When even condolence messages are blacked out

There has been an outpouring of condolences messages for the late Pope John Paul II, which have come from a broad spectrum of Malaysian society - ruling coalition parties, opposition parties, NGOs and prominent politicians.

But our mainstream media are still up to their old tricks, it seems. Even on this sad occasion, they see it fit to continue to black out certain parties and individuals, notably Keadilan and Anwar Ibrahim. Anwar, as most of us are aware, has been largely ignored by the mainstream media after the heady coverage he received immediately after his release from prison.

The media, except for the odd Chinese newspaper or two, have generally played up the condolences messages from Mahathir, Abdullah Badawi, Najib, the MCA etc while blacking out those from Keadilan and Anwar. Why have Anwar's and Keadilan's messages been singled out for censorship? Are the mainstream media afraid that if these condolence messages are published, Malaysians might regard Keadilan and Anwar in a more favourable light?