Thai Prime Minister's own 96-hours live reality show on poverty reduction

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin produced a live 96-hours reality show in which he is the main actor, with  cameras followed him throughout the countryside of Thailand.  The billionaire politician slept in a tent between visits to villages in the northeastern province of Roi Et, where the average monthly income is about 2,700 baht (US$68; euro55).

Thaksin claims that the main target audience of his show is his government officials, not the public. He wants to show the bureaucrats  how to help the poor.  Many however believe that he is using the show to recovery public support to him which is waning recently.

The response from the public however is very negative. According to a poll, over one-third of the respondents thought that the round-the-clock live broadcast would be “staged” . A local resident told journalists from Strait Times: “ When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t recognize the road in front of my house. They have been paved overnight although no government officials cared about it in the last decade”