A letter from the Army’s Directorate of Civil Affairs asking Modern 9 TV to air running news messages concerning the red shirts’ upcoming rally has appeared on the Facebook social network.  It has been confirmed by a military official that the Directorate has sent such letters to Channel 11 and the Army’s Channel 5, and all TV channels under unusual circumstances, once a day.

The letter was sent to the Director of Modern 9 TV, asking the station to run four news messages at the bottom of the TV screen on 4 March:

Message 1: Deputy Prime Minister Suthep believes that all Thais in the whole country do not want chaos in the country; most want to see the country peaceful.

Message 2: Kongkrit Hirankij, President of the Tourism Council of Thailand, is confident that Thai tourism has bright prospects if there is no political turmoil, and could grow 12-15%.  

Message 3: Sukij Udomsirikul, Asst Managing Director of Nakhon Luang Thai Research Institute, says it is necessary to keep watch over the current political situation, because political problems are a risk factor in the Thai stock market.  If politics turns violent, the GDP growth would be less than 2%.

Message 4: The Security Situation Monitoring Committee has continued to set up checkpoints in critical areas.  We apologize for inconvenience on certain traffic routes.  If suspicious individuals or objects are spotted, please call 191 or 1555.