Primary Investigator:

Pirongrong Ramasoota, Chulalongkorn University

Partnering Organizations:

Thai Media Policy Advocacy Center (Thai-MPAC); Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR); Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA); the Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

The combination of recent regulatory disarray and political instability in Thailand has created new environment for communications policymakers and community radio organizers--one that fragile Thai community radio networks will have to navigate.  Designed as action research, this project brings together community radio practitioners and other stakeholders (such as CR audiences and civic alliances) to collaboratively develop a regulatory model and code of practices that can strengthen community broadcasting in Thailand. The project also explore problems and obstacles that arise from new law in this area – especially the Broadcasting Act  of 2008.
 
A better regulatory framework for community radios in Thailand will emphasis on co- and self-regulation; developing and advocating codes of practice for community broadcasting; stronger participation and input from stakeholders in civil society and the academy; and a stronger collective understanding and response to the new Broadcasting Act.

The project is also expected to impact the academic and the public policy communities in this area.  Although communications research has a 40-year history in Thailand, this work has been primarily behavioral.  Policy research has been largely neglected--in part because there are few successful models of intervention.  This project hopes to provide one.  This dialogue and its final research output will also inform the reorganization of Thai regulatory authorities in this area--a remarkable opportunity that has the potential to greatly strengthen the infrastructure for evidence-based media and communications policymaking in Thailand.