Nude ‘ear squats’ video: media fail to see big picture

As expected, the story of a nude woman who was apparently forced to do ‘ear squats’ by a policewoman took centre stage in many of yesterday's newspapers. Selected video stills of the naked woman’s ordeal were published on the front pages of various newspapers. The news was also flashed around the world as one of the BBC’s main news items.

A violation of human dignity and human rights such as this one certainly deserves the media spotlight. This shocking incident has rightly provoked outrage on both sides of the political divide as well as among the public.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi was reportedly bewildered by the incident, which occurred hot on the heels of the alleged degrading treatment of three Chinese women nationals at the hands of enforcement officials. Like Abdullah, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and other cabinet ministers, too, were outraged.

To reiterate, this ugly incident deserves media coverage. One hopes, however, that an element of sensationalism has not crept into the editorial calculations of the newspapers and websites that highlighted the ‘nude incident’, especially those that also carried the video clips.

Feel the pulse

Have the media now become emboldened? Hardly. If they were, they would now be taking another look at the shocking and disturbing testimony of former ISA detainees and other allegations of torture and abuse.

Instead, what we have here is another example of “cue journalism”. The media received their cue to publish when the ruling party politicians expressed shock and outrage over the incident.

But because the same ruling party politicians have not expressed any concern over the treatment of ISA detainees, the mainstream media have remained silent about the treatment of detainees under the ISA. In truth, the media wouldn’t need to look far to listen to accounts of the harrowing treatment of ISA detainees.

There is little attempt to probe beyond the main news story to look at abuse of power and torture under the ISA and the whole issue of custodial violence, which, one suspects, has been swept under the carpet for far too long.

There is also little attempt to highlight the delay in the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) - one of the many recommendations in the report by the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police. Indeed, the media have failed to diligently remind the government about those recommendations.

The mainstream media should take heed of the concerns of ordinary Malaysians and not solely pander to the interests of the powers-that-be. Taking the cue from government ministers is not enough. The media must also feel the pulse of the nation, if at all they are serious about being the voice of the people, as some of the media organisations pretend to be.

Students’ plight marginalised

The cover story of the abuse of the nude woman in yesterday’s Star eclipsed another report about the chairperson of the Parliamentary Human Rights Caucus, Nazri Aziz, calling on universities to drop all charges levelled against students who were involved in activities related to the recent campus elections. He said the universities’ accusations against the students were “trivial”. This report was buried in page 13 of The Star under the rubric of ‘Parliamentary Report’. Remarkably, Nazri was also reported as having suggested the amending of the repressive Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA).

Another news item related to this issue was published in the same newspaper on page 20. Headlined ‘Students want more liberty’, the report was about eight Malaysian Chinese youth organisations calling on the Higher Education Ministry to “amend two clauses in the University and University College Act to liberalise student activities in institutions of higher learning”.

These two reports would have made a bigger impact had the newspaper placed them side-by-side. But then again, that would have been too much to expect from the self-styled ‘people’s paper’.

NST spins the ISA via "objective reporting"

On 6 November 2005, the New Sunday Times, in a two-page report, took readers down memory lane to the terrifying days of Operation Lalang. Remember? That was when 106 people were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in a political crackdown that began on 27 October 1987. As you can see, the Times did not publish this report on 27 October this year; perhaps it didn’t really want to give special emphasis to this date or lend it any political significance.

Carrying a banner headline, ‘9/11 changed Hu’s view of ISA’, the report provided the views of four ex-ISA detainees regarding their detention during that dark period: former DAP deputy organising secretary Hu Sepang; veteran Chinese educationist Datuk Sim Mow Yu (under a smaller headline, ‘Sim taught detainees Chinese during his stay’); UMNO member Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (‘Tajuddin bears no grudges’); and activist Dr. Mohd Nasir Hashim (‘When you play with fire, you will get burnt’).

The introduction to this report essentially tries to justify the use of the repressive ISA. It says that the political turmoil that preceded Operation Lalang compelled the government to suspend “the civil liberties of the 106, including 14 from the ruling Barisan Nasional”. It didn’t quite acknowledge the fact that the very law itself violates the civil liberties and human rights of all Malaysians.

In the interview with Hu Sepang, the report attempts to give the impression that there was a split in the DAP at that time, when Hu was still a member of the party.

But the punch-line was saved for the last three paragraphs:

"But having been through that detention, what does Hu think of the use of the ISA today?

"I am in favour of it (ISA) although I had opposed it vehemently after my release.

"The turning point came after Sept. 11. After that, many countries including the US and Britain, introduced similar legislation.”

Of course, the report didn’t say that two wrongs don’t make a right.

The other three interviews basically tell of the ex-detainees’ harsh experiences. It is noteworthy that the Nasir interview ends with these two paragraphs:

“I am not a romantic, nor am I a rabble-rouser trying to gain popularity. I did what I did because I believed in it.

“And I knew from the very beginning that when you play with fire, you will get burnt.”

This implies that Nasir knew that his criticism of the government would eventually land himself in detention without trial; as if that was something that the reader – and Nasir himself – should accept as a ‘given’.

One may argue that all these came from the horses’ mouths, and therefore they are the mark of genuine, “objective” journalism. But wait, the structuring of the sentences and the reports give the message a different spin altogether. For instance, why was Hu’s interview centre-staged? Well, it provided the paper an excellent opportunity to try to justify the ISA as reflected in the banner headline mentioned above. It was an opportunity too good to be missed – putting a spin on the nastiest piece of work in our statute books.

So much for “balanced” journalism.

Pengkalan Pasir by-election: Here come the propagandists for the BN...

Unsurprisingly, public and media attention has focussed on the 6 Dec by-election in Pengkalan Pasir, Kelantan, following the sudden death of a PAS state assembly member recently.

