I said Zam was, at least, ‘honest’ of using mainstream media as propaganda tool because most governments, world over [including that of the US – do we dare say that Bush, the president of the bastion of Democracy does not try to manipulate media to support his war effort in Iraq?] would similarly seek, in varying degrees and under different guises, to do the same, trying to manipulate media, suppress negative and disseminate positive information to influence either directly or indirectly the opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behavior of the constitutencies all in the name and under the banner of national objectives, but actually ultimately in support of the interest of the ruling elite and party in power and their continuance in power.

But today is not yesterday. The governments have lost the monopoly to influence public opinion via the printed media as increasingly communication is facilitated via the Internet, the alternative media and citizen journalism via blogs like this, which they cannot control.

Since propaganda is most effective where only 5% of populace think, 10% think they think, 85% would rather die than think, the most effective antidote against manipulation of thoughts through media is the citizenry’s growing literacy and cultivation of the mental skills of critical thinking.

Critical thinking means not believing everything one reads or is told. It is as much a mental habit as a social value that can be cultivated and ingrained. It is an innate distrust of everything that one reads or is told is the truth unless tested against the consistency and balance of other established or known facts; it is a habit of mind to evaluate and examine propositions against known logical fallacies.

Critical thinking rests upon allowing people full freedom to dissent, discuss, dispute, and in that process refine deeper what has been discussed.

Question is how long the government will allow this atmosphere of freedom to discuss and dispute, without which even critical thinking is of no help when it is silenced by guns, as the latest events and suppression of the monks in Myanmar demonstrate……

Realistically, we Malaysians should not be too overly concerned with what Zam said. It is not earth shaking because the partiality of gov’t controlled mainstream media to paint government in positive light and to play down negative news is only expected – and hence, discounted….

What we should be concerned and ought to resist is any attempt to silence even the alternative media or control the Internet or government leaders incarcerating and, in the case of Singapore much admired by many here, suing critics to bankruptcy…..

So I’m only exaggerating that Zam’s statement signals that we’re heading the direction of North Korea, China, Burma, Turkmenistan and Bhutan, only to dramatise a point. We’re not heading there until the day the government clamps down on all public discourse, blogs and alternative media like Malaysiakini. (At this moment the powers-to-be still engage rather than using the fist – the latest example, Nazri’s interview with Malaysiakini, never mind you may think he ‘talked cock’ Would this be likely during TDM’s administration or even Lee Kuan Yew’s administration?)

What Zam does not grasp is that when a certain latitude is given to alternative media to publish negative news, what does he expect editors of mainstream newspapers to do? Like it or not, the negative news are already out in the open – so what is the difference to the government? – and mainstream papers, which also need to expand readership, cover their costs of production and make money, will look damn silly, loosing credibility if they said nothing leaving the glory of journalism to the Online bulletins and the blogs to be first at the news.

Two recent examples highlight this predicament of mainstream press : the first is the breaking news on Lingam’s tape and the other is Nazri’s gaffe on the non existent Witness Protection Act/Bill. The poor mainstream news media were silent in the beginning, testing waters and later publish the developments to the extent they did not negatively reflect on the government. It is like telling the story somewhere in the middle with no head and no certainty as to the tail of the story to come.

How pathetic!