Much talk about Razaleigh - but no newsreports...

The Star on 2 July provided the following blurb to a report on the possibility that Tengku Razaleigh will challenge PM Abdullah Badawi for the post of president of Umno:

“It's the most talked about topic in Umno but is probably the least published except for some Internet news websites and Harakah, the PAS newsletter, for obvious political reasons.”

In other words, the most talked about topic in Umno has been the least published in the mainstream media. The most troubling aspect of the report is that the paper did not find anything remotely odd or remiss about it.

The blindingly obvious question is how come this “most talked about topic in Umno” has been the least covered by the mainstream media.

Does that not say the mainstream media have not been doing their job, including The Star? Even though it finally ran the story, the topic is actually stale news now as it has been around for at least the past couple of weeks.

On the other hand, over the past couple of weeks or more, the paper and the other mainstream media have been replete with stories like:
whether there should be a contest for the top Umno positions,
which Umno members have expressed interests in running for the Vice Presidents' posts, and whether those Puteri Umno who no can longer remain as puteris should immediately go for top Wanita Umno positions.

All these topics have been allowed to hog the media limelight even though, by The Star’s own admission, they have not been the most talked about topic in Umno.

Is not how much interest or talk a topic has generated one of the criteria of newsworthiness?

Where was the paper with the story at least two weeks earlier?

On the other hand, consider The Star’s coverage of how much talk and interest the paper itself claimed its supplement, The Star Euro 2004 Special Edition, has generated among Malaysians. The paper saw it newsworthy to run not just one but at least four reports on it. Never mind that the newsworthiness was actually a very flimsy pretext for shameless self-promotion and congratulation, as we noted earlier (see entry on 24 June).

In finally coming out with the story on the possibility of Razaleigh challenging Abdullah for the top Umno position, The Star also took a dig at PAS. It said the story was published in Harakah much earlier for "obvious political reasons" i.e., presumably to portray disunity in Umno.

Well, there is little doubt Pas had political motivations in running the story earlier. After all, what is Harakah but its party organ or newsletter.

But what is The Star’s excuse for not covering the story earlier or in a more timely fashion, which is a cardinal principle of the press? And what is the excuse of the other mainstream media for still blacking out the most talked-about topic in Umno?

One cannot help but think that their refusal to cover this most talked-about topic in Umno altogether or in a timely fashion suggests they too have their political reasons, in this case perhaps to project a united Umno or a well-liked Abdullah as Umno president. In other words, these media are masquerading as newspapers practising journalism when they are little more than BN newsletters.