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©The
Sunday Star (Used by permission)
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) was
joined by panellists in again urging the Government to review the Printing
Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), which they said has been the main obstacle
towards press freedom in the country.
Making the plea before new MPs Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau) and Tian Chua (Batu),
NUJM president Norila Daud said the union has pressed this issue for more than a
decade, so as to allow journalists to carry out their professional duties
without having to fear that their licence would not be renewed.
She said that in view of the online media operating “without any Act imposed on
them”, it was high time the Government trusted media owners and practitioners.
“If the Government does not adhere to such calls, I am afraid one day the
mainstream newspaper will not be seen as relevant and eventually lose its
readership and influence,” she said at the NUJ Press Freedom Forum 2008.
Blogger Ahiruddin Attan aka Rocky said the Malaysian mainstream media was so
sensitive to political shifts that even a change in Umno could lead to a change
in “the government” of the mainstream media, including the appointment of
editors or editorial advisers.
“So long as editors are appointed by the political parties and editors have to
answer to political masters, there’ll be no press freedom the way we want it,”
he said.
He noted distinct changes in cyberspace since the March 8 general election with
citizen journalists, Opposition members and ex-journalists like himself being
joined by Barisan Nasional politicians and mainstream journalists like Datuk
Wong Chun Wai, the group chief editor of The Star.
“Practising journalists could start a platform for other journalists to start
blogging. And blogs could be a conduit for journalists to achieve the press
freedom that has eluded them all these years,” he said at the forum yesterday.
Rocky, who believed the mainstream media was still relevant, said it was high
time to revive the idea of a media council.
The Sun’s deputy editor R. Nadeswaran, more popularly known as Citizen
Nades, said there should be a law where no political party should own or have a
controlling interest in a newspaper because then editors would be subservient to
these owners, who would in turn influence coverage.
Tian Chua, said there was a need to change outdated media laws, adding that
prosecuting bloggers only showed that “we are not graduating ourselves to a new
society”.
Agenda Daily editor Hanafiah Man pointed out that while laws like the PPPA were
beyond the newspaper’s control, there were other things within its control such
as giving space for Opposition news.
Hanafiah also said that the mainstream media must be brave enough to get rid of
self-censorship.
Umno Youth deputy chief all for repealing Press Act
KUALA LUMPUR: Reforms in the mainstream media are important to stem the crisis
of credibility that it is facing today, said Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy
Jamaluddin.
He said without reforms, “truth is obscured, and sentiment and innuendo reign
supreme.”
“I think we can and should repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act.
“We should not be afraid of this brave new world of journalism but rather help
strengthen it so that Malaysians will benefit from getting credible news
everywhere – from the mainstream and other-stream media,” he said in his speech
at the National Union of Journalists Press Freedom Forum 2008 yesterday.
Batu MP Tian Chua was a panellist at the forum.
However, Khairy said before the Act could be abolished, the media should have in
place a self-regulatory mechanism like a Press Complaints Commission to address
complaints and ethical issues.
“There are sensitivities in this country and there must be a place for people to
complain when they are not comfortable with the way things are being covered
because it incites some racial or religious sentiment in them.
“It is important to get the mechanism right. Once that is in place, we should
repeal the Act. I would like to see the process accelerated,” he said.
Khairy believed he had a “modicum of legitimacy” to discuss journalism because
with the cyber revolution, “many punches have landed on markedly lower points of
my anatomy,” while the administration of his Prime Minister father-in-law was
recently described by a blogger on national television as “kerajaan anak
beranak” (the children’s government).
“I have a personal reason for believing in these reforms. Much of what is known
about me is a caricature conceived and disseminated in a medium that has become
the entire truth for many Malaysians,” he said.
He was also in favour of doing away with the annual licence renewal for
newspapers.
Khairy, who has often been the target of the alternative Internet media, also
believed that charging bloggers like Raja Petra Kamaruddin with sedition would
only further embolden the alternative media.
Later, when speaking to reporters, Khairy laughed off rumours that he had been
“feeding” information to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to sabotage Deputy Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“Oh please, lah. That’s in the realm of fantasy,” he said. “I don’t want to
dignify it. That’s mitos fantasia (a fantastical myth).”
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