Selangor launches no-KDN newspaper

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Nov 27, 2010

By uppercaise

A free newspaper, under political patronage

Selangor Times puts a test of free media to the government

Selangor Times, a free weekly newspaper with a focus on community news, went on the streets today in a test of media freedom and setting the scene for a possible contest of wills between the Selangor government and the federal Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) which licences the publication of newspapers.

The newspaper is supported by the Selangor government but produced as a private initiative, with a team of experienced news journalists led by KL Chan, formerly of The Edge.

The editorial team includes familiar names such as Deborah Loh (Nut Graph) and Neville Spykerman (Malaysiakini), and veterans James Ang (New Straits Times) and designer Jimmy Lim (once with The Star).

Among the contributors are other familiar names such as Patrick Teoh, Wong Chin Huat, Fahmi Fadzi, the Loyar Burok website, and civil rights lawyer Edmund Bon’s My Constitution campaign — lending an air of “the usual suspects” to the venture.