. Last night I taught one or two of them how to pronounce “coup” correctly.
(OutsiderIn1 - Blog)