A Thai government official has warned Fox News that its reputation could suffer from comments by running a report which labeled the kingdom “lame,” “cruel” and “awful.”
Foreign Affairs spokesman Sek Wannamethee said the ministry would pen a letter to Fox News repudiating criticism by commentator Greta Van Susteren over Thailand’s delay in releasing information relevent to the search for a missing Malaysian airplane
“She should not have hastily drawn up conclusion, or criticism, or comments without studying all the facts,” Sek told Khaosod. “Such action will also affect the credibility of Fox News, which is a leading news organisation in the U.S.”
His understanding of Fox seems half correct, perhaps not understanding its success is built on a business model of outrage, not news reporting.
Last week a snarling Van Susteren ranted that Thailand was “the lamest country of the day” for withholding the information, adding her opinion that this was the “pathetic” and “cruel” actions of “jerks.”
Given her complete confusion as to the meaning of “off the record,” this must be what Van Susteren considers “hard hitting” journalism.
She then went on to somehow suggest the nation should be ashamed because it received aid after a devastating tsunami 10 years ago.
“Shame on Thailand,” she growled. “Yes, Thailand, that same country the world rallied to help when they got hit by a tsunami in 2004.”
On Facebook, Van Susteren responded Saturday to what she described as “lots of emails” complaining.
“This falls under the headline: WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE?” she wrote. “I can’t believe I need to explain this to some (those who are part of a writing campaign that I need to apologize to the people of Thailand! Think about it…. If I say “Russia invaded Crimea,” of course I do not mean EVERY Russian is invading Crimea. Likewise, if I criticize Thailand (jerk?) because of withheld radar information about Flight 370, I don’t mean EVERY person in Thailand. Does this really need explaining? Apparently to some people. I am getting lots of emails about it. And by the volume of email on this, it occurs to me that some (certainly not all) are more concerned with how I describe something than whether 239 people are missing or even murdered. Oh well…”
Photo: Greta Van Susteren
Related:
Fox News: Thailand is ‘lame,’ ‘cruel,’ and ‘awful’ (VIDEO)
Brian Sumpter says
When Sustern says "The same Thailand that the world helped in 2004 with tsunami aid" she sure is insulting all Thai people. Get rid of Fox, its owned by the far-right republican Murdoch, and as the only American news channel, its one of the things I really disliked about Thailand. They twist stories and spout right-wing propaganda almost non-stop. You would think Americans hate the President from watching, its not true, except for the people who watch this channel. CNN and AJAM are far better, and even-handed.