Number 132 in press freedom, jolly good!

Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) ranked Malaysia at No132 out of 173 countries in its press freedom index 2008 released yesterday. While this is a good showing, we could do even better if we try a little harder.

By moving a mere 40 notches, we will be world champion at No173. Then all the reporters - and not only editors - will be rewarded with a Datukship.

I can think of several reasons why the country has excelled in journalism. The main one is our stringent quality control.

RSF noted: “In January the prime minister called the bloggers ‘liars’ while in July, the law minister, (Mohd) Nazri Abdul Aziz, said the government would not hesitate to resort to the Internal Security Act to punish them.”

Delivering quality assurance, as we know, is a pet ‘project by the Barisan Nasional’.

Another reason lies in the excellent media organisations we have to train young cadets and undergrads, an example being the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI).

Its CEO Chamil Wiraya is not only a seasoned journalist but talented short story (cerpen) writer as well. Utusan Malaysia recently published his piece of fiction on the assassination of ‘YB Josephine’, a character Chamil assures everyone bears no resemblance to Seputeh MP Teresa Kok.

Chamil says he wrote the cerpen “to enrich the Malaysian literary world” and as “a reminder to politicians not to incite communal sentiments in the name of politics, and not to take racial harmony, unity and peace for granted”. This kind of visionary thinking and leadership is one of the secrets of MPI’s success.

Malaysia is obviously tops internationally because it steadfastly adheres to “the journalistic standards of fairness, factual accuracy, accountability and balance in reporting”, and is awash with news outlets boasting these self-proclaimed criteria.

“… while certain quarters take offence at the storyline and make issues out of it, the majority who read the cerpen take it positively and rationally,” Chamil had told a news portal, one among the clutch of newbies to have recently emerged online.

The fact that a majority are positive about Chamil’s cerpen exemplifies “the philosophy that good journalism goes hand in hand with well-thought out opinionated writings to best reflect the growing maturity and sophistication of the Malaysian public”. [The sentence marked within quotes above is actually a description of theSun by the ad company that the paper hired to do its re-branding and aggressive marketing.]

Or as theSun’s former group editor Ho Kay Tat puts it, high media performance is boosted by “commentary which educates”. Ho was talking about his own paper but I suppose it could just as well apply to his competitors.

Chief rival Star gives columns to titled personages like Datin Paduka Marina, Raja Zarith and Puan Sri Ampikaipakan because the more impressive their social rank, the more effectively their commentary educates.

Given public confidence

There is an online petition ‘Memorandum on Media Freedom’ which calls for review and repeal of certain press laws. This memo was drafted by Benar, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Writer’s Alliance for Media Independence (Wami) and All-Blogs.

Launched in May, the petition will close in four days on Oct 27 after running for six months. To date, the Media Freedom memo has garnered 2,743 signatures. In comparison, the six-week run of the ‘Save the Judiciary’ petition launched on Aug 4, and submitted on Sept 16 to the Agong, collected 25,700 names.

Strong endorsement for the judiciary petition indicates that Malaysian lawyers fear judges are not doing their jobs properly. The media freedom petition is, on the other hand, receiving little endorsement because the public plus reporters themselves believe our media are already doing a swell job. Therefore few agree with the petition demands because they know press laws are really for our own good.

There was a similar disparity in numbers with regard to two identical activities pertaining to reporters and lawyers. The four groups - Benar, CIJ, Wami and All-Blogs - had co-organised the Media Freedom Walk on June 1, drawing 150 participants. The legal fraternity’s Walk for Justice last year had a turnout of 2,000.

At the Press Walk that sunny morning, I saw among the 150-strong Sunday crowd the usual suspects who were familiar faces from NGOs, observers from the Bar Council and human rights societies, bloggers and members of the public.

Although some Star editors and reporters were present, many of their colleagues from other media weren’t. The organisers had perhaps made a mistake in choosing Dataran Merdeka in the heart of KL as venue; they would have attracted more participation if it had been held in Putrajaya (as the lawyers’ walk was, right).

Putrajaya, though located far from the city hub, is more scenic and this factor would have encouraged people to take the long drive there.

Nose for news

The Press Walk organisers were supposed to submit terms of reference on media reform to de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim. But alas, Zaid is no longer in the cabinet; which is probably a blessing in disguise.

I hope the media folks will now leave off from bothering Zaid’s successor any further with this business of reform. There’s clearly no need as Malaysia placed at 132 is in the outstanding quarter globally, beating 131 countries. We stand shoulder to shoulder with Nigeria, Chad, Djibouti and Sudan. Now, to catch up with Zimbabwe at 151!

What distinguishes a good paper from bad is its news sense. Star devoted seven pages to the passing of casino magnate Lim Goh Tong, including the banner headline on its cover whereas limiting its pictorial report of the Bersih rally to one photo of motorcars stuck in the jam. As any Journalism-101 lecturer will tell you, this is the proper human interest angle to take.

How does an editor decide what’s big news? Take for instance the two groups conveying the ‘Free ISA detainees’ message during Hari Raya recently.

The papers focused on the Hindraf group purportedly misbehaving at the PWTC open house but not the bloggers. Editors made a right call on the newsworthiness and slant by accurately anticipating that the Indian movement would be banned.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar recently revived the idea of the National Media Council, a self-regulating body for the profession. The council should send a study group to learn from Star which is a pioneer in this field.

Star - according to some of its reporters - only publishes ‘All the news that MCA deems fit to print’.

‘The MCA does interfere’ in the editorial process, and “the actual editor-in-chief of Star is (the MCA president)” and ‘(Dr) Ling (Liong Sik) lies about 'non-interference'.

The reporters’ testimonials were given some years ago during the Nanyang takeover when MCA investment arm Huaren bought majority stake but the venerable kowtow tradition was incepted earlier - in 1987.

Chua Jui Meng, the defeated MCA presidential candidate, had only last week said he would make Star an 'honest' paper, which goes to show the deep commitment the MCA leadership have for their party newsletter.

But no need for false modesty … as the most profitable and popular newspaper, Star must accept its share of credit for Malaysia’s admirable ranking in the world press freedom index.

Benar had wanted to be friendly and persuade reporters to write freely and fairly. Me? Aiyah, I just want a red Ferrari.