Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister and Interior Minister, in his capacity as leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, commented on proposals to amend laws in order to change the revenue sources of the Thai Public Broadcasting Service, or Thai PBS, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, or ThaiHealth, the Elderly Fund, and the National Sports Development Fund, saying the matter is now before parliament, is proceeding according to procedure, and that he had not discussed it with Supachai Jaisamut, a Bhumjaithai Party MP, regarding the submission of amendments to all four bills. As for the view that this amounts to interference in the media, the Prime Minister did not answer the question before walking out of the interview. Meanwhile, Ekapop Pienpiset, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, said the laws proposed by the Bhumjaithai Party MPs do not change the administrative structure of any agency, especially Thai PBS, so the board and the viewer network remain as before, but what changes is the budgeting method, which becomes transparent and brought into the system, and the public will get a Thai PBS that is an organisation anchored to the people and provides the information they truly want. He stressed that no amendment is being proposed to change Thai PBS's structure. As for observations that if Thai PBS receives its budget from the annual expenditure budget it would affect its news presentation, Ekapop said Thailand has many public organisations whose operations the government cannot control, for example the National Health Security Office, or NHSO. Although the Public Health Minister chairs the board, he has no absolute power to issue orders, but the budget can still be monitored, because the NHSO must disclose each year's budget and which hospitals the funds were transferred to. By contrast, Thai PBS and ThaiHealth have never clarified these matters, so the public will receive greater disclosure on this.
Proposed amendments would shift Thai PBS's revenue from dedicated sin-tax funds to the annual expenditure budget, a legal/structural change the PM referred to parliament amid media-interference concerns.
