Media organisations in Thailand have launched a public campaign to defend press freedom after the publisher of two major newspapers was acquired by a politically-backed entertainment tycoon, said a report today.

According to Malaysian national news agency Bernama , Thai newspapers, television talk shows, opposition politicians, civil rights groups and academics were in full support of the affected newspapers editorial.

They claimed that high ranking politicians were behind the move aimed to control the output of news.

"GMM Media, a unit of GMM Grammy, controlled by businessman Paiboon Damrongchaitham, announced two days ago that it had acquired a 32.23 percent stake in Matichon Plc, publisher of the Thai-language Mathichon , Prachachart and Khao Sod dailies," said the report.

It added that the entertainment giant also bought a 20.9 percent share in Post Publishing - publisher of the widely-read English Bangkok Post and Post Today dailies - and is now targeting to increase it to 23.6 percent.

Thai media agencies are adamantly against this move and are not mincing their words.

The show of support for press freedom even put aside industry rivalry when Bangkok Post's main English-language competitor The Nation carried a front-page article on the public campaign to stop GMM Grammy.

Political motivation?

The article on The Nation's website described the support given to the affected agencies.

"Matichon insiders said the paper's office was flooded with telephone calls all day from those who voiced support for its fight against the takeover bid, while hundreds of other similar messages were posted on its website," it read.

The Thai paper also said that GMM Gammy's chief Paiboon is reportedly known to have a close relationship with the country's Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Paiboon reportedly has already spent over RM73 million to acquire the additional stakes in the Matichon group.

The Nation added that Paiboon has denied any political motivation behind the deals and said he would maintain the newspapers' editorial independence.