Just in time for the 35th anniversary this past July 1 of The Nation, the newspaper where I work in Bangkok, Google Earth acquired fresh, higher-resolution satellite images of the neighbourhood.

The main photo here is dominated by Nation Tower, which is about 44 storeys and has a helipad that I’ve never heard of actually being used. The tower has various offices for other companies, and – like so many other buildings in the vicinity, is patiently awaiting some sort of boom related to the new airport down the highway – there’s plenty of vacant space.
On the roof of the smaller parking garage at its back you can see a pool and tennis courts – there’s a fitness club on the top floor.

The nerve centre, though, is the miniature of the tower closer to the foreground. This is Building 1, and was The Nation’s original face, built about 1991 for the 20th anniversary. The newspaper was originally headquartered much closer to downtown Bangkok on Sukhumvit Road Soi 42/1 or thereabouts.

The new building out in Bang Na, the capital’s southeast suburb, has a remarkable curvature to its facade that I was told was the architect’s version of Suthichai Yoon, the publisher (now Nation Group Editor-in-chief), seated at his typewriter.

Nation Tower deliberately mimicked this when it was built in 1992-93, just after I arrived in Thailand. You can also see in this photo Evergreen Tower under construction at the back, a condo with no link to the Nation media group, apart from some tenants. Compare that to the beanstalk it grew into in the GE image up top.

There’s a rumour that Building 1, which houses our administrative offices, is for sale, but you didn’t hear that from me. If it’s true, though, no worries, because the newspaper itself is behind it in Building 2, the nondescript, six-storey white rectangle. That’s where I work, on the top floor, and on two lower floors are the sister newspapers that came along later, the Thai-language Kom Chad Leuk and Krungthep Turakij. Nation TV is over in the tower.

The Nation celebrated its 35th birthday by muttering something about not being able to afford the usual mid-term bonuses this year and going into the bathroom to puke (although you can see an anniversary tribute to 35 influential Thais here), but the more caring website 2Bangkok.com actually paid tribute by running this photo of the first front page, from July 1, 1971, and reprinting the debut “manifesto” put there by Suthichai Yoon, then 25 but already a respected political maverick.

He’s been worn down a bit since then, but he’s still pretty feisty. You can read his weekly columns here.

The How and Why of The Nation
by Suthichai Yoon

There is one thing that every newspaper must have – a moral justification for its existence. That is what made us decide to launch The Nation.
After the only other two English-language dailies here [the Bangkok Post, 60 years old on August 1 this year, and the even older Bangkok World] merged under foreign ownership, it became obvious to us that the existence of such a paper as ours not only morally just, but also morally necessary …

The Nation will be a responsible newspaper that follows an independent and impartial editorial policy.

The Nation will strive to be a medium for the mutual exchange of views between the government and the people, interpreting the actions of the government to the public while also reflecting popular sentiment. It will not shy away from voicing criticism if that criticism is of a thoughtful nature, and will voice it without prejudice or antagonism.

The Nation will identify with the Thai Press, and will on no account attempt to form part of a separate institution just because it is not printed in the Thai language …

We know a good percentage of our readers will belong to the foreign community and they will not only have adequate world news but they will also enjoy something they have not had before – a frank and accurate picture of the country in which they have chosen to live and work.
To us, a brickbat is as welcome as a bouquet. The Nation is your newspaper.