1 The Politics of Media during Thailand’s Social Upheavals: Change and Continuity Aim Sinpeng and Wimonsiri Hemtanon* Introduction Since the appearance of Duncan McCargo’s Politics and the Press in Thailand: Media Machinations (2000), both continuity and change have characterized the media’s role in Thai politics. In his book, McCargo argues that the media constitute “a political space in which different elite groups have sought to advance their interests and views.” 1 This chapter aims to assess the extent to which there has been change and continuity in the relationship between the media – broadly defined to include two types: traditional and social media 2 - and politics in Thailand between 2005 and 2015. Using McCargo’s analysis of the Thai press as a departure point, we focus on the period of the last decade for two reasons. First, Thailand experienced unprecedented levels of political and social upheavals marked by prolonged and violent street protests, significant political instability and two military coup d’états in this period. Second, the proliferation of information and communications technology (ICT) for mass consumption in the 2010s has led to an expansion of space for civic engagement. We therefore evaluate and analyze how this period of heightened political conflict, on the one hand, and the rapid expansion of social media use, on the other, facilitate change or maintain continuity of the dominance of political elites in the media landscape. We advance two claims in this chapter. First, political elites continued to exert control and influence over traditional and social media in three major ways: a) establishing new institutions to reduce media independence, b) directly owning media outlets to advance their