Positive vs negative journalism

Spotted this Bernama report in the Daily Express yesterday:

Foreign newsmen advised against negative reporting

Kuala Lumpur: Media practitioners, especially journalists, must be sensitive to the sensitivities of a country in their reports, taking into account the feelings of the Government and the people.

Deputy Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin said lopsided and inaccurate reports of a country would have a negative impact on the journalists who wrote the report.

Besides being mindful of the sensitivities, he said, journalists should also understand the people's culture and current developments in a country so that they would not write negative reports merely from brief visits to the country.

"Even though visiting or staying in a democratic country, journalists and the media must respect the sensitivities and be sensitive to developments in the country," he told a press conference after meeting 10 senior journalists from India who are visiting Malaysia under the Asean-India Journalists Exchange Programme here today.

Zainuddin said journalists' sensitiveness could help enhance government-to-government ties besides promoting bilateral relations to a higher level.

Zainuddin said negative reports written by foreign journalists about a country after visiting the country only briefly showed they did not value the bilateral ties and purposely wanted to create a misunderstanding.

Zam has raised some valid concerns about "parachute journalism". Some foreign journalists may indeed write about a country without sufficient background knowledge, though it is doubtful that there are many who intentionally want to create a misunderstanding and upset bilateral ties.

Zam should also be concerned about local journalists who view the world through rose-tinted glasses. These "positive" local journalists fail to report on serious shortcomings in government policy such as the failed privatisation policy, which has led to so many bailouts. Nor do they seem concerned about human rights violations such as the continued detention of ISA detainees in Kamunting. They omit anything that may seem inconvenient to the government and instead come up with fawning reports, which read more like propaganda material.

How about if we just forget about labels such as "positive" and "negative" reporting and try - to the best of our ability - to report the truth in all areas of national life? Is that too much to ask?