The global news broadcaster CNBC has axed its flagship business show World Business, following an exclusive expose earlier this week by Sarawak Report.[see previous story]
We revealed how BN politicians, including the Prime Minister Najib Razak, Abdullah Badawi and Taib Mahmud have been paying the production company, the UK-based FBC Media, millions of ringgit of taxpayers’ money to buy them positive publicity on the show.
Allowing slots to be purchased in this way, deceiving millions of viewers who thought they were watching impartial programming, is a serious breach of broadcasting laws, for which broadcasters such as CNBC’s parent company, the American broadcasting giant NBC, would be held ultimately responsible.
Last night the company’s acting chief executive, Charlotte Westgate, made this statement to Sarawak Report confirming the decision to withdraw the show:
“In light of serious questions raised last week, CNBC immediately initiated an examination of FBC and its business practices and has withdrawn the programme ‘World Business’ indefinitely.”
This illegal video promoting Taib on CNBC's World Business programme cost RM 800,000 !
Further questions to answer
The BBC, who also carry programmes by FBC Media have yet to respond to our enquiries, however it is believed they too have launched an immediate enquiry into the activities of FBC Media. CNN has also carried a number of suspect shows made by FBC, including a number of interviews with Najib by the company’s President John Defterios.
Meanwhile, there remain many questions that the broadcasters still need to answer. According to broadcasting laws it is the broadcast company that is held ultimately responsible by the licencing authorities for the content of their programmes, so how could they have allowed the corruption of one of their top shows by Malaysia’s BN politicians to carry on for so long?
Our key questions are these:
Did CNBC not notice how Malaysia was being constantly featured, showing nothing but praise for the BN government, despite widespread concerns about the country’s corruption?
Did CNBC not examine FBC Media’s business model, available on their website, which plainly shows how the production company doubled up as a PR company flogging slots on their shows to top dollar clients?
And, our most important question of all, can CNBC please make public the arrangement under which they commissioned the World Business programme from FBC Media ? Evidence from FBC’s previous Annual Reports indicates that CNBC was getting the show for free and leaving it to FBC to raise their income and profits from “sponsorship”!
FBC's Annual Report from 2005 explains the remodelling of World Business as a free programme for CNBC, financed by sponsorship!
If this evidence from FBC Media’s Annual Report, registered at the time World Business was commissioned by CNBC, it would make the broadcaster itself deeply complicit in the corruption of the show.
Malaysia’s corruption has infected the world’s media
Najib featured on the programme numerous times, as did his wife Rosmah, promoting herself as 'First Lady'
Sarawak Report will shortly be releasing further material from its extensive investigations into the corruption of the international media by Malaysia’s BN politicians.
Meanwhile, we leave Malaysian taxpayers with this final question. Why was their public money being used to fund this illegal activity of buying puff-pieces on global TV news programmes ?
Najib, Taib and all the BN politicians who were purchasing slots on shows were doing so to shore up their own political positions and counter critics. Public money should not be spent on dirty party politics at the very least this money should have been coming out of BN’s own pockets!
We are talking about a recorded RM57.68 million paid out by the Prime Minister’s office to FBC Media in 2008-2009 and a further RM42 million recorded for further global strategic media campaigns last year. On top of this Taib Mahmud had contracted FBC Media for a further RM15 million a year.
To cap it all it turns out that the money has been wasted on a flop. All this corrupt activity has been easily exposed and can now only backfire on BN and Malaysia providing terrible PR and exposing the country to the world for the corrupt practices that its ruling party are willing to indulge in.
Malaysia’s million dollar Global Strategic Communications Campaign has been a disaster, but the taxpayer will be lucky to ever see one ringgit back from FBC Media of all the money spent by BN on their behalf.
Chairman of FBC Media made a fortune out the Malaysian taxpayer from interviewing and promoting Najib Razak. What good has it done?
Sarawak Report
2 comments:
M'sia exporting corruption? How about reforming the Department of Religion. Read on.
I went to the Post Office to register to vote; and upon checking my identity card, the Post officer asked which religion I belonged to. Why? I do not know. Therefore, we must reform the Department of Religion. Right now, only Islam is recognised as the religion in the Department of Religion. Therefore we need reforms. We need to divide the Department of Religion into two branches: one branch to deal with Muslim Affairs, and another branch to deal with non-Muslim Affairs.
Please make sure you go to the nearest Post Office to register to vote. Please exercise your right to vote.
If you do agree with me, please copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Those who receive it must in turn copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Let’s get the word around to as many people as possible. Let’s see what happens.
I’m sure that there are several reforms that Malaysia should undergo. Let’s at least get one thing reformed: education. As it is, there are three language streams in Malaysia. That, is, there are Malay-medium, Chinese-medium, and Tamil-medium schools currently operating in Malaysia. Then somebody decided to teach maths and science in English in all these three school systems. Next, somebody decided to flip-flop and remove the teaching of Maths and Science in English. What’s going on? They introduce English and then they remove it. There are too many flip flops.
Therefore, I read something interesting as a solution. Let me share it with you.
Firstly, lets leave the three language school system as it is.
Let’s focus on kindergarten schools. Let’s allow private kindergarten schools to have total autonomy from political intervention. If private kindergarten schools are allowed to teach the 3R’s (reading, writing, arithmetic) in English, then it may solve the problem.
Hopefully, the next generation of Malaysian children will firstly go for three years to an English kindergarten. After completing a stint in the English kindergarten, next the children will enter primary school. In primary school, they have to choose between Malay, Chinese, and Tamil medium schools. Eventually, they will complete secondary school education.
These students will be more multi-lingual and therefore will be an asset to the nation in a globalizing world.
In any case, almost all the universities (both government and private) use English language text books. Therefore, we have to connect English kindergartens on the one hand with English language text books in universities on the other hand. Do you see the connection now?
In any case, it is better than flip flopping. The bottom line is that I am sick and tired of politicians and bureaucrats constantly changing the public education system at the expense of the children of Malaysia. Somebody even put English as the only medium of instruction for Maths and Science only to be removed by another politician. So, instead of removing English I have decided to push English down to the kindergartens in Malaysia. The question is: should we push English up or down? I think we should push English medium down to the private kindergartens. This will be fair and square to everybody. Let's call this the MALAYSIAN MODEL. The Malaysian model means that Malaysian children will study for 3 years in English medium in private kindergartens. Then, they will be ready to enter the public school system. If the Malaysian model catches on it may be imitated by nations in ASEAN and the rest of Asia. Probably. I do not know. We will wait and see.
I fully agree that they should stop teaching Maths and Science in English in the public school system. Teaching Maths and Science in English would marginalize rural children who are mostly Malays. We want a system that does not marginalize. Solution: Malaysian Model. I suggest that all rural kindergartens be funded by the government and become English medium kindergartens. In fact, all government funded kindergartens should give early childhood education exclusively in English. I can tell you now that rural Malays will lag behind if they do not attach value to multi-lingualism. I can tell you that nobody can discern or predict on the massive market; and that the market makes and shapes the person.
Let us suppose that the university is at the top; and kindergarten will be known as the bottom. Both the top and the bottom would use English language textbooks. In between the top and bottom would be the Malay-medium, Chinese medium, and Tamil medium schools. This is the solution.
If you do agree with me, please copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Those who receive it must in turn copy and remail it to whom it may concern. Let’s get the word around to as many people as possible. Let’s see what happens.
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