3 September 2014: Thailand's military coup uncovered a few ironies, some surprises and a whole lot of soul searching among the country's media. Speaking during the Asia session at this year's Deutsche Welle (DW) Global Media Forum in Bonn, Sae Yong Thepchai, group editor in chief of the Nation Multimedia Group, said Thailand's mainstream media had to overcome a crisis of trust to deal with new social realities.The day that the military took over and issued an order clamping down on the media, there were messages of 'you deserve it' from social media users as if they believed that the media was also responsible for what happened. We are operating in a tough environment... every night our broadcasts start by saying that we are operating under an order imposed by the military junta, which means there are restrictions on what we can report. Everyone in the business knows exactly what they should avoid, what they should not say. In short it's a very ironic and challenging situation that the Thai media in general are facing.Thailand has always been a bright spot in Southeast Asia with occasional domestic problems but all of a sudden things fell apart and the country became so politically polarised... the media in the eyes of most people became part of the problem. Previously, in political crises the media was seen as part of the solution. So there is a sea change for the role of media and the ongoing conflict that culminated in the military coup came as a shock to most people. Believe it or not, the media had a part to play and to be blamed. This happened as social media came to play a very significant role in the media as a whole. In fact, I have no hesitation to say that the mainstream media, us included, no longer monopolise the influences shaping public opinion.What was ironic was that the day the junta put a blanket censorship on mainstream media, there was not a single outcry from members of the public. But a week after that, when they tried to block social media for only half an hour, there was a huge uproar... People care more about their freedom to express themselves than about what the media can or cannot report.Social media has been able to shape public opinion on many important social issues. At the height of the conflict they were able to mobilise up to a million people – Thailand's biggest demonstration ever – bypassing mainstream media, using just social media. These people have their own networks that share common political beliefs. And that in a way suggests that from now on the mainstream media needs to take into serious account how they can overcome what I call the crisis of trust among the people. A survey a few months back showed that up to 40% of Thai consumers think the mainstream media haven't been objective enough... they don't trust mainstream media.Under the present circumstances, where the junta has total control of the country, things may look bad from the outside. But in practise it is ironic, in a way, that the junta, which came to power in a coup, wants to project an image of being a democratic junta. They know they can survive only with public support, and that support comes, surprisingly, through social media. It doesn't matter what the mainstream media may say about the junta, the power seizure. We may come up with editorials questioning the legitimacy of the present junta but social media in general is very protective, and distances itself from the stand taken by mainstream media. This is a very big challenge we face at the moment.How do we, the Nation Group, continue to play the role of mainstream media, sticking by professional principles, and also trying to reach out to social media users who are mostly people who don't read newspapers or follow news on television anyway. We can look at this from a negative or positive point of view. We can look at these people as potential viewers and readers.The country was so politically polarised that people expected mainstream media to reflect their views. So if they didn't get what they wanted to read from newspapers they would rather go to their own close circle of friends who share their ideas. The crisis of trust was caused by a combination of factors - partisan, state control, commercial interests.We ask ourselves what should we be doing to regain the public trust? In the past, in all the political crises, people would look at the mainstream media as part of the solution. There is no other way than to go back to the basics of journalism – report facts, reflect a range of views, be professional and be objective. The problem that led to the crisis of trust was the lack of all these.Issue Three 2014