Media in Thailand routinely exercise self-censorship in coverage of the royal family. But the Internet has presented a challenge for authorities who since 2007 have blocked almost 20,000 Web pages deemed insulting to the monarch, said Aree Jiworarak, head of Thailand’s information technology supervision office.

– Extracted from Ambika Ahuja, “Economist Not Distributed In Thailand Over Royalty Story”, The New York Times (Reuters), 19 March 2010. Some of the general (and more specific) reasons that The Economist has not been distributed in Thailand this week are discussed here.