2010/04/06
PUTRAJAYA: The opposition and media channels they back, including some websites and blogs, have been pushing for the mainstream media to be sidelined only because their lies had not been entertained.
Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said allegations that the mainstream media tended to spin its articles to suit the government's agenda were baseless, as truths reported often did not augur well for their own agenda.
"If a mainstream media does not publish or broadcast their point of view in full, it does not mean that democracy is crumbling.
"The opposition now has its own newspapers and blogs and you can see they don't even have one good thing to say about the government of the day.
"They even ridicule something as novel as 1Malaysia," he said when asked to comment about an email circulated widely over the Internet calling for a one-day boycott of the mainstream media yesterday.
The chain email, which appealed for support, claimed that there would be "greater things to come" in the boycotting process.
Universiti Teknologi Mara Faculty of Communications and Media Studies' Professor Dr Mokhtar Muhammad said mainstream newspapers in the country still played the crucial role of nation-building via its thorough coverage of the government's agenda and policies that served the interests of the people.
'To say that the mainstream media which joined forces with the nation in the struggle to attain independence is irrelevant today is unacceptable, as they remain the mainstay public reference for information.
"They are one of the main and reliable channels where the people could learn of what and how the ruling government is charting ways for the country to move forward and so on.
"Mainstream newspapers play a role of more than disseminating news. They help readers to gain knowledge, including good language."
He said repeated attempts by the anti-mainstream media propagandists to label the mainstream media biased could also backfire as the public would in turn see that the alternative media was on its own, serving their masters in its reporting.
Mokhtar also said the society could not distance itself from the mainstream media as even those disinterested in political reportage would still seek newspapers for other types of news that they believed were reliable.
http://malaysia-today.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31039:let-me-change-my-mode&catid=20:no-holds-barred&Itemid=100087
ReplyDeleteRais does not seem to get it. The mainstream media is being boycotted not because it refuses to publish ‘our point of view’ but because it lies. If the mainstream just refuses to publish something then that can be forgiven. But the mainstream media is biased and serves a certain agenda and is not independent, plus it publishes distorted news.