Sorry State of Our Media

Our news media have fallen into such a sorry state of late that I feel both ashamed and helpless as a journalist.

Of course, given the authoritarian media laws that we have, we can't be expected to be more vocal, least of all critical of the government of the day if we treasure our publication permit.

But many of my concerns are not even political. It's the conscious choice of some media to report on negative news and sensationalising sex, death and other people's misfortune with the goal of getting more readers, listeners or viewers.

The values that we learn as children: honesty, compassion and selflessness are rarely, if at all, portrayed in our media.

As a result of these sensational reporting, economics, community and world news are often relegated to back pages. And as they compete with 'juicier' gossips, entertainment and tales of incest and mayhem, few readers take note and they become sideshows when they should be what news are all about.

The result? Our society has become so backward that many of our teenagers could name all the finalists of the American Idol and none of our ministers. We are now more concerned about details of sexual crimes rather than the measures being put in place to mitigate the effects of the global recession.

Malaysians buy newspapers to find out if their 'numbers have won', watch TV to see who's being 'voted out' and tune in to radio to hear the latest pranks being played on unsuspecting victims.

We often joke about the ignorance of the American society in general, but we are not much better. Our society has become so caught up with 'living the good life' and 'enjoying ourselves' that few people tune in to the all-news channels that we now have.

As a society, the masses are now living on the hard work of a few. No thanks to our news media and reality shows.

To make things worse, our journalists and even editors are caught up in the internet age. Street language and internet lingo are now mainstream in some papers, radio / TV shows. Facts are getting checked a lot less. Bernama news (which is often inaccurate) is taken at face value and copied verbatim (read The Sun / Malaysian Reserve for lessons in 'copy journalism'). Reporters are assigned to cover news, fresh out of school (instead of being put under tutelage of a senior for a year, as was the past practice).

A self-proclaimed 'seasoned' reporter lamented recently that I don't understand what it's like to be working against deadlines, having to juggle between family and work, and still getting things out on time. Well, I have this to say - you made a choice.

CHANGE BEGINS NOW!
If you are a journalist / editor and is guilty of propagating a lifestyle of nonchalance, apathy and fame-seeking, change now. If you have been picking up copies of paper for their entertainment value, change now. For the sake our future, and that of our country and children, change now.

Switch now to more 'intelligent' media, and you will realize there's so much more in life and in the world than negative news and SMS votes.

HR Ministry Not Important?

I read this news on Star Online with considerable surprise. I hope The Star has gotten their information wrong, as they have a tendency to sometimes.

2. I cannot fathom how the Ministry of Human Resources is less important than the Works Ministry. Given the increasing emphasis on human capital development, and Prime Minister Najib’s assertion of a People First, Performance Now policy, I would assume that it is an honour to be placed in charge of human capital development.

3. Perhaps some of these close-minded politicians referred to the ‘contracts-awarding’ power of the Works Minister. If that’s the case, then they have no place in the Cabinet to begin with.

4. The importance of a Ministry is a sum of how the Minister and his officials project themselves and evolves with times. In the first cabinet of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Agriculture and Rural Development were right at the top of the ‘list of important’ ministries, along with the Finance Minister and Prime Minister.

5. I hope the Human Resources Minister will openly dismiss this as mere speculations and the works of some irresponsible elements within his party. To say the Ministry of Human Resources is ‘not prestigious’ reflect badly on how much he has achieved as a Minister so far.

Business Power Minute on Radio 24

I will be on Radio 24 every working day at 9.30 am (GMT +8) in a new programme called Business Power Minute.

Tune in to 93.9 in Klang Valley, or www.radio24.com.my worldwide.

See you!

Blogs: Rants, Sedition or Slander?

Running a business ages you. I realise recently all my friends are in some form of online networking and many of them have blogs. I’ve found excuses after excuses not to blog or to join any ‘social media’, until my friend Hermawan Kartajaya showed me his Facebook account on his mobile. So on Christmas day, 2008 I started this blog and joined Facebook.

Blogging opens up a whole new world of opportunities for many. People who did not have an opportunity to ‘vent’ their feelings and thoughts could now do so in the comfort of their couches. On an even more positive note, it helps Malaysians, who are notorious for not reading anything beyond textbooks, to develop a reading habit. It also helps encourage people to write, and evidently, learn to think creatively– something our education system has failed to do.

Blogging is so easy that it took this writer less than an hour to learn. It is not surprising therefore, that almost everyone have a blog nowadays.

But blogging can be dangerous too. In Malaysia, for example, almost all political and news blogs are anti-establishment. Of course, some claim they are presenting a ‘fairer’ view. But how fair are you when every posting is nothing more than government bashing masquerading as news analysis? Perhaps the freedom and ease of having our thoughts published and recognised by others have given many of us the perception that we are always right. Blogs tend to inflate egos.

In real life, we get sued if we say things about people that are not true. It’s called defamation. If we belittle or insult the monarch, expose secrets of the state or wage war against our own country – it’s called treason. Strangely, if you do these things on blogs, you are likely to end up with many visitors and become an instant blog hero.

CYBER CRIMINALS

When the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) shut down several websites in Malaysia few months back for sedition – all hells broke lose. From the Bar Council and the Pakatan Rakyat to the bloggers community and even the Human Rights Watch, everyone condemned the actions as ‘curtailing freedom of expression’ and ‘draconian’. I may not agree with MCMC. But that does not stop me wondering how we could adopt one standard for ordinary day-to-day life and another for the internet. These same critics will not hesitate to complain if their neighbours so much as raise the volume of the TV past midnight. Yet they are out in full force to support people who are obviously making a nuisance of themselves, and breaking laws in the process of inflating their own egos.

I say don’t shut down these offending websites. Take the owners to court and put them behind bars if they are found to have been seditious. And the subjects of their often unjustified defamation should sue them for damages. Just as we cannot allow criminals to roam our streets, we cannot allow these bloggers / cyber criminals roam our internet space.

I am a big fan of freedom of association and speech. I believe that everyone is entitled to their two cents worth. But like everything else in life, we need to do things responsibly and with common sense.

MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO

As it is, many of our youths are very anti-establishment because of what they read on blogs, among others. Many perceive there’s unfairness being done. How? Not many know. But since so many blogs say the government is evil, the government got to be evil, right?

This is the real danger of blogs. In repeating each other often enough, concepts that have no basis whatsoever become truths. Intellectual discourse and logic goes down the drain.

I don’t like my government very much. But in all the years that I’ve been able to read, I’ve never seen a freer press, more robust politics or a more diversified economy. How that can be all bad eludes me.

Go on, blog as much as you like, but prepare to be taken to court if what you say is slanderous or seditious.

That’s fair play – the way it should be.

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This article appeared in the Perspective column of SME Magazine April issue.