New faces, old reportage, little discussion of issues

Much of the mainstream press is abuzz with announcements of so-called new faces (of candidates) put up by the competing political parties, particularly the incumbent BN. As predictable as the morning sun, most newspapers highlighted or front-paged the new line-up of the BN candidates.

These papers also reported the dropping or exit of the ‘old faces’. For instance, The Star front-paged yesterday, 22 February, the news about MCA deputy president Chan Kong Choy’s decision not to contest this time. Chan, who was seen as closely associated with the Port Klang Free Trade Zone scandal, quipped, “I cannot say I am very happy but it is the right decision.” It makes the reader wonder what really made him not so happy with this decision to quit the contest and, possibly, retire from politics too.

Such reporting is very much the stuff that the mainstream press in general had been dishing out in past general elections: that is, overplaying the issue of candidacy to the extent of neglecting critical issues confronting the electorate and the nation, such as inflation, corruption in the police force, the judiciary and other branches of government, lack of press freedom and gender and ethnicity discrimination.

But there are a few notable exceptions. For example, in theSun yesterday, deputy news editor Terence Fernandez, wrote a probing piece about the troubled MIC (“Samy and MIC face crucial test”). Here he did try to critically discuss problems that have been plaguing the MIC. He also touched on issues affecting the Indian Malaysian community that the government and the MIC had neglected, Hindraf and the Maika scandal.

And in the same paper, Fernandez, in his column “Down2Earth” rightly highlighted the importance of the mainstream press being fair to all political parties in the run-up to the election. And he announced his newspaper’s commitment to the principle of fairness: “For this election, this newspaper has decided to accept advertisements from all political parties. As long as the content is not defamatory or could be perceived as inciting, there is no reason why we should not accept announcements and advertisements from anyone.”

What is also interesting and noteworthy is that he also called on fellow journos “to carry out our responsibilities to the best of our abilities within the confines of the various Acts of Parliament and discretionary powers of the authorities”. He ended the piece by saying, “We owe it to our craft and we owe it to our fellow Malaysians.” While his intention is indeed noble and is deeply appreciated, concerned Malaysians however would be left wondering whether this intent can be effectively translated into reality, given the various obstacles put in place by the authorities.

One only needs to remember what Umno politician Azalina Othman had to say about bloggers and media freedom in Malaysia. In a news report published in yesterday's The Star (“Bloggers slammed”), Azalina reinforced what media critics have been saying about media-state relations: “the opposition parties were using the blogs because they know that the Home Affairs Ministry was busy monitoring reports in the mainstream media.” As if this wasn't enough of a confirmation, she also revealed, “They (the Opposition parties) think they can get away with it but it is not the case as they too are being monitored.”