Julian assange and Glen Greenwald are not on the same page. Japan is not backwards. It looks that way in our web video of the week. Thailand and its media are under the control of the army once again. The coup de tat, thailands 5th since 1977 brought an end to another collatcally elected government. The last time this happened was in 2006 when a business tycoon overthrown. This time, it was his sister, yingluk being ousted. Although he was seen as the power behind the throne pulling the strings from due by. Thailands new military leader is general priuth chanocha. When martial law was declared, half of the provisions in that law dealt specifically with the thai media and freedom of expression. Since then, journalists have been arrested. Others have been schooled on how to report the coup to put a lid on a debate. Im Thomas Draytondraiton. Our starting point this week is bangkok. May 20th, the Thai Military declares martial law. Its 2014, but the announcement by general chan ocha made at a desk to a single camera against a drab background looked like something out of the 1970s. Same day, all television and radio stations except the military channel are shut down. Three days later, the operators of the countrys isps, Internet Service providers, are called in and given their marching orders by the military. As one official explained, this is not censorship at all but a blockade of only content or websites which may cause conflict and unrest and a threat to national security. The next day, may 24th, there was a similar meeting, with the army calling in the editors of 18 major newspapers. In the space of just five days, the media in thailand, mainstream t. V. And radio, new media as well as print all saw the rul the rules of reporting change. When martial law was declared, it was clear one of the targets that they wanted to control was the media. What is different from the previous coup is that in the past, it was targeted at the red faction. In this case, we have seen that the orders have gone out to the media of both faxes, competing ones, red and yellow. They were talking about particularly asia update which is associated with the Red Shirt Movement of form her Prime Minister or the blue sky channel, which is closely associated with the pdrc, the protesters were occupying parts of bangkok for several months from november and december on wards those stations are much more partisan, educating the masses and moving things a particular direction. So the military is uncomfortable with this kind of television station. It was a blanket ban on everyone. Since then, they have lifted the suspension for the cable free to air stations but its under strict conditions. So there are limits to what content can be aired. There are limits to who can they can interview and, also, there is basically a prohibition to air content that would be critical of the decisions that have come and i think that this is really to sort of stop any more of the content that they think would be divisive. The new government issued 12 provisions in its martial law declaration, a 12step program of sorts to rehabilitate thai democracy. Some of those traditions were standard martial law fare, the imposition of a curfew, limiting public gatherings but six related directly to the media, a reflex of where the countrys new leaders think that any challenge to their rule may come from. Various media, radio, televisions, social medias and so on have taken a sort of very partisan position supporting the government site and some support the antigovernment site. I think that has led to more anting a information. What the military is trying to do is for the media to report on the facts, on the actual situation, to be more informative rather than to pose a question that might lead to more anger. Wanting to encourage people to stand up and oppose the military. With the foreign media, they dont want the kind of debates that normally take place between those who oppose the coup and those who support the coup to take place. On . Please, please, please. Sorry. I dont know anything. They are worried people in thailand will see this, but they are also, they dont want too much made of this whole issue of whether or not the coup is justified or not. I have covered three coup de tat. And i have observed military control room is exerted to try to get us to adapt us. It didnt does mean for the longterm. It wouldnt be possible anyway. There has never been any junta in the past that has been successful in doing so. The media landscape in thailand today took shape in the late 1990s when the government first allowed privately owned channels to share the airwaves with the stateowned broadcaster thaipbs but the big change came when tachsen appear is bought an ailing television channel, itv and made it his own. One year later in 2001, he was e limited Prime Minister. His understanding of how modern media work and the fact that he owned so much media paved his way to pour in bangkok. He was one of the people who really saw the potential of mobile phones and satellites to transform the way that messages reached people. He used radio to communicate to people very strong messages and to empower new groups of voters who had been neglected by previous leaders. Thats one of the key reasons why they were able to win every 2001. In fact, we had less freedom of expression as a result of his growing control of the media. He used his influence with editors to shape the coverage. The media felt pressured into complying. To now claim that the media has lost freedom of expression as a result of the coup is not right. We have our freedom of press infringed upon for a long time, sense his era. The question now becomes how long until the thai media are allowed to operate freely once again . How long until democracy is restored . On may 26th, the general chinocha met the media and showed little tolerance for their questions. In the News Conference as well as end of Media Freedom in thailand at least for the time being. I am not speaking in favor of the coup. I believe in freedom of expression. But if democracy as we see it is hurting us, if someone who comes into power doesnt govern under the principles and drags the country backwards, the media sector needs to reevaluate the understanding of democracy and allow for a group of people to come in and reform the system. However, if the junta drags feet and holds on to power, the media wont stand for it. The freedom of expression in the media exacerbates everything. The military controls everything. It is not a temporary situation. The threat facing the media internally and externally will continue. There also need to be a reform. It cannot come from the military. It has to come from the media about media, itself. Our Global Village voices now on the current state of journ journalism in thailand. They have to control