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February 25, 2009
Posted: 322 GMT
BANGKOK, Thailand - It's one of those ironies of journalism, that we strive to be impartial and independent in our reporting, to stay aloft, watching, counting, calibrating, but not acting or interfering.
As journalists, we strive to be impartial and independent in our reporting, to stay aloft, watching, counting, calibrating, but not acting or interfering. Yet on occasion, by simply telling people what's happening in this complex, grey-shaded world of ours, sometimes we journalists do change the status quo. The very act of drawing attention to an issue does sometimes have an impact. We decided to call my special report into the Rohingya "A Forgotten People," but of course after all the reporting we've done on the issue, it feels like now the Rohingya are front and center of the political stage here and hardly forgotten at all. Here in Thailand, the issue is going to be one of the main discussion points at next week's ASEAN meeting – a summit of south-east Asian countries. The Thai prime minister has stressed the need for regional cooperation – and ASEAN will certainly be the forum in which that talk of cooperation could be galvanised into action. Since the pictures of Thai soldiers towing out boatloads of Rohingya and cutting them adrift on the high seas were broadcast on CNN, the practice appears to have stopped. That's not to say that we haven't been meticulous in our attempts to show both sides of the story – to highlight that some Thai people feel the Rohingya are economic migrants looking for work and that the Thai government feels unable to accommodate them during this fierce economic downturn. But we have also focused on what the Rohingya go through in trying to escape terrible persecution and privation in Myanmar, formerly Burma. The reports of horrendous abuse, statelessness, land-confiscation and torture give context as to why these people are willing to gamble with their lives, take to rickety unseaworthy boats and cross the ocean. Their allegations of mistreatment in Thailand at the hands of the military has prompted a government inquiry. The prime minister himself is closely watching its findings and has promised to bring those responsible to account. I'm not sure any of this would have happened if it weren't for a few journalists doggedly pursuing this story. The South China Morning Post first reported the story. We followed up with more testimonies and other news organizations such as Reuters, the BBC and The Associated Press have also devoted extensive coverage to the issue. In making "A Forgotten People" we have never felt we were on a mission to discredit this government or show Thailand in a bad light. We simply wanted to find out the truth and tell the story from every angle. That very vital act of disclosure is why I got into this profession in the first place. And I'm proud to say this story is one of the rare occasions where simply reporting what we found has made a difference. Posted by: CNN Correspondent, Dan Rivers |
 
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