Pravit Rojanaphruk

Pravit Rojanaphruk
ประวิตร โรจนพฤกษ์
NationalityThai
Education
OccupationJournalist
OrganizationKhaosod English

Pravit Rojanaphruk (Thai: ประวิตร โรจนพฤกษ์; RTGS: Prawit Rochanaphruek) (born 1967) is a Thai journalist who works as a senior staff writer for Khaosod English ('fresh news').[1] He formerly wrote a regular column for The Nation, an English-language newspaper in Thailand, but was pressured to resign due to his political opinions following the 2014 coup d'état.[2] Before the military coup, he was a prominent champion of democracy and free expression and was consequently investigated several times. Immediately after the coup, he was arrested on a charge of lèse majesté and detained for a week. Since the coup, he has been critical of the ruling junta and its efforts to limit freedom.[3][4][5][6] Pravit has been detained for "attitude adjustment" twice by the ruling junta and as of 2017, has sedition charges against him for Facebook posts he made earlier that year.[7]

Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a former Reuters correspondent, described Pravit in the British newspaper The Independent as "one of the country's best correspondents".[8] In recognition of his critical reporting, Rojanaphruk was awarded the prestigious International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2017.[9]

  1. ^ "Pravit Rojanaphruk, Senior Staff Writer". Khaosod English. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  2. ^ Tun-Atiru, Choltanutkun (2017-08-22). "Journalist facing sedition charges on attitude adjustment and self-censorship". BK. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Pravit Rojanaphruk". Oslo Freedom Forum.
  4. ^ Peel, Michael (8 September 2014). "Spiritual spruce-up for Thai PM's compound". Financial Times.
  5. ^ "Thai PM's plan to lift martial law with 'dictator' ruling sparks concerns". The Guardian. Mar 31, 2015.
  6. ^ "Fighting the crisis of liberalism, one suicide-bomber joke at a time". Financial Times. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  7. ^ "Thailand journalist detained for 'attitude adjustment'". The Straits Times. Agence France-Presse. 2015-09-14. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Andrew MacGregor Marshall: Why I decided to jeopardise my career and publish secrets". The Independent. Jun 23, 2011.
  9. ^ Harfenist, Ethan (2017-11-15). "Where doing journalism means 'breaking the law'". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2019-04-15.