Government policy vs Press Freedom

Mainstream media (MSM) is severely biased and often highly selective due to government restrictions but I still found it quite shocking to discover that Malaysians are still following the news published in MSM. In fact every Malaysians are aware that whatever news reported in the MSM vetted through by government officials. However with the emergence of alternative medias via internet we still do have some option to update ourselves with news which will not be covered in the MSN.

Reporters without Borders and Freedom in press reflects the degree of freedom journalists and news organisations enjoy in each country, and the efforts made by the state to respect and ensure respect for this freedom.

Malaysia is considered as a ‘communist country with a capitalist gloss’ because the government contrives to make Freedom of Information applications too expensive for major newspapers, let alone your average citizen, that Malaysian laws now contain ‘more than 500 separate prohibitions and restrictions on what the public is allowed to know’ and that there are more than 1000 suppression orders in place on the media at any one time excluding sedition act, OSA. ISA etc…..

In fact, Malaysia’s NGO’s, opposition parties have recently joined forces in a public campaign called Malaysia’s Right to Know. The ability to report to Malaysians about how Malaysians are governed and how our courts are administering justice is being severely hampered’ and suggest that ‘many of the laws and restrictions imposed on the public’s right to know form a very worrying situation’.

A proper independent study of threats to free speech and expression in this country should be carried out immediately.

Could we rely on the major news suppliers to give us the “whole truth” when they are dreadfully hampered by the government’s restrictions? I rather think not.

These days most Malaysians rarely read newspapers or magazines unless they are part of that rare and wonderful genus, i.e.independent medias.