Shabery : Media still needs a governing body to ensure responsible reporting

Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said though he would welcome less regulations pertaining to the media, the media still needed a governing body to ensure responsible reporting and added that akin to the Bar Council, the media council would be the perfect vehicle.


The National Media Council (NMC), which is still in the pipeline, will be a good neutral third party to regulate the media and protect the public from slanderous and irresponsible reporting, he said.

Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek

“It will be able to guide the media to adhere to media ethics. Now, people say that if the media were to say not to talk of racial issues, it is the directive of the government. Now, let the media regulate themselves,” Ahmad Shabery said.

He said that despite the country being perceived as lacking freedom of speech and overall press freedom, Malaysia did not practice “cheque book” or “envelope journalism”.

“There are developing countries which have a free press but on the Transparency International list these countries have a high rate of corruption.

The media, which should check the government from engaging in corruption, also practices corruption.

“People, who want popularity, give envelopes (containing money) to journalists and editors for more media coverage. In this context, the government becomes more corrupt because the media is also corrupt, this trend was currently unheard of in Malaysia.” he said.

Parliament is not a political market place to move around freely

Why should the big media companies deployed up to a dozen of reporters each, including editors, in Parliament? Is it an evident that the reporters assigned to cover the Parliament are not highly qualified and could not performance?

Ironically, parliament should not be a place to be swarmed with hundred of reporters and five journalists to cover the ongoing session is more than enough. The parliament is not a political market place, thus the journalists should be restricted from moving around freely in the lobby.

More than 100 journalists from all print, online and electronic media are staging a boycott. The decisions taken to cover the proceedings in the Dewan Rakyat and boycott all press conferences or events held outside of the chamber thus justified the actions taken were wrong and unjustified.

Last Friday, the Parliament administration issued a notice to all media organizations informing them that they could only send no more than five journalists to cover the ongoing session. The barricades have restricted the journalists from moving around freely in the lobby to interview parliamentarians.

In protest, journalists from all print, online and electronic media have decided to only cover the proceedings in the Dewan Rakyat and boycott all press conferences or events held outside of the chamber.

MAKKAL OSAI THREATENED RACIAL HARMONY

In Malaysia, the government is against any media violated guidelines threatening racial harmony by raising sensitive issues, which can be taken action. The media should contribute to society with regards to building a more united Malaysia and portray moving forward in creating more unity, understanding and goodwill.

Malaysian Tamil-language daily newspaper, Makkal Osai received a letter from the home ministry refusing to renew its annual publishing license, without giving reasons, is seen as the punishment for raising sensitive issues, which can threaten racial harmony.

Malaysia's home minister said Thursday he decided to stop a leading Tamil-language daily newspaper being published because it had violated guidelines threatening racial harmony.

Earlier Thursday, Syed Hamid said the newspaper had breached some of the ministry’s licensing guidelines and many complaints against Makkal Osai. When the times comes for renewal, the Home Ministry decided not to renew it.

Syed Hamid said that because Malaysia was a multi-racial and multi-religious country, there were very sensitive issues, which necessitated the need for media guidelines. "We do not simply not renew a license, but the media should be careful in raising issues that were extremist or could cause misunderstandings.” "We have media guidelines and we do not simply cancel a publication permit.

In the case of Makkal Osai, we do not cancel the permit but decided not to extend it." He said if the newspaper was not satisfied with the decision, it could appeal "and we will then look at it again." On the other hand, Makkal Osai general manager S.M. Periasamy has presented a letter to the publication division of the Home Ministry appealing for its publishing license.

TAMIL DAILY MAKKAL OSAI BANNED AGAIN

Malaysian Tamil Daily Makkal Osai or “The People’s Voice” has a circulation of 52,000 was banned again.

The banning can be interpreted as sending a clear massage to the paper that has cross the border either in its content or reporting. As a responsibility newspaper, social responsibly should always be the top priority.

Read more…

Malaysiakini reported the Home Ministry today rejected the renewal of Tamil daily Makkal Osai's publication permit, a move believed to be related to the widespread coverage given to the opposition.

When contacted, Makkal Osai general manager SM Periasamy confirmed that the ministry issued the letter, which stated that the daily's application 'will not be considered'.

The letter did not state any reasons for the rejection.

According to Periasamy, the daily - which is closely linked to former MIC deputy president S Subramaniam - had submitted an application for renewal in July, three months ahead of its permit's expiry.

Makkal Osai, whose office is located in Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, has some 100 staff. Their fate remains unknown.

This is not the first time that the newspaper ran into trouble. On Aug 24 last year, the government lapped a one-month suspension after the Tamil daily published an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette and a beer can four days ago.

