Thailand has a well-developed mass media sector, especially by Southeast Asian standards. The Thai government and the military have long exercised considerable control, especially over radio and TV stations. During the governments of Thaksin Shinawatra and the subsequent military-run administration after the 2006 coup and military coup of 2014, the media in Thailand—both domestic and foreign—have suffered from increasing restrictions and censorship, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt.
In its Freedom of the Press 2017 report, Freedom House labeled the Thai press as "not free". Reporters Without Borders in 2021 ranked Thailand 137th out of 180 nations in press freedom, up three spots from 2020. Assaults on press freedom have continued in 2020, including self-censorship from mainstream media on the demands to reform the Thai monarchy during the 2020–2021 Thai protests.
On World Press Freedom Day 2015, four of Thailand's professional media organizations issued a joint statement calling for the military government to revoke onerous press restrictions and cease political interference with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand.
Television
Television is by far the most popular medium in Thailand. Almost 80 percent of Thais are estimated to rely on television as their primary source of news. Major television stations are owned and controlled by the Royal Thai Army, MCOT and government.
Radio
Thailand has 204 AM stations, 334 FM stations, and six shortwave broadcasters (as of 2011). As is the case with television, radio broadcasting is supposed to be regulated by the Broadcasting Commission (NBC). However, because there were delays in establishing the NBC (now NBTC), radio frequencies had remained in the hands of several governmental agencies, including the military, police, state universities, The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, The Government Public Relations Department (PRD) (National Broadcasting Services of Thailand), and MCOT Public Company Limited. These agencies operate several stations directly while the remainder are leased out to private content providers.
Community radio stations operated with low-power transmitters have proliferated in the last few years, offering listeners an alternative to the government-controlled stations. However, the government has recently shut down many community radio stations on the grounds that they operated stronger transmitters than permitted, interfering with existing frequencies. On the other hand, critics of the government allege that the stations that were shut down were targeted because they featured programs that were critical of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's policies.
In Nakhon Ratchasima Province as well as in other locations, several community radio stations were shut down, after several warnings from governmental agencies, when it was proven that their signals were interfering with air traffic control and overlapping signals of other stations. It is estimated that there are 4,000 known "illegal" community radio stations in Thailand. Some critics claim that the actual number of "unlicensed" community radio stations are twice the government estimate. After Thaksin Shinawatra was removed from power, community radio activities were more and more attuned to address political controversies that had been spun off after the coup d'état of 2006.
The military junta parliament passed a Broadcasting Act of 2008 in December 2007. It came into force in March 2008. The new law revokes the old one which reserved monopoly rights in the broadcast sector to the government and governmental agencies. The new law requires that all broadcasters, stations, and operators have a license from the broadcasting regulator to be appointed by the senate.