— CC Liew
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 19, 2011

AUG 19 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently announced that the government would review its media censorship policy. This move undeniably constitutes a major step forward for the country and would effectively remove the shackles some civil servants ignorant of present day realities have imposed on the media.

Najib’s announcement also shows that he has come to recognise the on-going changes taking place in the county’s media landscape.

Even though this is no longer a novel idea, yet many of our civil servants appear to be indifferent to this important message: While you can audit the printed page of the newspaper, a reader only needs to push a few buttons to read completely unedited reports in the electronic version. While you can block a news report from appearing on the print media, there is no way you can stop bloggers writing their stuff online.

Sometimes, the censorship criteria themselves are dubious and incomprehensible. Magazines publishing bare breast pictures of aboriginal women are torn and even classics by master painters would not escape the fate of their works published in upscale magazines being blacked out.

Living in a multicultural society, sure enough we cannot do things indiscreetly and some forms of restrictions are indeed essential. That said, threats of censorship from politicians and public servants would only generate some undesirable effects.

The criteria as to what should be reported and what should not should go back to the media operators, who would make the decisions and bear all the responsibilities and consequences for their lapses and misjudgements, if any. We already have more than enough laws governing the media anyway.

Although the prime minister’s promise to review media censorship does not translate into amendments to the existing laws and policies, yet it is a remarkable step ahead. Going forward, other laws meant to pin down the media should also come under the microscope.

The media landscape has altered. Newspapers and government-sponsored electronic media can no longer dictate public consensus. With elevated education standards and enhanced civic awareness, Malaysians have learned to distinguish what is right and what is wrong while the Internet offers the public a much more convenient and ready source of information.

Online information could sometimes be misguiding or even harmful by virtue that rumours, slanders and poison letters could spread unrestricted in the cyberspace.

However, reputable media organisations and respectable journalists will continue to exercise a very high degree of professionalism and self-discipline to see that what they pen will not cause damage to our society. The mode of communication could have changed, yet the standards for genuine, accurate, unbiased and balanced news reports remain the same.

In the enormous market teeming with all kinds of information and ideas, it is imperative that the media be allowed to execute their professional obligations without fear and favour.

We are ready to face the consequences for lapses owing to our oversight, but any verdict and any form of punishment handed down to us must be carried out in accordance with the law, not dictated by a handful of powerful people

Only a media operator that boasts integrity can be sustainable. Media resorting to distorted, fraudulent and baseless accusations, or adopting illegal or morally unacceptable means will be exposed, be it individual bloggers or multinational corporations in the likes of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Scrap the various laws meant to put a curb on media operation, please! Like any other professionals, let the journalists — renowned writers with an established media organisation or little-known online bloggers alike — be governed under the same general law. And let the reading public determine whether we should prosper or decline.

Let the courts, not certain politicians or civil servants, pass down a verdict on our doings or misdoings. — mysinchew.com