| Insightful, In Trend, Independent | |
 | |
_Farewell_Edition_-_28_June_2019.jpg) The front page ofThe Nation last printed edition, 28 June 2019. | |
| Type | Daily newspaper (1971–2019) |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet (1971–2019) Online newspaper (Since 2019) |
| Owner(s) | Nation Group |
| Publisher | Suthichai Yoon Thepchai Yong (until 2018) |
| Editor | Supalak Ganjanakhundee (last of print edition)[1][2] |
| Founded | 1 July 1971 |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 28 June 2019 (as broadsheet) |
| Headquarters | Bang Na,Bangkok |
| Sister newspapers | Kom Chad Luek (online-only) Krungthep Turakij Post Today (online-only; since 2022)[3] Thansettakij [th] (Since 2022)[4] |
| OCLC number | 232119162 |
| Website | nationthailand |
The Nation is anEnglish-language dailyonline newspaper founded in 1971, published inBangkok,Thailand. It is one of two English-language dailies in Bangkok, the other being theBangkok Post. On 28 June 2019, it published its finalbroadsheet edition, leaving only its online edition.[5]
The Nation is Thailand's only Thai-owned English-language newspaper,[5] It is owned by theNation Group and is a member of theAsia News Network. It was considered anewspaper of record in Thailand.[6]
The Nation was founded bySuthichai Yoon on 1 July 1971[5] asThe Voice of the Nation. The name was eventually shortened toThe Nation.
The paper changed considerably in 1991, when several Thai journalists from theBangkok Post defected toThe Nation.
In 2008,The Nation laid off substantial numbers of staff and under the new editorship of former business editor Thanong Khanthong recast itself as a business newspaper, moving international wire copy to a free tabloid insert, the Daily Xpress.[7]
As of January 2018[update] the Nation Multimedia Group consisted of two digital TV stations, the English-languageNation newspaper, two Thai papers, and a publishing house. Its acquisition in 2018 by T News was the result of a three-year effort to acquire controlling stock interests in Nation Multimedia properties. The Nation conglomerate had financial difficulties for years.[8]
The two brothers who headThe Nation, Suthichai Yoon andThepchai Yong, were no longer at the paper's helm. Suthichai retired on 12 January 2018, Thepchai followed in April 2018.[8]
In 2019,print issues ofThe Nation were discontinued, replaced by an online edition solely.[9] The last paper copy will be the 28 June edition.[10]The Nation over the five preceding years has lost 30 millionbaht per year. The move was taken to halt the newspaper's losses and to expand its market. According to the NMG, only 36% ofThe Nation's readers are in Thailand. The balance live overseas, 25% in the US. The typical reader is between 25–40 years of age and prefers to read newspapers viasmartphone. The newspaper will go fully online on 1 July 2019, the 48th anniversary of its founding. Management plans to issue anaudible version of the newspaper as well as an edition inMandarin Chinese.[9]
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The Nation and theBangkok Post are similar in their coverage of international news. Their target audience is English-speaking Thai upper and upper-middle classes.[citation needed]
AfterPrime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra was elected in 2001, several companies associated with him ceased to advertise inThe Nation. The newspaper reported the advertising cuts and adopted an anti-Thaksin editorial line.[11]
ThoughThe Nation has a right-of-centre opinion page, which welcomed the2014 coup and military rule, its daily news coverage is more center-left, criticizing, for example, Thailand'slèse-majesté law.[8] According to acclaimed, left-of-centre journalist,Pravit Rojanaphruk, who worked atNation for 23 years: "The Nation, at least during its heyday ..., was a bastion of committed journalism and tolerance." But over the past decade, it "morphed from a progressive newspapers into a coup-apologist cheerleader for military intervention,..." Pravit was fired fromThe Nation in 2015 after release from a three-day junta detention without charge for "attitude adjustment", his second such detention.[12]
At the demise of the print version, someNation staff members moved to defend the publication's integrity and commitment to truthful journalism.[13]Bangkok Post columnist Andrew Biggs, who previously worked atThe Nation remembers it as "...a champion of democracy, standing up to despots, juntas, the elite and anybody else who eschewed democracy."[5]
The acquisition by T News portends a further move to the right by the Nation group. T News is ultra-royalist and pro-junta both editorially and in its daily coverage.[8]
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In December 2007, an unknown person started asatirical website calledNot The Nation, a send-up ofThe Nation's website and coverage of Thai affairs. For a while the website was non-functioning, for unknown reasons. Its pages once featured an image ofAbhisit with the quotation: "A perfectly legal site. but we're working on that" and another ofThaksin with the legend, "didn't I sue them out of existence in 2004?"[14] The site later satirized itself with a link to Who Do We Wrongly Think Is Behind NTN?[15]
Linking directly to the site post-2014 Thai coup d'état redirects to a site-suspension notice modified Thursday, 30 September 2010 at 22:59:26 UTC with an image of a hat-rack, hat, and orange beach shirt, and the legend:This site has stepped out for a bit.[16] On 3 March 2015, the site restarted "with a new executive staff appointed by Thailand's military government."[17]
In the last year of its print edition, after conservative media group T News took over, my former colleague Supalak Ganjanakhundee was appointed as editor and tried to steer the paper back towards a democratic and liberal path. But it was too late.
The Thai newspaper of record,The Nation admitted the three villages belonged to 'Lao communist administration.'
Not The Nation is for entertainment purposes only. Redistribution of Not The Nation content with attribution is permitted. Some photos and images used on Not The Nation are taken from the Internet. If one of them is yours, we apologize and are grateful. The author(s) of Not The Nation choose(s) to remain anonymous.
The new editor-in-chief, Brigadier General Somyut Phraemonwichitmuang, was presented at a press conference to exhibit his credentials and to announce the exciting future of the now junta-controlled news operation.
