NGOs urge politicians to let journalists do their job

KUALA LUMPUR: The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has urged politicians to let journalists do their job and put an end to dictating what they deem to be newsworthy.

The organisation, which advocates press freedom, said the case of a minister’s press secretary questioning whether national broadcaster Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) had “sabotaged” the minister by not airing his Chinese New Year speech was unwarranted.

“RTM should be beholden to the public interest, not to political pressure. We urge Transport Minister Anthony Loke and his press secretary to refrain from making complaints that their speeches were not covered and let journalists, not politicians, decide what is newsworthy.

“CIJ urges ministers to respect the independence of the national broadcaster, including decisions on whether to broadcast their speeches,” the non-governmental organisation said on Monday.

Loke’s press secretary, Lim Swee Kuan had, on Monday, called for “heads to roll” after claiming that the former’s speech at the Chinese New Year Open House at Dataran Sentrio in Seremban was not broadcast.

Lim, in a Facebook post, had demanded an explanation from RTM and said he would lodge an official complaint with Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo.

The National Union of Journalists believes that the issue should have been handled better.

Its general-secretary, Chin Sung Chew, said a line of communication should have been opened between the parties to establish what happened.

“By acting impulsively, Lim’s reaction made local media groups uncomfortable and, as such, viewed it as interfering with press freedom.”

Media companies, he said, should have the right to decide what was newsworthy and what to publish or broadcast.