WSJ has allowed itself to be used as a conduit for the Anti-Najib campaign

(Bernama) – Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak today lambasted the Wall Street Journal for practising what he described as “irresponsible journalism”.

He said WSJ’s persistent attacks on Malaysia and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak were based on unsubstantiated allegations and anonymous sources which might not even exist in the first place.

“… it is a classic example of extreme irresponsible journalism. It is becoming all too obvious theWSJ has allowed itself to be used as a conduit for the Anti-Najib campaign,” he said in a statement to Bernama.

Citing the latest article carried by WSJ, he said it raised old allegations about Swiss investigations into supposedly 1MDB-linked companies, but then failed to even mention that the Swiss Attorney-General had made it clear Najib was not involved in any way.

“They then claim that ‘a Saudi official said the nation’s finance and foreign ministries had no knowledge of the donation and that such a transfer into the personal bank account of a foreign leader would be unprecedented’ – completely ignoring the fact that the Saudi Foreign Minister has said the funds did come from his country!

“Why does WSJ ignore these key details, which would be vital to any impartial reporting on this story? Because they are not interested in being impartial, let alone in ethical journalism. They are fully committed – either by being duped, or because of their own agenda – to running down Malaysia and its democratically elected government,” he said.

He said WSJ claimed to have heard from “one cabinet member”, “a Saudi official”, and an interim version of the Auditor-General’s report “from last year” which they claim was leaked to them but did not show proof of these claims.

“Where is the proof for any of this? How do we know any of these people exist? How do we know the report is genuine and not fake?” he asked.

Salleh quoted what New York Times editor Margaret Sullivan had said about standards: “Anonymity is a last resort. Editors have a role here … in drawing a hard line by not allowing material from unidentified sources, particularly quotations, to be published. Readers are right to protest when they see anonymity granted gratuitously.”

He said apart from DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua, everyone quoted in the WSJ article was anonymous.

Salleh said Malaysians must not be misled by propaganda, lies and smears masquerading as news.