The data from both publicly available documents and interviews indicates that people reacted to the information received based on the obstacles they perceived. The major obstacles include the censorship of mainstream media by the military, the difficulties of accessing telecommunication networks, and cultural barriers.
Mainstream Media Censorship
The interruption of the traditional media played an important role in terms of influencing people’s behaviors. As mentioned earlier the mainstream media was used as a battlefield to gain authoritative power; a number of people witnessed the way the military controlled the traditional media. As the situation seemed noteworthy and critical to them, some people captured photos and videos of TV screens (either by using a camera or a special screen capture device) and uploaded these images to the Internet. A number of bloggers also reported what they saw on the TV screen. For example, AnonymousIn1 wrote one of his first blog posts about the coup describing what was showing on the television screen.
Cable television is no longer operating in Bangkok (3:30am) ...
What was on Thai television at 11:30pm? Every Bangkok TV station was playing a videos of the Thai Royal Family. Here is a photo of the local Thai TV (four and a half hours ago). Shown on the screen is HM the King of Thailand who is greatly beloved by the Thai people.
(AnonymousIn1 - Blog)
Two days later, even though the media resumed their normal programs, people still experienced interventions in media operation, not only of local stations, but also inter- national streams.
I was watching BBC World today. They interviewed a Thai academic who had just begun to express an opinion critical of the junta. Zap! BBC World was off the air until the segmant had finished. Clean and clinical censorship – exactly the way it’s done in China today. It’s quite ironic, really. The guy the army deposed, Thaksin, was widely criticized for having exerted too much control over the Thai media.
(AnonymousIn1 - Blog)
Another example is from a Thai blogger, AbsoluteInsider6, who was among a few bloggers who did live updating during the early stage of the coup. Below are examples of her live blogging.
Blast to the Past
The tanks have taken to the streets.
Jesus Christ, we’ve gone back in time twenty years.
(Maybe this is inappropriate, but I wonder if this means finals are cancelled...) @ 12:16 AM: CNN, BBC, CNBC, and Bloomberg news have all been suspended due to a “sun outage.” I smell bullshit; lots of it. Interesting how the “sun outage” should happen just in time for Thaksin’s speech at the UN General Assembly.
...
Coup D’Etat Part Deux
airport, I flipped on the radio to 102.5 and SexyBack by Justin Timberlake was on, followed by silence, then Nelly Furtado’s Maneater, and then...more silence. For some reason I have this mental image of a military dude sitting in a closed radio booth trying to decide on what to turn on next – Stars are Blind by Paris Hilton or Buttons by the Pussycat Dolls? Oh, the dilemma! (AbsoluteInsider6 - Blog)
Other evidence of the way people experienced media censorship comes from a few photos posted on Flickr depicting officers trying to stop or question cameramen from recording the situation in prohibited areas (for example, the army headquarters, palaces, etc.). One of the photos is of a soldier who was guarding the army headquarters and its description says, “Posing for the camera. This guy wanted to know if we were with CNN.”
Nonetheless, whether or not people agreed with the media censorship or the coup, it was legitimate and understandable to many people when put it in the context of the coup as OutsiderIn2 pointed out on his blog:
I thought, ‘In this day and age, censorship is clumsy, if not impossible to pull off.’ It makes the coup plotters look ridiculous. However, I did understand the immediate extreme sensitivity that exists after the coup as an insincere military makes sure all bases are covered and no resistance will come.
(OutsiderIn2 - Interview)
So as AbsoluteInsider7, a Thai Wikipedia editor, observed, local media were used to formalize the operation of the coup.
TV was only for updating the announcements. My observation was the coup was trying to formalize the procedure in order to be more transparent and righteous.
...
There was no evidence to me that the media was bias or conceal anything. (AbsoluteInsider7 - Interview)
However, when comparing the situation of the 2006 coup to other coups in the past, especially the Black May coup in 1992, the media censorship in the 2006 coup was less
intense as people had many more alternatives to access coup-related information. At the same time, the fact that the regular TV programs were on the air the next morning led to a sense of relief. What OutsiderIn2 described seems to summarize this perspective well.
Just in comparison with [1992] when the radio and TV were taken over and newspapers were hard to come by (there was also no foreign cable TV). ...
In 2006 there were websites, blogs, newspaper websites, SMS messages, email, cable TV, and even the TV stations locally were back to normal right away. It seemed like one had access to a lot more sources of info than ever before. (OutsiderIn2 - Interview)
Difficulties of Communication Networks
Although there was no official announcement from the coup leaders on restriction of communication networks, some people had difficulty accessing phone lines and the In- ternet during that time. Apparently, the inability to access the communication network intensified the need for information to many people. Without any clarification from the military or telecommunication service providers, people had to deal with uncertainty, speculating what actually caused such difficulties (mostly between the military interven- tion or traffic jam).