the media to stop the escalating tension in the country potentially fueled by unconfirmed reports in the media. I think some of these reports may have played a contributing role in the Current Situation the country is facing. As a result, the media felt the media had to be kept in check. But i dont think this has made a difference, this situation in the country because the ease of access that social media provides does make it possible for News Coverage to bypass the user. In each of thailands militaryled coups, there have been restrictions placed on media. In some ways, so far, this coup is proving unique. Recent developments have seen that army display almost a complete disregard for maintaining even the appearance of a free press in thailand. For now, thailand remains a deeply polarized country with a deeply polarized media. For the press in thailand, it seems the situation likely to become far worse before it gets these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested these people have chased a president from power, theyve torn down a state. Whats clear is that people dont just need protection, they need assistance. Now inroducing, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. Get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. A global perspective wherever you are. The major headlines in context. Mashable says. Youll never miss the latest news they will continue looking for suvivors. The potential for Energy Production is huge. No noise, no clutter, just real reporting. The new Al Jazeera America mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. Download it now tonight on Al Jazeera America at 8, primetime news. Our fearless journalists bring you Ground Breaking reports from around the world, and here at home. This has been one of the hottest of the hotspots. Then at 9, its Al Jazeera America presents. The system with Joe Burlinger a Justice System run by human beings can run off the rails. And at 10, dont miss the best the best of america tonight, in depth reports, with unique perspectives. What good could you be doing here . Everybody has an opportunity. Tonight primetime, only on Al Jazeera America time for listening post news bites. An italian photo journ ist and his russian fixer have become the first killed in Eastern Ukraine since the start of the fighting there. Andrea rokeli and miranof were caught in military fire. A french photographer was wounded in that attack. He survived. Rokelly cofounded a photo collective in 2008. He had covered afghanistan and the arab spring for outlets including lemonde, Foreign Policy and others in russia. The londonbased independent newspaper reports media workers are routinely certain hostage in Eastern Ukraine and that nearly every day since the beginning of april, a new missing persons report is filed by the families of working journalists. Two russians were both taken on may 18th and held for almost a week. Upon their release, they warned other journalists of the mortal danger of working in ukraine. Two pakistani newspapers, the daily jung and the news have joined the coreos of Media Outlets who have criticized deo t. V. , Pakistans National intelligence service. The twist is that the two newspapers are owned by the same company that owns geo. The initial story in mid april was on the shooting of hamid mir who survived the attack which he, his family and geo all blamed on the isi. The papers initially echoed those accusations in their reporting. Then, in identical front page statements published may 26th, both described their coverage of the mir case as excessive and emotional. Geo has come under a continuous barrage of criticism by the ministry of defense. The channel has been threatened with prosecution and been pushed to the bottom of the t. V. Listings by pakistani cable networks. He job descriptions are getting the feeling they may have seen the last of batam musaf. His program was taken off of the area back in april as the president ial election kicked off. The channel involved the saudi owned nbc. It said at the time he would return may 30th after the vote because nbc was keen on respecting the electoral process on that egyptian voters orientation and Public Opinion wont be influenced by youssef. Foy days before the planned returned, they announced the show would not be back and gave no indication if it would but saying they would have more to say on the subject sometime insert punch line here. A slight crack has appeared in the alliance between Julian Assange and glen great deal greenwald with a new Media Venture called the intercept. Greenwold edits it based upon more leaked snowden documents which said there are five countries in which the u. S. Is capturing all information from private mobile phone calls. Itnamed 4 but left the last one blank. Wiki leaks reported it and accused the intercept of censorship a dustup ensued with the intercept saying the omission came at the request of the u. S. Government and editors decided releasing the information could put unnamed people at risk. Glen greenwald has been a big fan of assange and when snowden was seeking asylum some key wiki leaks staffers were sent there to help him out. This edit oral agreements can between the two and what comes of it will be worth watching. In the seven and a half years we have been producing the listening post, we have looked at the media in many spanishspeaking countries through our coverage of latin america, but we have never really taken a close look at spain in the media there. What got our attention, changes at the top of three of the most infleuential spanish newspapers three editors in chief let go in three months. This story has angels both political and economic. El mundo came on the heels of a corruption story that has the government on the ropes. Spanish papers have been feeling a wider financial crisis and competition from the internet and there are the issues of con stripeses of interest of the banks that have loaned ended up owning shares. How hard kate new editors of those newspapers push on the coverage of the Financial Sector and its relationship with spanish politics . The listening post from the spanish capitol, madrid. We are in the middle of a lot of storms. The economic crisis, the whole European Crisis and the media crisis. We have gone through a difficult situation, many very experienced journalists have lost their jobs as a result of the measures. These are the times we live in. We didnt choose them. Every time someone is replaced because of political or comic interests, the ethics of journalism deteriorates. What we can expect from el munda and el pais is a loss of journalistic quality, a loss of objectivity. In the middle of all of these storms. Last year, spanish newspaper mundo had its own watergate when it broke a huge political story, a story of secret Cash Payments to politicians