It was published as a weekly newspaper for 15 years before it became a daily in December 2005. It is an offshoot of Tamil Osai, which ceased operations in 1990 following a management dispute.

TELECAST LIVE OVER RTM1 REFLECTS GOV’T OPENNESS

The awaiting good news is on the way. Starting from end of this month, all the people can evaluate their elected representatives objectively through Dewan Rakyat. This claims to be the government’s openness with regard to the media.

Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek announced that the Cabinet had permitted Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) to telecast live over the RTM1 channel the Dewan Rakyat question-and-answer session from 10am to 10.30am beginning April 30.

He said the telecast would be initially confined to the question-and-answer session but he did not rule out the possibility of the live coverage being extended to include the debates if there was positive response from viewers.

He said it reflects the openness of the government and is not for political gain. The move should be seen as a step forward in the democratic process and the government’s openness with regard to the media.

BN LOST THE CYBER WAR

The power of the blog had been recognized, it is not goblog any more!

The price paid for the serious misjudgment and ignore cyber-campaigning on the Internet is too high. It caused the powerful Barisan Nasional coalition suffered its worst-ever results in March 8 polls that left five states and a third of parliamentary seats in opposition hands.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today said his "biggest mistake" in disastrous elections was to ignore cyber-campaigning on the Internet which was seized by the opposition.

"We certainly lost the Internet war, the cyber-war," Abdullah said in a speech to an investment conference.

"It was a serious misjudgment. We made the biggest mistake in thinking that it was not important," he said.

"We thought that the newspapers, the print media, the television was supposed to be important, but the young people were looking at SMS and blogs."

"It was painful ... but it came at the right time, not too late," he said.

The international observers said, the opposition, which was largely ignored by government-linked mainstream media, instead waged an enormously successful online campaign using blogs, news websites and SMS text messages.

They felt that the comments are a major about-face for the government, which had vilified bloggers, calling them liars and threatening them with detention without trial under draconian internal security laws. The mainstream media are "often compelled to ignore or to play down" opposition events.

AZMAN UJANG ARE U WITH US MAKKAL SAKTI NOW?

Azman Ujang, are you with us Makkal Sakti now or otherwise? You means all the while the news agency Bernama headed by you is not reporting the news fairly? Do you means that you are manipulating the news? Is it ethical to do so? Do you means that our Makkal Sakti news can be fairly reported now?

Azman Ujang, general manager of the state news agency Bernama told reporters that, “It is a wake up call for us. The mainstream media now has a 'higher responsibility' to report news fairly or face being abandoned by its audience.

The people have spoken loud and clear, not only what kind of government they want but also the kind of media they prefer, the media should revisit and review our policies,” he told reporters.

Bernama apologises to Lim for false May 13 attribution

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Bernama apologises to Lim for false May 13 attribution

By : Melisa Darlyne Chow

GEORGE TOWN, Sat: Bernama has apologised to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for the “sloppy editing” in its news story on March 12 which mistakenly quoted Lim as commenting on the May 13 incident.

The issue of the Penang government marginalizing anybody in the state does not arise following the apology letter issued by Bernama on Friday that stated that the news agency had mistakenly quoted Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said as commenting on the May 13, 1969 tragedy.

"I consider the issue closed, as the issue of DAP marginalizing Penangites did not arise at all in the first place, Lim told a press conference after opening the Artistic Malaysia Gallery here today. "Until now, the state government has not implemented any policies that were not profitable to Penangites, except for one company. Even that is not a Bumiputera company.”

Bernama editor-in-chief Yong Soo Heong said upon a thorough review, the inclusion of the fact along with Lim's quote was deemed inappropriate. Yong noted the inclusion of the fact was intended to give background on the establishment of the NEP in 1971.

It was earlier reported that the new state government had outlined several reforms it plans to undertake in the state administration, starting with doing away with the practices under the NEP. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had warned Lim not to make statements, which could stoke racial tension, which the latter later refuted.

Some 1,000 Penang Umno members and supporters had held demonstrations at Komtar on Friday in protest over Lim's move to abolish the NEP.

Lim said the state government had only wanted all government procurement and contracts be done through the open tender system. Even this was made into an issue, then there was nothing he could do about it.

"We have to move forward. Let us move on to an era where there is transparency and integrity, to ensure the state's resources can be shared among everyone. The Prime Minister has also given his assurance that federal government projects here will go on as usual. We cannot allow certain quarters to make an issue out of this. Penang Umno must respect the people's wishes.

"Let us carry on with the task of leading the state, which has been entrusted to us by the people," he said. “The state government has not discriminated anybody.”

Lim said he did not want to prolong the matter further and the state government would move on from here to implement policies that were beneficial to all Penangites.