I was not that panic[ed] but rather dying to know what would be the next thing the military do. I first called my mom and told her that I was ok and later tried to call my friends but suddenly the telephone connection just broke down. We could only get the information from the internet only. One thing that made me feel upset is the truth that in Thailand, we always like to shut people[’s] eyes from the truth when something serious happen!!! we will cut the phone line, show only the beautiful thing on the TV while letting people guessing what is going on... I knew in my heart that I couldn’t wait longer to hear the further info. of the news, I needed to come before my Father and asked Him to give me a peaceful heart and gave me the wisdom to pray for my country. I came back to my bed room and started to pray and pleaded [to] God to bring the revival and healing to this country...
(InsiderOut1 - Blog)
In addition to speculating on the cause of the difficulty, people also thought about an alternative plan. With the rumor that the Internet might be closed down, AbsoluteIn- sider6, for instance, expressed her concerns about how the coup leaders were going to deal with such a situation.
They better not “suspend” the internet. If I wanted to be cut off from the rest of the world, I’d live in North Korea.
...
@ 2:22 AM: Internet’s going to be cut down in a few hours. I’m trying to get as much down here while I can. With access to CNN, BBC, and CNBC down, who knows how we’re going to find out what’s going on now?
(AbsoluteInsider6 - Blog)
However, since the difficulty in access was temporary and sporadic, some people were not concerned and perceived that such an obstacle was not an issue.
It worked. Everything worked. All communication was up and working in- cluding the internet (although the net slowed to almost a stop at some points– probably due to heavy usage).
(OutsiderIn2 - Interview)
Cultural Barriers
Another obstacle that arose during the early stage of the coup came from a cultural perspective. Since the coup was not only of domestic interest, people around the world also wanted to know about the situation. However, communicating across cultures was somewhat problematic and challenging. The role of cultural barriers has two apparent aspects: political knowledge and language.
With regard to political knowledge about Thailand and the coup, people who were not familiar with Thai politics were confused with names and ideas. One form of evidence comes from pictures and videos of the official coup announcements. There were a number of comments related to these items that asked about the cultural significance of those
who appeared in the pictures or videos.
Another form of evidence of the political knowledge gap comes from the people, bloggers in particular, who raised questions and provided the answers that they received. The questions posted were often about the history of the coup d’´etat in Thailand, the coup leaders, or even the terminology used. InsiderOut2, a Thai student abroad, wrote the following on his blog.
‘‘ปฏิรูปฯลูก ไม่ใช่ปฏิวัติ’’ พ่อบอกตอนโทรกลับบ้านเมื่อวาน ‘‘ต่างกันยังไงหว่า’’ คิดในใจ แต่ก็คุยๆต่อไป ‘‘เดี๋ยวจะไปเปิดดูว่าต่างกันยังไง’’ แล้วก็เปิดดูเรียบร้อยละ ข้อมูลจาก Wikipedia รัฐประหาร (Coup d’´etat) คือ การเปลี่ยนแปลงการปกครองหรือองค์ประกอบของการปกครอง อย่างกระทันหันและไม่เป็นแบบแผน เช่น ที่เกิดขึ้นเนี่ย ปฏิวัติ (Revolution) คือ การเปลี่ยนแปลงระบอบการปกครอง เช่น การเปลี่ยนแปลงการ ปกครองสมัยพ.ศ.๒๔๗๕ ปฏิรูป (Reform) คือ การเปลี่ยนแปลงอย่างค่อยเป็นค่อยไป และเป็นไปในทางที่ดีขึ้น สรุปว่า เมื่อวานเขาทำรัฐประหาร เพื่อจะได้มีการปฏิรูปการเมืองการปกครอง ปฏิวัติมันแรงไป
[“A reform, son, not a coup.” My dad told me when I called back home yesterday.
“How do they differ?” I thought, but keep talking “I will check about this afterward.”
And I already checked it out. This is fom Wikipedia.
[Ratthapraharn] Coup d’´etat is a sudden and non-pattern change of adminis- tration or any component of administration like what is happening now. [Patiwat] Revolution is a change of administration system such as the change of administration in 1932.
[Patiroop] Reform is a slow-moving change and for a better result.
Therefore, they stage a coup d’´etat to change politics and administration. The term Revolution is too harsh.]
(InsiderOut2 - Blog)
used were widespread across the Internet. In addition, during an interview for this study, one of the informants asked me why I use the term Patiwat not Rattapraharn. This terminological gap led to many discussions and conversations, regardless of whether or not they involved Thai or foreigners.
The second element of cultural barriers deals with language across the international community. It was not too surprising to see a number of conversations asking someone to translate what is written or said in the photos or videos. For example, a user, AbsoluteInsider8, uploaded a TV screen shot of the coup announcement in Thai onto his Flickr account. The only description of the picture was the caption, which says in Thai “Thai Coup tonight”. When a commentator asked him in English saying “What does it say?”, he responded back in English saying:
Oh! I’m not good at [English], anyone could help me this? please.... sorry, but I’ll try later if I could.
