It must be a new phenomenon in the world of Malaysian journalism – New Straits Times admitting that it has transformed itself from a “news-paper” into a “lies-paper”, without any compunction or sense of journalistic responsibility by claiming that it was only reporting on the “lies” by others in its pages and columns.

It is significant that the New Straits Times response to my speech at the Johor DAP State Leaders Retreat at Kukup, Johor on Saturday about UMNO/BN mainstream media unabashedly transforming themselves from newspapers to “lies-papers” made no attempt to deny that they were publishing “lies” instead of news, except to claim that they were publishing the “lies” spread by others.

Will the New Straits Times similarly oblige DAP and Pakatan Harapan leaders and print whatever “lies” concocted by them about the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, UMNO and Barisan Nasional in the NST pages and columns?

Of course not and this will be the correct decision for journalists must be guided by the canons of journalism, the most fundamental of which is that a newspaper should not degenerate into a “lies-paper”! Read the rest of this entry »