Truth buried in the printed pages
By Jeswan Kaur, Free Malaysia Today
Not so long ago “don’t believe all that you read in the newspaper” was said in jest. Now, unfortunately there is a ring of truth to this statement.
Ask just about anyone what they think about the mainstream media and chances are you will get a look of disgust. The mainstream media is owned by political parties and their glossed-over news coverage has given rise to the alternative media.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) has a stake in all the country’s premier’ newspapers such as New Straits Times (NST), The Star, Utusan Malaysia, Tamil Nesan and Sin Chiew Jit Poh through its investment companies
The Utusan Melayu Group is owned by Umno and publishes three Malay language dailies.
The major English newspapers, The Star and New Straits Times, are also owned by the political parties. The Star is owned by the MCA while NST is owned by Umno. Besides The Star, MCA also controls four other dailies – Sin Chew Jit Poh, Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press and Guang Ming Daily.
Private interests aligned with the MIC control Tamil newspapers such as Makkal Osai and Tamil Nesan.
Under such tight leash, the mainstream media are left with no space to engage in a fair and free reporting. They end up parroting all that the government of the day says.
Take, for example, the incident in 1995 where an investigative team from The Sun newspaper investigated the circumstances leading to the deaths of 59 detainees, mostly Bangladeshis, in an illegal immigration detention camp. These detainees died of beri-beri, a symptom of malnutrition and typhoid, which is easily preventable.
The team’s report stating that it was a case of criminal neglect on the part of the police who ran the camp was spiked hours before it went to print.
Bias reporting continues
More recently, the lopsided reporting by the mainstream media was evident during Sarawak’s April 16 state election. The NST had nothing but only “nice” things to report about BN, including why the people should dismiss the opposition alliance of Pakatan Rakyat.
But what the NST did is nothing new. Be it the by-elections or general election, these mainstream newspapers do a good job of serving their political masters and betraying the trust of their readers.
The NST is not the only culprit. The government-owned Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) channels have long forgotten the importance of reporting without fear or favour.
RTM1’s Berita Wilayah aired at 5pm daily is a classic example of how reporting is manipulated by the “powers that be”. The one-hour news has all things good to say about the BN government’s “remarkable” job in serving the people when the truth really is otherwise.
Likewise, the television stations including those owned by Media Prima do not have the guts to report the truth. At best, they do a fantastic job of glossing over BN and condemning the opposition parties.