(AbsoluteInsider8 - photo comment)
Other evidence of language barriers emerged even for bloggers who were fluent in both Thai and English. Sometimes these bloggers decided to stop translating the content to save time and labor. For example, when it comes to providing links to other sources, instead of translating, some bloggers inserted a caption next to the links informing the readers that these links are for Thai readers only.
The inability to translate in juxtaposition with the intensified need for information led to confusion and frustration, which appeared in a number of the discussions and conversations online. Consider the comments on a video of the third announcement of the coup posted by AnonymousOut1.
[Comment1] (2006-09-19T19:56:52.000Z): Can someone put up a translation for this announcement?
...
and who is the man speaking?
[Comment3] (2006-09-19T22:37:51.000Z): Yeah, really interesting! I hope there won’t be any bloodshed.
[Comment4] (2006-09-19T22:46:39.000Z): seriously...can we get a thai speaker, please???
[Comment5] (2006-09-19T23:22:26.000Z): I’m in Bangkok right now, but I can’t speak Thai... we desperately need someone to translate. News/phone networks has been cut off and we can’t find out anything but from the slow internet
[Comment6] (2006-09-20T00:01:50.000Z: Translation in English : “We’ve de- cided to have a mass sex change operation..We all decided to come out of the closet today. Yay Gay. Gay Pride Hurrah tumbalo pi pi”
[Comment7] (2006-09-20T00:15:10.000Z): Bangkok got Coup’d out the Wazoo. [Comment8] (2006-09-20T01:04:32.000Z): Using a lot of formal language...a lot of unnecessary words. Simply put, a new PM is being assigned.
[Comment9] (2006-09-20T01:49:03.000Z): Too bad! I really hope the military begins to target westerners and begins a mass extermination of people who don’t speak Thai. SIEG HIEL!!!
[Comment9] (2006-09-20T01:51:31.000Z): Disregard my comment, I typed it up but didn’t mean to post it. Sorry, just ignore it again, I’m an f***ing dumbass...
[Comment10] (2006-09-20T02:22:49.000Z): I hope no civilian will be the victim in this military operation.
[Comment11] (2006-09-20T02:35:45.000Z): He just says the constitution has been revoked, also the Assembly. Privy Counsil still maintain their positions. Lastly, all courts except Constitution Court still able to do their jobs. Peaceful movements to let Taksin didn’t work, so Thai Army just pushed a reset button. I hope this coup is not gonna be worse like the one 15 years ago.
...
[Comment12] (2006-09-20T21:35:50.000Z): No translation arr?? I really insist to know wht he says....
[Comment13] (2006-09-21T23:54:31.000Z): i hope so 2 :P
[Comment14] (2006-10-15T07:05:30.000Z): Well, that was pretty boring, errm he didn’t really say anything significant. just stated some years and something about democracy, but that’s as much thai as I know
(AnonymousOut1 - Video comments)
Apparently this conversation ended unsatisfactorily with no translation of the content of the video.
Another example is from Wikipedia editors and their discussion about the English name of the coup. As there was no official name in English, there were a number of variations of the name of the coup. When it comes to writing an encyclopedia article about it, apparently one must be chosen.
Some naming conventions
Lets agree, if at all possible, on how to translate some Thai terms used in the coup.
- The provisional government: Media sites have called this the Administra- tive Reform Council [3], the Party of Democratic Reform [4], the Council for Democratic Reform [5], and Council for Political Reform [6].
- - [WikiEditor1] 04:41, 20 September 2006 (UTC): Until this officially clears up, I’d like to use “Administrative Reform Council”, as that is what The Nation is using, and over the coming weeks, the Thai newspapers will become the primary news sources.
- - [WikiEditor1] 04:47, 20 September 2006 (UTC): The Bangkok Post is using Council for Democratic Reform. I’d rather use the Nations, as the Post doesn’t keep permanent copies of articles up.
- [WikiEditor1] 06:43, 20 September 2006 (UTC): The regime leader: Sonthi Boonyaratkalin is the spelling that is used for his article title. It is sometimes spelt Sondhi; this isn’t his official spelling and can cause confusion with Sondhi Limthongkul. Please make sure to change the spelling to make it consistent. - - [WikiEditor2] 04:44, 20 September 2006 (UTC): Thai names: Thais use their given names as the public form of their names. Thus with Thaksin Shinawatra, his surname is Shinawatra, but he is always called Prime Minister Thaksin.
- - [WikiEditor3] 05:45, 20 September 2006 (UTC): Wow, how interesting. That’d be like us saying “President Bill” or “President George” rather than Presidents Clinton and Bush.
- - - [WikiEditor1] 05:50, 20 September 2006 (UTC): Surnames are a relatively modern innovation for Thais. I think less than a century ago, people still didn’t use surnames, and Thai people to this day never address people by
surname. ...
(English Wikipedia Entry - Discussions)
The sense-making of communication obstacles of people during the early stage of the coup indicates that people expected they could have resumed the normal flow of information. The roles of media, communication network, and language difference were rising as they seemed to be “taken for grant” prior to the normative world failed to function properly.