"Bangkok publisher sued over airport criticism"

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

'Post' faces criminal libel suit for airport runway crack report
'Runways crack' article deemed defamatory, say Thai airports 
Thailand - The Bangkok Post


Airports of Thailand (AoT) and New Bangkok International Airport (NBIA) have
filed a criminal libel lawsuit against Post Publishing Plc and the editor of
the Bangkok Post, alleging defamation by last Tuesday's news report that
there were severe cracks on Suvarnabhumi airport runways.

On Wednesday, a retraction was published on the paper's front page after a
tour of the airport's West Runway found no large cracks on "touch down''
points, as the paper had reported. There were small cracks on the shoulders,
but the Post said the source who told it that US experts believed the runway
would have to be rebuilt was clearly wrong.

The NBIA and AoT yesterday jointly filed the libel lawsuit against Post
Publishing and Kowit Sanandang, the editor of the Bangkok Post, for alleged
defamation by means of publication.

The maximum penalty for criminal libel is two years' imprisonment and a
200,000 baht fine.

According to the suit, on Aug 9 the Post published false information on the
front page which stated: "A team of US aviation experts is insisting that
both runways of Suvarnabhumi airport need reconstruction as there are severe
cracks that are large enough to sink the nose wheel of an aircraft. They are
also not tiny cracks on runaway shoulders that the deputy transport minister
showed to reporters.''

The paper also reported that Mr Thaksin unofficially brought the American
experts onto the airport construction site in Samut Prakan to inspect the
large cracks.

The lawsuit states the report caused readers and pilots worldwide to
mistrust Suvarnabhumi airport's aircraft landing safety. It said it has also
affected Thai tourism, trade and confidence in the reliability of both AoT
and the NBIA.

Both firms asked the court to move quickly to restore confidence in the new
airport's safety, and to order the defendants to also pay for publicising
the verdict in the most popular newspapers in major countries such as the
United States, England and Italy. They also want Post Publishing to pay to
air the verdict for an hour each day on Thai and foreign television channels
such as CCTV, CNBC and BBC for 15 consecutive days.

The court accepted the lawsuit for consideration and set Sept 19 for
examination.

Lawyer Somsak Toraksa said the NBIA will call 10 witnesses, mostly
engineering experts, to testify that the cracks on the runway shoulders are
not problematic.

The NBIA is also preparing to sue the paper in Civil Court, demanding around
one billion baht in compensation.

Bunpot Sornto, an NBIA lawyer, said the firm needed a huge sum of money to
run public relations campaigns worldwide to restore the new airport's
credibility.


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