Do they have the courage to free the press?
It takes real courage and real confidence to allow a free press and more open discussion. Mahathir Mohamad, for all his bluster and big talk, never had the courage to do so.
By uppercaise
The journalists’ union is stirring. Newspaper people are afraid of the growing reach of Internet news, and how it will affect their livelihoods. They want the government to ease up on press controls and to allow greater press freedom, for fear that otherwise circulation will drop even further as people flock to the Internet for more open discussion.
(See » Journalists to fight for press freedom)
Well and good. Journalists should always fight to uphold free speech and press freedom, as a matter of principle.
But what if the government thinks like this: why open up the press, why not just tighten up on the Internet instead? It may be cynical to think so, but this is a very divided government, and we shouldn’t count on it being able to do something positive when they can do something negative instead, because it’s easier and expedient.
More open discussion may change perceptions among rural voters, and cost them seats at the election. That’s the biggest fear among Umno-BN politicians. That’s why they always say NGOs and others are “making the people confused”. What they mean is that rural people are questioning them. And sometimes they don’t have the answer. The substantial rural vote is what props them up. So why should they change?
It takes real courage and real confidence to allow a free press and more open discussion. Mahathir Mohamad, for all his bluster and big talk, never had the courage to do so.
Read more at: http://uppercaise.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/do-they-have-the-courage-to-free-the-press/
