Thaksin’s Senators and Lawsuits: Bangkok Post chooses its words carefully

Bangkok Post chooses its words carefully - August 25, 2004
The Bangkok Post now apparently will not directly mention companies related to the Prime Minister, instead using code words such as "a certain telecommunications giant."
While Shin Corp is mentioned tangentially later in the article, it is conspicuous that both the newspaper and the Senator being quoted feel the need to tiptoe around the company name.
This tact by the Post is likely a reaction to a massive Shin Corp lawsuit against a social critic who merely said it appeared that Shin Corp benefited from government policies. Interestingly, the Post has not covered the Shin Corp lawsuit story since early July while The Nation has covered it twice this week.

From Senators finally agree on NTC - Chirmsak amazed by uniformity of vote, Bangkok Post, August 25, 2004
The Senate finally picked the seven members of the long-delayed National Telecommunications Commission yesterday, amidst allegations of organised block votes and favouritism for candidates attached to a certain telecommunications giant...
Senator Chirmsak Pinthong, a firm critic of the government, said he found it amazing that as many as 83 of his colleagues had cast their votes "all for the very same people"--candidates numbered 1,2,4,7,8,9 and 10 in this exact order on the list of the 14 candidates.
"It was quite shocking and unbelievable to see 83 senators become so exactly likeminded," he said. "The prices of stocks of a few telecom firms will likely go up tomorrow (today) following the victory of some of those people associated with the industry..."

From Outrage over Shin Corp’s Supinya suit, The Nation, August 25, 2004
...“If society allows powerful political and business groups to take legal action against social watchdogs over acts in the interest of the public, no one else will dare to express his opinion, speak the truth or criticise anything,” the CPMR said... “The amount being sought by Shin Corp is outrageous and staggering,” said Roby Alampay, executive director of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance. “It is a clear message to the Thai press that questioning corporations and the government on conflict of interest matters would have dire consequences for the press as a whole,” he said.
The suit stems from a Thai Post story on July 16 last year. Supinya was quoted as saying that from figures she had gathered it appeared the corporation was a major beneficiary of the premier’s policies, noting a sharp rise in Shin’s profits since Thaksin Shinawatra became PM in February 2001.