Thailand

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy of roughly 65.8 million registered residents, governed under the 2017 constitution drafted by a military-appointed committee following the 2014 coup. The review period was exceptionally unstable. The Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on 14 August 2024 and removed Paetongtarn Shinawatra on 29 August 2025, the latter over a leaked telephone call with the Cambodian politician Hun Sen. Anutin Charnvirakul took office on 7 September 2025 with the support of the opposition People’s Party on condition that he dissolve Parliament within four months; he did so in December. At the general election of 8 February 2026 his Bhumjaithai Party won 191 certified seats, the largest of any party, and voters approved beginning the process of drafting a new constitution at a referendum held the same day. Parliament elected Anutin again on 19 March 2026 and his second cabinet took the oath on 6 April. Armed conflict broke out on the Cambodian border in July 2025 and resumed on 8 December, with a ceasefire on 27 December whose Article 8 committed both governments to refrain from disseminating false information.

RSF ranks Thailand 92nd of 180 in 2026 with a score of 53.97, down seven places from 85th and 56.72 in 2025. The security indicator fell furthest, from 80th to 103rd, and the economic indicator from 71st to 85th. RSF identifies government and military control of public and semi-public media as a structural feature of the system, and groups Thailand with Indonesia and Singapore as countries where political and business elites exploit a legal system that does not sufficiently protect the press. Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse-majesté provision, carries prison terms of up to fifteen years and has been used extensively since 2020; the Computer Crime Act creates further liabilities for online publication; and strategic lawsuits against public participation remain a continuing pressure. Broadcasting is licensed by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, whose digital terrestrial television licences expire in 2029 and which is developing a 2026 to 2030 roadmap for the post-licence broadcasting system.

State Media Monitor maps six organisations across four institutional models, none in the independent family. Three belong to the Government Public Relations Department under the Office of the Prime Minister and are classified State-Controlled (SC): NBT, the national television and radio service; NNT, the government’s news service, which the department’s 2025 restructuring no longer lists as a separate bureau; and Radio Thailand Satun, one of the provincial stations. Three are classified Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu): MCOT, a listed state enterprise 77.28 per cent owned by the Ministry of Finance and the Government Savings Bank; Thai PBS, created by its own Act in 2008 with a statutory Policy Board designed to protect its institutional and editorial independence; and Channel 5, operated within the Royal Thai Army command structure.

Thailand illustrates two distinct routes into the Captured Public/State-Managed category. MCOT and Channel 5 are state-managed outlets: both are subject to strong state governance and editorial influence, but neither is demonstrably predominantly state-funded. Thai PBS represents the other side of the category. Its statutory architecture is designed for public media independence, with its own Act, a Policy Board charged with protecting institutional autonomy, and predominantly public funding through an earmarked excise levy outside the annual budget process. Its classification rests instead on evidence that those formal safeguards have not consistently translated into editorial independence in practice.

The three PRD services meet the full State-Controlled test because governance, funding and editorial direction all remain embedded in the executive structure. Thai PBS moved from Independent Public to CaPu in 2024 following repeated evidence of contested content being withdrawn under pressure, leaving Thailand with no mapped outlet in the independent family. Channel 5 is classified CaPu from 2026, a classification correction rather than an institutional transition: stronger financial evidence shows substantial commercial and off-budget income while predominant state funding cannot be demonstrated, and its military command and editorial structure remain unchanged.

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