WSJ ‘DISSEMINATES FAKE NEWS’
It has been trying to topple Umno-led govt
FERNANDO FONG KUALA LUMPUR kee.soon@nst.com.my
UMNO information chief Tan Sri Annuar Musa said the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has been trying to topple the Umnoled government for decades by using fake news.
Describing it as an “Israeli propaganda paper”, he said WSJ was irresponsible and took no responsibility for disseminating fake news, which was nothing but lies and politically motivated.
He said WSJ had attacked successive Umno-led governments for supporting the development of the Malays, as well as the other races in the country.
“It wishes to impose its own liberal secularist extremist agenda on Malaysia, and has shown blatant favouritism for the opposition for at least the last 19 years.
“WSJ was an avid supporter of the illegal Iraq war, which has devastated the Middle East, destroyed a country, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and was directly responsible for the rise of Daesh,” he said yesterday.
He said while it was unfortunate that many people around the world were unaware of its true face, many Americans knew the WSJ was not to be trusted.
Citing examples, he said leading Democratic Senator Al Franken had described WSJ as “intentionally misleading” and referred to “standard Wall Street Journal distortion”.
The Huffington Post, he said, had accused WSJ of publishing blatant misrepresentations and distortions of facts “to sell war and sanctions.... that will starve ordinary people”.
The Centre for American Progress had accused the WSJ of deliberate distortions “for reasons of ideological obsession”.
The world renowned thinktank referred to the “once respected WSJ” as perpetrating the “deliberate spread of misinformation”.
Annuar said Malaysians were sometimes surprised that US papers could get away with publishing lies, and thought they would be forced to retract and correct any errors or fabrications.
It had been pointed out that in America, no one could stand in the way of a paper like the WSJ from printing whatever it wanted.
“The news media is unique in being the only industry that operates without quality controls or checks on its power.
“It has so much unchecked power that even the most powerful people and companies are afraid to speak out against it for fear of recrimination.”
Annuar called on Malaysians to listen to the voices of Americans who knew WSJ ignored the facts in pursuit of its own partisan political agenda.
“The WSJ has become nothing more than a propaganda outlet and willing vehicle for the Malaysian government’s political opponents.
“Now, it has been exposed by leading Americans as the purveyor of fake news we have long said that it is, Malaysians should not believe a word they say.”
WSJ is the largest newspaper in the United States by circulation.