In Thailand, the reporting by the US broadcaster CNN from the scene of the daycare massacre has triggered indignation among the country’s authorities and media representatives.
The police want to take legal action against the film crew, the Bangkok Post reported on Sunday. The film team is accused of entering the interior of the daycare center where an ex-policeman killed 23 children and several teachers on Thursday.
Screenshots of a TV switch show CNN correspondent Anna Coren reporting from a daycare room. Impressions from inside the facility are also described in an online report by the broadcaster. A photo by a Thai journalist also showed a member of the CNN crew climbing over a fence cordoned off with safety tape.
FCCT: “serious violation of journalistic ethics”
The Thai journalists’ association FCCT described the reporting as “unprofessional” and “serious violation of journalistic ethics”. Thailand was traumatized by the tragedy, the statement said. It was a “wide concern not to publish inappropriate images in classic or social media”, solely out of respect for the victims’ relatives.
CNN denied the accusation of entering the house without permission. Like other media, the crew filmed on the daycare grounds when the police tape was not in place, the broadcaster said on Twitter in response to the FCCT. “During filming, three health officials spoke to the crew as they exited the building and said they could shoot inside.” When they left the house after about 15 minutes, the barrier tape was in place, so the team had to climb over the fence, the statement said.
National and international media were in the north-eastern province over the weekend to report on the daycare massacre. The police officer, who had been dismissed from service for drug-related offenses, killed 36 people on Thursday before taking his own life. Burials for the dead, including many young children, began Saturday at temples in the Na Klang community. Thailand’s royal couple and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha traveled to the region on Friday to express their support to the bereaved and injured.
