NETIZENS are calling for action against Malay news portal mStar for practicing gutter journalism in the reporting of murder victim Nur Farah Kartini Abdullah.
In a case that has gripped the nation, 25-year-old Nur Farah had been reported missing on July 11.
The former University Pendidikan Sultan Idrs (UPSI) student had disappeared after delivering a rental car to an acquaintance. On Monday (July 15), police found Nur Farah’s body in a palm oil plantation in Kampung Sri Kledang, Hulu Selangor at 6pm.
Both social and traditional media had been awash with news and speculation over her sudden disappearance and motives for the heinous crime. Further intrigue was added by the victim’s last social media postings which hinted at possible disappointments in her personal life.
Following the disappearance, police detained a 26-year-old man who is believed to be the victim’s romantic companion who had known Nur Farah since her varsity days.
The suspect is in custody for seven days to assist in the investigation under Section 302 of the Penal Code. He is a police officer with the rank of Lance Corporal in Slim River, Perak, according to Selangor Police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan.
Alas, in what seemed like a calculated attempt to attract readers, mStar posted a story revealing details of the victim’s personal life (see main image).
The timing of the piece has greatly enraged many netizens who view it as a sensationalist clickbait.
This is a sample of the comments attached to the post of X (formerly Twitter) user Anaz.Idevice Repair @annazrulan) to reflect the disgust at mStar’s editorial standards. The post has attracted a staggering 1.7 million views at the time of writing.
Many were stunned by the lack of sensitivity given mStar is the Malay language arm of The Star which is the country’s highest circulating English mainstream daily.
They further urged the public to report “en masse” the portal to the relevant authorities. Among the issues was posting “news” from unverified sources.
Many lamented the deteriorating standards of local media with a few urging the Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil to take stern action for the perceived spread of lies and misinformation.
A few urged other netizens to stop following and posting comments – even negative views – on mStar’s platform as generating maximum eyeballs is the name of the game here. It was suggested that a boycott would be more effective.
Following the backlash, mStar seems to have gotten the message by having since removed the offending piece.
The above highlights just how the media landscape has changed. On the one hand, with social media being the platform where the battle for readership is fought, it appears that nothing is off-limits such as mStar’s ill-advised story.
On the other hand, the sensationalist content was written to feed netizen’s insatiable appetite for the salacious details of any potential scandal. It is the same everywhere.
While a higher standard is obviously expected of established media houses, netizens need to question why such news is being posted. If more netizens avoided such content, it will have the desired effect.
Unfortunately, that would be wishful thinking as it is such content that is driving the “media industry” these days. – July 18, 2024
