"You guys are famous now!"
That's all the SMS from my friend Ben said. And then his follow-up SMS explained it all: Piyawat's and my picture was published in the newspaper.
Now don't get any wrong ideas. We weren't on the front page of a Thai tabloid. That space is saved for pictures of the people who were just arrested with their accuser's pointing fingers at them. No, that wasn't us. Instead we were on page 4 of section 3. But it was BIG picture!
So what did we do that was so newsworthy? The research on Children's TV and our trips around the world, of course!
Our research is actually a small part of a much larger project. About 30 Thai people are working on the project on different areas. And as I found out this week, the project also has their own PR Department, or at least there are people on the project whose job it is to get the project in the news.
So this week, Piyawat has done a couple of newspaper interviews (in Thai, of course) and a third newspaper published an article that he had written (in Thai, again). And then the big picture showed up three days ago.
So, if you read Thai (or want to try) you can check out the following links:
One of the articles was in the Matichon newspaper. This one was published with a picture of Piyawat and my puppeteer heroes in New York. It's too bad that the article is about Australia.
And the other article is in the Krungthep Turakij newspaper. This one doesn't have any pictures in the online version, but Piyawat scanned the actual newspaper, which you can see to the right. (Click on the pic to get a bigger version)
So this week's lesson learned? It pays to have your own PR department!
---
This post was selected as one of the "Favorite Posts of 2005". To read more "Favorites", then visit Favorite Posts of 2005.
Good job, you guys. I'm really impressed:) But too bad that those newspapers didn't mention your name. You should have been accredited for the work. By the way, time for thai lesson, 'Krungthep Kurakij' should be corrected as 'Krungthep Turakij' which means "Bangkok business."
Cheers!
Jet
Hey Jet. Thanks for the correction... you're right, it's Krungthep Turakij. I made the change above.
Maybe someday I will actually be able to read a full article in this newspaper. That's the goal at least!
Hey, congrats. It appears that your hard work has been compensated with such recognition on the newspaper. :)
WOW ----- that's pretty cool!!!! Then again, I just think it's fantastically awesome that you are working on this project ..... getting paid to travel the world, researching programming that you grew up on in order to further the education in a foreign country ...... you truly are an inspiration!!!
Love you!!!!
Yes, you really do need to engage someone's PR services! haha.
Ur a good looking man. Next time when you take an oficial picture button the top or middle button of your jacket, it will make you look so much better.
Nice to see that farang in education get positive Thai press coverage.
Thanks for the compliments and the fashion advice "anon". :)
Hey hey, how very cool! I just read the online article and am way impressed! You guys must be beaming with pride. :)