Terence Fernandez says it best:
Incitement is not press freedom
It is uncommon for newspapers, media organisations as well as their journalists to criticise one another’s editorial policies or reports. Call it journalistic etiquette if you want.
However, there are the few but significant times when this decorum is disregarded. And this usually occurs when a member of the Fourth Estate breaches the norms and values of responsible journalism and risks bringing acceptable standards of reporting down to the recesses of gutter journalism. Thus when this happens, it is incumbent upon the press fraternity to speak up.
If we don’t do our house-cleaning, we are seen as condoning and even supporting the words and writings of those who use “freedom of the press” and their media tag as a façade to incite, provoke and inflame.
It does not take a heart surgeon to draw parallels between the main character in Chamil Wariya’s short story in Mingguan Malaysia on Sunday to a very real and sitting Member of Parliament.
For more, click here.
As discussed earlier, Utusan faces two defamation suits and also possibly one more this year. In the meantime, Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd in its turn has also filed a law suit against Kok for allegedly defaming it as they allege that she accused the company of distorting her statements about the food she was served while under ISA detention.
Now, Teresa Kok has sent a separate letter of demand to prominent writer Chamil Wariya and the editor of Utusan Malaysia (and head of the Malaysian Press Institute, who is said to be assisting in the formation of a media council) over the publication of a short story, discussed by Terence above, which appeared on Oct 12 in Mingguan Malaysia.
I wonder if Chamil Wariya will be taken under the ISA to protect him from any possible danger…
Click here to see what the Centre for Independent Journalism has to say about this matter.
Posted on 22/10/2008
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