from a slush fund Text Messages that indicated the Prime Minister and had him fending off coups for his resignation. It wasnt the prime primary who resigned. It was el mundos editor who had to step down. He said the reasons for his firing were political. But pedro hota as he is known is not the only editor in chief to see the door. Others all in the space of months. For the two most important papers in the country, the moves are about plummeting sales. They fired a lot of people. They have cut wages significantly. They still have financial problems. The spains third most important paper, the reasons are different. The editor works for independence the owner was not. So, he replaced him. There were all of these politics behind the newspaper newspapers. But i guarantee you, there is nothing political or economic or whatever kind of power behind the change of the editor. It is true that the decision was taken at the time b el mun to do was being critical. Government. Fundamentally with the barcelenas affair, but the final decision was a corporate one. Speps Mainstream Press has had so many money worries, its been hard to focus on journalism. Since the 2008 financial meltdown, advertising revenues have shrunk by 60 dozens of Media Outlets are closed and thousands of employees have been laid off. After that, the steep dreck drop in circulation due to free digital alternatives, the papers are under pressure to change things. We are committing suicide by charging for newspapers and not for online content. The public needs to realize information cannot be free if its going to be good. Quality journalism costs money. If it doesnt recover, we will have to charge the public or find an alternative. But we havent found it yet. Like all other media, we are reading by free via the internet. But we established a pay like mobile technology, we have to develop new sources of revenue. For spains news consumers skeptical of the written press, they could turn to t. V. But there have been upheavals there, too. When the government came to pour in 2011, a purge of stateowned t. V. Followed. Largescale redundancies, a trail of well hine known journalists fired and the removal of one who the government accused of liberal bice, it wasnt the first time an incoming government changed things up at tve. What was unprecedented was the extent of the restructuring. At a time when spains public brought a lot of faith in the key institutions, judicial, economic, political, even the monarch e, its the duty to hold those institutions to accounting. Spains Mainstream Press, being reliable watchdog is proving to be a challenge because that crisis of credibility extends to their doorstep. The for the founded in the post franco era gained a reputation spain. Its. Owners are facing debt problems and are partly owned by the Bank Including the relationship putting the papers journalism you would the microscope. Recently, the family which runs santande was investigated for tax fraud. The story made news around the world. They buried it deep inside the paper. What is clear is that the newspaper that is completely dependent upon someone who finances it is not going to question them. Self censorship kicks in. I wont be reporting that story because my boss is going to get angry. If someone does dare to report it, the boss will get angry and will take action. The link between economic and Financial Sectors and the journalistic world means death for reporting, death for journalism. Relax. Relax. I mean we are not on the verge of destruction of democracy really. We live in kind of a world where you need banks but to take the decision and lead this newsroom, hightech decision of what i am going to write freely, absolutely freely. Absolutely freely advises readers will be the judges of that because in this, the age of austerity in europe, the credibility of the media is just one more commodity that spaniards are finding in short supply. More Global Village voices on journalism, particularly on the print side in spain. A new wave of online journalism has emerged which supports grassroots movements n terms of the impact of the crisis are media workers, the crisis has left many talent the journalists out of work. Some are working freelance or are selffinanced to make a name for themselves. But its a brutal time for the journalistic profession in the current climate. Ultimately, the media is owned by big corporations and banks who will defend their own interests. Its reflected in their narrative on austerity measures taken during the crisis. They do talking about the dramatic consequences of the crisis, but they fail to give alternative solutions in the political cause causes for it. This ends up affecting journalism going through a precarious time. Misbehaving children locked up doing time while they should be in school. They have to prepare for jail throwing away our future were using the same failed policies in districts throughout the country are we failing our kids . Fault lines Al Jazeera Americas hard hitting. Theyre locking the doors. Ground breaking. We have to get out of here. Truth seeking. Award winning investigative documentary series fault lines the school to prison pipeline only on Al Jazeera AmericaAl Jazeera America. We understand that every news story begins and ends with people. The efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. We pursue that story beyond the headline, pass the spokesperson, to the streets. Thousands of riot Police Deployed across the capital. We put all of our Global Resources behind every story. It is a scene of utter devastation. And follow it no matter where it leads all the way to you. Al jazeera america, take a new look at news. Real reporting from around the world. This is what we do. Al jazeera america. Finally, sometime back in the 19th century, who was considered the first existential philosopher says life must be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards. We dont know if the makers of this video have read this but the idea was simple, film someone walking backwards through the streets of tokyo and play that footage in reverse which looks like he is walking forwards and the rest of the city is out of step. The country comes from sandal, a french duo, called tokyo reverse with nearly 100,000 hits online we have made it the web video of the week. We will see you next time at the listening post. Lynetta kizer good to have you with us. This is Al Jazeera America. Im Thomas Drayton in new york. Lets get you caught up on the top stories of this hour. An emotional day of the parents of bowe bergdahl, who are yet to speak to their son. The release of the taliban prisoner sparks criticism in afghanistan. Inside territory held by prorussian rebels, our reporters are escorted by guards. The g7 summit gets under way, but Vladimir Putin will not be at the table due