ONE bad word in the intro can spoil a whole news story, any editor worth his or her salt will tell you. Intended or otherwise, that odd, lousy or unsuitable word (or phrase) can make something good appear less good, even sinister.
BusinessToday’s use of “alleged” when quoting a report by Reuters on our King’s visit to China is an example of how this did happen.
Well, let me make it clear: I don’t think there was malice on the part of the editors involved, but I just had to send the article to an old colleague who happens to write for the news portal and make an issue out of it.
“Reuters…has alleged? Is this news article ‘sahih’ (verified)? Weird choice of word…Your articles also appear on the same site.” I did not get a response.
This was the day after the report King In China For High-Speed Rail Investment Discussion: Reuters was posted online on 20 Sept by BusinessToday.
Excerpts:
Reuters in an exclusive editorial has alleged that the King of Malaysia is in China to seek investment for a high-speed rail project from a Chinese State Owned Company.
According to the report, the revived Singapore Malaysia HSR project will be activated using private funding as the government has reiterated that taxpayers’ money will not be used. The report stated Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar is looking for investment from a Chinese State-owned company which it said the source did not want to be quoted.
Earlier, Transport Minister Anthony Loke had said the multi-billion ringgit project did receive many offers with proposals coming from both local and foreign companies, however the decision will finally be made by the cabinet once all the option are studied.
Many days have passed and as far as I know, Istana Negara has not commented on the “allegation”. Neither has the Transport Ministry, which was also mentioned in the report. They should, for two reasons.
Firstly, because “allege” in simple English is used to assert that someone has done something wrong or illegal, typically without proof. Court reporters use that word a lot – alleged rape, the accused allegedly beat her husband, etc.
And, secondly, clarifying the matter is necessary in order to set the record straight, correct any misconception, and to uphold the integrity of the Palace and the government.
Reuters’ exclusive was picked up by the Edge Singapore, Bloomberg and Singapore Straits Times (Malaysia King to seek funds for high-speed rail on China visit). Every report quoted “people familiar with the matter”, a favourite phrase among the younger journalists.
Excerpts:
Sultan Ibrahim’s delegation includes representatives of YTL, the people said. The Malaysian company is one of the three groups shortlisted for the project, The Edge Malaysia reported in March.
YTL executive chairman Francis Yeoh told Bloomberg TV in November it was interested, while stopping short of confirming its participation in the bidding process.
Sultan Ibrahim has been a long-time backer of the rail link, which Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government revived in 2023 with a caveat that it would not be funded by taxpayers.
When the relevant authorities do not feel that they need to respond immediately to the assertions by a news portal or news wire, people who are not familiar with the matter will stay misinformed. When these people are misinformed, they get the wrong ideas and come to the wrong conclusions.
And that was exactly what happened in this case.
Since the alleged reports about our King, our social media have been inundated with suspicious Malaysian netizens (read people who are not familiar with the matter) spewing their own theories and, ultimately, more allegations!
Look at some of the comments garnered by the Bloomberg report:
All these allegations are grossly unfair to the YDPA Sultan Ibrahim, needless to say. He was in China on the invitation of President Xi Jinping to “deepen strategic ties” in conjunction with 50 years of China-Malaysia bilateral relations.
The King was not there to lobby for companies bidding for the HSR nor was he there on a “personal business trip trying to save his investment in Forest City” as “alleged” in the comment section of one of the news portals. (Read also Singapore Straits Times’ Malaysia unveils zero tax for family businesses in Forest City, in bid to revive Johor project)
Most social media commenters, like the mainstream media’s oft-quoted people-familiar-with-the-matter, are almost always anonymous. All in the name of freedom of expression, I’m sure.
But their anonymity is not an excuse for keeping mum over their allegations. These anonymous sources are quoted by news portals which are not anonymous. Similarly, the anonymous commenters leave their views in comment boxes of sites with known addresses and moderators.
BusinessToday, Bloomberg, Reuters, Singapore Straits Times and Business Times are not anonymous. They are easily accessible.
The people tasked with upholding the integrity of the Palace and the Madani government must reach out to these sites and portals to set the record straight. Failure to communicate will derail (pun intended) the King’s bid to help and instead subject him to all sorts of allegations. – September 26, 2024
Datuk Ahirudin Attan, better known as Rocky Bru, is the executive director of Big Boom Media which publishes Scoop and president of the National Press Club (NPC)