The political temperature has risen in this PAS heartland – mainly because, in the 2004 general election, the PAS candidate for this constituency won by a slim majority. As if this isn’t enough, the ruling PAS-led government in Kelantan has only a wafer-thin majority in the State Assembly; thus, a BN win in this by-election may loosen the grip of the PAS administration in the state and create turmoil within PAS itself.

So you might have expected the local media to be a bit curious as to how PAS is going to stave off this UMNO-BN challenge on its home turf. Well, think again - your curiosity (about PAS’ electoral preparations) is unlikely to be whetted by the mainstream press, especially the English and Malay language dailies. By and large, the coverage levitates in favour of the BN and its political interests with the opposition given only token coverage.

True to form, The Star yesterday focused on the electoral campaigns of the various BN component parties and their wings. Putera UMNO and UMNO Youth, for example, are already gearing up for this battle royale.

Already, newspaper readers are told that the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, who is the UMNO Youth deputy chief, has begun pumping flesh with the locals - including the elderly, whom the ‘Who’s Who’ in politics would, one would suspect, try to avoid under normal circumstances.

Today's Star, however, has a report on the thoughts of Pas politicians regarding the Kelantan State Assembly - but will this willingness to give the "other side" a chance to be heard continue as the by-election draws closer?

For when it comes to elections, whether the general election or a by-election, experience tells us whatever semblance of fairplay that remains in the mainstream media tends to get thrown to the wind – because the media have no qualms about being an active part of the BN election campaign machinery. In short, they tend to become even more entrenched in their role of propagandists for the BN during election time.

Charter 2000-Aliran commends NUJ’s principled stand

Charter 2000-Aliran commends the stand taken by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) that the proposed Malaysian Media Council must be truly independent and self-regulated and that its composition should be representative of the interests of journalists and of the public.

In addition, the NUJ also calls for the ‘amendment/repeal of several restrictive laws’ such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), Internal Security Act and Official Secrets Act. In this regard, however, we strongly urge for an outright repeal of those repressive laws.

It is of utmost importance, to us, that these laws are repealed; otherwise, the Media Council, which is primarily meant to self-regulate its members, would be further curbed and controlled by an overarching set of repressive laws. In other words, the Council becomes a reinforcement of these restrictive laws.

Furthermore, the PPPA has resulted in, among other things, the concentration of media ownership in this country as exemplified by patterns of media conglomeration such as the Media Prima group, Huaren Holdings, and the Utusan Melayu group. This is politically and culturally unhealthy as it prevents the emergence of a diversity of publications that can cater to diverse shades of opinions, interests and concerns among the general public.

We also support the NUJ’s suggestion that an Access to Information Act or Freedom of Information Act be introduced to promote transparency and accountability in government and in its dealings with the private sector.

To reiterate, the proposed Media Council must be independent and be seen to be independent as it has deep implications on democracy, transparency and public accountability.


Dr Mustafa K Anuar & Anil Netto
Joint Coordinators
Charter 2000-Aliran

This is the Bernama report on the NUJ's stand:

Media Council Must Be Independent, Self-regulated, Says NUJ

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) feels that the formation of the Malaysian Media Council (MMC) can only be successful if the body is independent, self-regulated and made up of an equal composition of public and media representatives.

"The union conducted a survey among its members from March to October 2003 (and) found that the members are keen for a body to regulate the professional conduct of the media," NUJ general secretary Hong Boon How said in a statement Tuesday.

The NUJ was responding to a statement by Deputy Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin over the weekend, calling on the union to push for the setting-up of the MMC, which was mooted in the 1960s by a group of editors to look after the interests of media practitioners.

Hong noted that the survey findings also indicated that the formation of the body should be preceded by the amendment/repeal of several restrictive laws, namely the Printing Presses and Publications Act, Internal Security Act, Sedition Act and Official Secrets Act, and the introduction of an Access to Information Act.

He said the NUJ sent a copy of the survey report to the Prime Minister's Department on May 20 last year and was still waiting for a favourable reply.

Hong said the original draft of the MMC was not accepted by the NUJ as its members feared that journalists were not well represented and that the council might impose new restrictions on the local media.

He claimed that the NUJ was not consulted on the MMC proposal at the drafting stage.

"The union is willing to cooperate with Deputy Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin to rework the proposed Malaysian Media Council or anybody that can enhance the professionalism and the freedom of the local media," he added.

-- BERNAMA

TV3 takes a coffee break – during the news

The festive season is often a bountiful time for advertisers, who deluge the electronic media with their ads. The current so-called “Deepa Raya” festivities have witnessed an advertisements extravaganza on television. A variety of advertisements religiously ‘accompany’ the musical shows, movies and news bulletins aired on television. Seems like this is the time for both advertisers and the television stations to be really merry.

But one form of advertisement that appreared on TV3’s ‘Buletin Utama’ borders on the unusual. Here, the line of demarcation between ads and the aired programmes has been consciously blurred. Towards the end of a news segment, the newscaster tells drivers on the highway to take a break to avoid unfortunate accidents on the road. How thoughtful! But wait...you get to see the TV station’s newscasters actually promoting a certain corporate brand: the drivers are actually advised to take a break from a long and tiring journey at participating Petronas petrol stations along the highway.

This advertising approach, which involves the collaboration of corporate players Petronas and Nestle, subtly tries to give viewers the impression that the newscasters themselves have endorsed the initiative. It may be acceptable for TV stations to air advertisements before, in between, and after a programme. But it is quite another thing for a TV station to try and give the impression that it is ‘natural’ to opt for a certain corporate product or service - without making it clear that it is actually a form of advertisement. In short, it borders on the unethical.

Contrast this with the way ntv7 showed the same coffee break ad, which was placed in between news items, without blurring the demarcating line between news and advertisements.