Zahid: Too many newspapers will confuse M’sians
Home Ministry rejected FZ Daily and Malaysiakini’s application for publishing permits as there are too many newspapers in the country
Anisah Shukry, FMT
The Home Ministry had rejected FZ Daily and Malaysiakini’s application for publishing permits to protect the public from the confusion of having access to “too much news”.
“The (number of) newspaper publications with approved publishing permits is sufficient considering the number of readers in the country,” Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said in a parliamentary written reply Tuesday.
“Denying the applications from FZ Daily and Malaysiakini is an early step towards controlling the flood of newspaper publications that may confuse the people if there are too many news being published by all sorts of newspapers.”
He added that Malaysiakini and FZ Daily – both online portals – were seen to be inclined towards publishing sensational and controversial news just to attract readers.
Ahmad Zahid said this in a response to a question from Johari Abdul (PKR-Sungai Petani) on the reason why the Home Ministry had denied publishing permits for the two portals.
Last month, FZ Daily, which has yet to hit newsstands, found its permit revoked just hours after the publisher, The Edge Communications, was granted leave to initiate proceedings against the Home Ministry for deferring its initial approval of the permits.
