Marginalising Anwar

The NST, like its competitor The Star, appears to be marginalizing news reports of the Anwar trial. Yesterday, the NST’s report titled "I was deprived a fair trial, says Anwar in appeal against conviction" was tucked away on page 7. The report on the trial, which has attracted international concern and interest, is placed at the bottom half of the page. The top of the page carries a banner headline, "Euro 'live' telecasts luring bookies".

It appears then that there is a deliberate attempt on the part of the newspaper’s management to push this politically significant trial away from the limelight that it deserves. Editors appear to be shying away from the man who once used to be "the darling" of the Malaysian media.

It’s a vicious cycle: first, the editors marginalize Anwar and put him out of the public eye and then they later turn around and say that the Malaysian public is no longer interested in him and that public interest in his plight has faded. How can there be public interest when news of his plight is deliberately downplayed and sidelined?

Whatever happened to the moral indignation displayed by the mainstream media and their editors when they condemned - and rightly so - the outrageous treatment of Iraqi captives by US military personnel? Where is the indignation over the treatment of Anwar and the ISA detainees?