CYBERJAYA – The establishment of the Malaysian Media Council will facilitate advancements towards ensuring better press freedom, said Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching.
Teo also said that it is vital for the government to demonstrate its political will to form the council, which is aimed at acting as a regulatory body represented by various media organisations in the country.
“We believe that when the media plays a role in supervising the government, the government must reduce judging the media on whether their stories are ethical or if they have committed any mistakes,” Teo told reporters here.
“By establishing the media council first, agendas for better press freedom can be carried out by the council.
“We are not saying that the formation of the media council is the end of our struggle or campaign (for better press freedom). This is a role that will be carried out by the media council.”
Teo said this when met after attending the National Press Club’s (NPC) post-National Journalists’ Day (Hawana 2023) conference at the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Centre of Excellence, here, today.
The Kulai MP also pointed out that one of the details in the Malaysian Media Council Bill, which is expected to be tabled in Parliament next year, is a code of conduct for media organisations.
“In today’s era, where anyone can claim to be a journalist and set up their own platform where they can potentially commit misdeeds, whose responsibility is it to state whether such reporting is ethical?” she questioned.
“Without the media council, such a task falls on the government. When the government is the one to say that certain reporting is not ethical or propagates its own agenda, we are criticised for intervening in press freedom.
“This is why it’s important for the media council to be established so that they can take over responsibility for this task.”
She added that the public will be able to file their complaints with the council, which will then release their findings to allow a better understanding of the role played by the media.
Besides that, she noted that while the pro-tem committee for the council had a “long wishlist”, the ministry managed to fulfil all their requests.
“What’s important is that we managed to reach a consensus on the contents of the bill so that we can table it in Parliament,” she said.
Meanwhile, Teo also commented on the NPC conference, which featured a panel discussion led by Scoop chief executive officer Datuk Zainul Ariffin, The Mole columnist and NPC committee member Abdul Rahmat Omar, as well as MCMC Consumer and Industry Affairs senior director Eneng Faridah Iskandar.
“I enjoyed the discussions, I think many important points and questions were raised, especially on the media’s role in social engineering and how we should uphold the standards of media reporting,” she said. – October 27, 2023