You can try following me on Twitter, I will post news, weather and related Phuket information as and when I find it, and I tend to be online every day and Tweeting often - Follow me on Twitter @jamiemonk.
There are a number of local newspapers and magazines in Phuket, mostly they are just dressed up advertising, especially with regards to restaurant "reviews" and property news. If you want real news, there are several choices.
The Phuket Gazette has been around since 1993, when Phuket tourism was still (relatively) in it's infancy. I've been reading it (mostly online) since I came here in 1999. Sometimes the news is thin on the ground, sometimes there are 5 articles per day. The Gazette has more than just news - there's an extensive classified section, a job section, "issues and answers" and the "queer news" too. The news is mostly local, often reporting on crime, local politics, environmental news and tourism issues. The print version of the paper has some extra articles. It's not a bad read and only costs 20 Baht.. or is it 25..? Not sure, I am on the computer every day, so I use the online version.NEW - a new paper and online site started in 2011 called The Phuket News - I reckon equal to the Phuket Gazette, certainly worth reading both!
Another print paper is the Phuket Post, but it's more of a magazine masquerading as a paper. Not really much headline news there. Plenty of column inches for property and eating out, certainly plenty of information about Phuket, and they even reprinted a blog article of mine about Songkran. Not too cutting edge, but they do have some interesting stuff, worth a read for sure.
Phuket News Online
If anything big happens in Phuket, you'll probably find it on the BBC or CNN well before the Phuket Gazette gets it's gears in motion. If I want to make sure I have not missed something, I tend to use Google News, which searches just about any news source you can mention. A search for "Phuket" right now gives results ranging from "Sail World, Australia" to the "Jerusalem Post, Israel".. mind you, it's not all cutting edge news. I see the Google News search tells me "Kimi Raikkonen invests in Phuket Beachfront Villa"...
The national newspapers will also report on news that has a bearing on Phuket. Let's not forget that Phuket is not some Utopian holiday isle.. it's a province of Thailand, so some national news updates might be worth reading now and then... You can try the Bangkok Post or The Nation. There are a couple of Thai language websites such as Manager Online that probably have even more news... but you will have to learn Thai first!
Forums and Chat Rooms - there are some very active forums, of which Thai Visa would be the best for news and discussion. You may also catch something on the Lonely Planet Thailand forum, or the Trip Advisor Phuket forum.
Latest Weather News - Best place to look for weather reports and links to weather forecasts, radar, satellite images, webcams and more - my Phuket Weather blog.
So, there you go. If you're coming to Phuket, or just love Phuket and want to know what's going on, there are plenty of news sources. Mostly the news is pretty local and won't affect visitors, but if anything really big happens you'll find it here on Jamie's Phuket and probably on TV too!
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