The professional membership of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand is dismayed by recent CNN coverage of the mass killings – mostly of children – at a daycare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu.
A CNN team entered a clearly marked crime scene without permission – no matter what they may claim. This was unprofessional and a serious breach of journalistic ethics in crime reporting.
It was not a scoop or an example of penetrating reporting because no other news organization, foreign or local, was prepared to behave in this unethical manner, and any one of them could have done so.
Thailand has been traumatized by this tragedy and there has been wide concern all along that inappropriate images should not be made public in traditional and social media. Simple respect for the deceased and their families is but one of the reasons.
It should be noted that Thailand has a difficult history with inappropriate images of violence and abuse in its media, and great strides have been made in recent years to address this problem.
Foreign and local media who did not stoop to such unethical conduct under the weight of immense international interest and editorial pressures should be commended.
CNN meanwhile should answer a simple question. Would one of their crews have behaved in the same way at a serious crime scene in the United States?