THE Perikatan Nasional (PN) Government has been perceived to violate press freedom by summoning some reporters and correspondents for police investigations to so-called inaccuracies over news reports or public information.
This is only one out of the many examples that shows the difficulties and obstacles Malaysian media faces under the current Government regime. In fact, several journalists were even harassed and personally attacked due to their reporting.
According to a recent report by the National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJ) entitled “Malaysia Media Report 2020”, a number of journalists were also summoned by the police for investigation under the Panel Code and Official Secrets Act (OSA).
“Civil societies and non-governmental organisations taking a rigorous wait-and-see attitude towards the new Government that came to power in the Sheraton Coup last year,” NUJ said in a statement earlier today.
To make matters worse, the COVID-19 outbreak intensified the blow to domestic media employees, especially with print media getting the brunt of it.
Adding salt to the wound, NUJ stated that some media companies weren’t financially viable in the first place, like Utusan Melayu and Kosmo, which ended up being liquidated and closed down before the pandemic even began.
As a result, employees were unreasonably dismissed and NUJ was forced to assist members legally in recovering their dues. Such cases have forced many journalists to quit the profession and move on to another industry.
“All these reported cases are not conducive to the right of freedom of speech and an attack on the freedom of press. They are revealed through this report and deserve keen attention from the Government, media industries and society as a whole.
“The Government authorities, especially the relevant ministries which are responsible for the welfare of the media industry must seriously look into the findings of this report and we hope the Government take concern and seek proper solutions to address these issues immediately,” NUJ concluded. – May 5, 2021
