Veteran journalist not fired by broadcaster over southern Thailand shooting coverage
- Published on April 30, 2026 at 06:34
- 3 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
Following an assassination attempt on a Muslim lawmaker in Buddhist-majority Thailand's restive southernmost region, social media posts targeted a prominent journalist who covered the incident with false claims she had been fired by broadcaster Channel 3 for "posing a risk to national security". However, her employer, a production company that makes the late-night news programme broadcast on the channel, said she remains in her position. She has also continued to appear on Channel 3 after the incident.
"Breaking! Shocking the news industry! Channel 3 reporter Thapanee shared on her personal Facebook page that she was fired after 16 years at the station for failing to remain neutral and posing a risk to national security," reads a Thai-language Facebook post published on April 24, 2026.
Thapanee Eadsrichai is a prominent Thai reporter who works on Channel 3's late-night news programme 3 Miti News and founder of The Reporters online news site, well known for covering human rights issues (archived links here and here).
The post includes an image of Thapanee with the Thai word for "terminated" superimposed over it, along with a Channel 3 logo and a Thai flag.
Other posts sharing the same claims also appeared on Facebook, TikTok and X.
These posts emerged after Thapanee faced online intimidation following coverage of an attempted murder of Kamonsak Leewamoh, a Muslim member of parliament from Narathiwat -- a province in Thailand's deep south heavily policed by Thai security forces (archived links here and here).
Kamonsak was unharmed from the shooting on March 20, but his aide and driver were seriously wounded. Police arrested five suspects linked to the shooting -- including a former navy officer -- while investigators were skeptical over the identity of the mastermind (archived link).
Local media reported that the shooter used a vehicle that belonged to the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) -- a security agency under the Royal Thai Armed Forces.
Thapanee became targeted with online slander after she questioned the Fourth Army Region commander on April 14 whether the army was linked to Kamonsak's assailants (archived link).
Some comments indicated that some users believe Thapanee had been laid off.
"They should've fired her a long time ago. People stopped watching Channel 3 because the news coverage is biased," one Facebook user commented.
Another user added, "Channel 3 made the right call. It cannot afford to collapse simply because of one reporter who failed to remain impartial."
However, the claim that the veteran reporter has been dismissed by the broadcaster is false.
'Fake news'
Kitti Singhapat, a journalist and managing director of Hot News Co. Ltd., which produces 3 Miti News program, dismissed the claim on his Facebook page (archived links here and here).
"The news that Thapanee was fired by Channel 3 is #fakenews. The truth is that Thapanee is a 3 Miti News reporter. She is an employee of Kitti Singhapat and has not been dismissed," he wrote.
The claim also is contradicted by Thapanee's continued on-air presence.
On the night of April 24 -- the same day the false posts circulated -- Thapanee appeared on 3 Miti News reporting on the Supreme Court's decision to accept an ethics case against 44 current and former People's Party MPs over a proposal to amend Thailand's lese-majeste law (archived links here and here). The news label read "3 Miti news reporter".
Thapanee herself also rejected the claim on her own Facebook page on April 24 (archived link).
"The claim that I was fired by Channel 3 is #fakenews; it is not true," adding that she was not a Channel 3 employee but an employee of Kitti's company that produces 3 Miti News program.
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to politics in Thailand.
Updated to correct a typo on paragraph 8Copyright © AFP 2017-2026. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
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