I am totally disillusioned by the so-called mainstream news media in this country on their election coverage for today's elections. It is a known fact that the major publications (The Star, NST, Malay dailies etc) are all controlled by the political parties currently forming the government.

However, the obvious bias and one-sidedness displayed by the 'cheering-section' that consists of the mainstream mass media is becoming distasteful. One merely needs to flip through a copy of the daily newspapers to find the headlines, stories and analysis fawning and bowing before the Barisan Nasional.

The opposition in general is shoved into the sidelines. The few articles that focus on the opposition, unfortunately tend to focus on what Barisan candidates think about the opposition. Do I need to tell you that it is usually to point out how bad they think the opposition is?

I truly believe that the mainstream media has utterly failed in its duty to help inform the public about issues and to deliver the news with fairness and objectivity. It is perfectly correct that a newspaper be allowed to have an editorial that voices out its opinion on where it believes the country should be headed, and that the Barisan is the best party to lead it.

This is done in countries like the United States and other democratic countries. For example, in the US, the New York Times is a liberal leaning paper that is more inclined to support the Democrats in its editorials while The Wall Street Journal's editorial page usually supports conservative policies. In Malaysia, however, while newspapers are free to give their opinions, they just have to make sure they favour the Barisan.

What is not normal is when a newspaper's editorial opinion spreads to its news columns and influences how it reports a story. It is a basic journalistic rule that news should be strictly about reporting facts and not be unbiased.

Opinions should be kept in editorials or opinion columns. However, it is an unsaid fact that most stories in the mainstream media's news columns are slanted to favour the ruling party and put the opposition in the most unfavorable light.

And what is certainly not normal is that all the major newspapers in a country are obliged to favor a certain political party lest their publishing licence right be revoked.

If any of the major newspapers in the country really have any journalistic integrity, they should be the first ones to start honestly reporting the news and not just parrot the orders of their political masters.

There have been news articles in the mainstream media lately wondering why many Malaysians are skeptical and not interested in politics. Before searching for answers on whether its the apathy of voters or the lack of curiosity, the media should start by looking at the nearest mirror.