THE Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and Gerakan Media Merdeka (GERAMM) are deeply concerned with the status of media freedom in Malaysia and related challenges concerning job security and a safe and enabling work environment.
Accordingly, this memorandum is directed at efforts to strengthen the workplace culture and improve the labour rights of media workers across the industry, following the incident relating to former Bernama Mandarin News journalist Sydney Yap.
On Aug 10, 2022, the national news agency threatened to sue Yap for voicing her concerns in a Facebook post earlier that week about the workplace culture at the Bernama Mandarin News team.
In a Facebook post, Yap claimed that the department’s employees had faced pay cuts when Bernama absorbed them in 2019. Yap also brought up concerns regarding the hiring practices at the news agency and how it affects the quality of news produced by the Mandarin News team due to reduced staffing. Yap further alluded that these concerns were systemic issues in the media industry.
Yap also said she had reached out to Bernama chairwoman Senator Datuk Ras Adiba before her last day but could not set a meeting time.
Following this, Bernama chief executive officer (CEO) Roslan Ariffin said Yap had never raised these complaints during her three-year tenure at the company. Roslan also stated that widespread media reports of Yap’s post had tarnished the reputation of Bernama and the Government.
On Aug 18, Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin defended the Government’s practice of hiring contract staff, including within Bernama and Bernama TV, which are under the ministry’s purview. The deputy minister also made disparaging remarks regarding Yap’s mental health.
The above incidents have raised the following serious concerns:
Lack of job security and sustainability
In general, media workers experience unpredictable work hours. They are expected to be available and mobile by the editors and publishers to meet the demands of the news cycle and the need to break stories.
While these work practices are standard and expected of those in the media industry, the level of dedication and commitment from the media workers must be commensurate in the form of secure employment, pay increments and promotions.
Experiences shared by Yap and others indicate a pattern where these benefits were either absent, lasted only until the media organisation downsized or lost entirely when there were mergers and acquisitions.
The precarious conditions of work have the potential to result in financial insecurity and persistent anxiety, leading to high turnover or possible underperformance, especially for those with no other financial support system.
Precarity is now a reality for media workers and is expected to accelerate even more in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; media owners’ revenue has been severely impacted since the emergence of COVID-19, and the media ecosystem could become a stressful workplace, especially for new or junior media workers, as a result of low and delayed salary disbursements.
Independence and sustainability of the media industry
Ultimately, the precarious work conditions highlighted above, if continued unresolved, are likely to impact the quality of news and broadcast production, thus undermining the independence and sustainability of the media industry.
Role of vernacular media
Bernama announced that its 6.30pm Mandarin news programme will be reduced to five days from the initial seven days due to staffing issues. Roslan further stated that the role of the Mandarin desk is merely to translate news content produced by the Bernama Malay newsdesk.
This undermines the critical work and role of the Mandarin desk and completely disregards the importance of multilingual media. This also denies the fact that the Mandarin team has produced many in-depth reports over the years, in line with its social responsibility as an informative and critical media entity.
Malaysia is a diverse and plural society with its multi-racial and ethnic population. In responding to the diverse readership, multi-lingual media play a critical role in representing the ranges of voices and issues experienced by and of importance to the respective communities. Media framing of issues and news has importance and an implication on public discourse and Government policy through the diversity of content and analysis.
The acceptance of the idea that vernacular media is only to parrot the news produced by other multi-lingual media forecasts an environment where certain media can control the prevailing narrative and positioning of issues of political or public interest.
The role of media has never been as critical as now, with the country emerging and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the lead-up to the imminent 15th General Elections (GE15). As we battle misinformation and disinformation, the media play a crucial role in ensuring that we can sieve through high volumes of information flow and provide the necessary updates on current affairs and the key policies adopted by the Malaysian Government.
Our recommendations
In this regard, we call on the Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa to conduct an immediate investigation and publicly disclose the findings on the matters related to Yap’s allegations and related state responses, including the following:
- Disguised pay cut when the Mandarin News Team was integrated into the news agency;
- Insignificant salary increment over the past three years;
- Insufficient human resources within the Mandarin News Team, which impacted the quality of news being produced;
- Roslan’s statement that only translation work is required for the Mandarin news on TV at Bernama, which undermines the critical role of vernacular news media and its related contribution to the plural and diverse communities in Malaysia;
- Lack of redress mechanisms available within Bernama and the delay in adequately addressing the concerns raised by Yap and her other ex-colleagues; and
- False and disparaging statements made against Yap by Roslan and Zahidi.
Roslan and Zahidi’s statements must be retracted and Yap given a public apology as well. This is as the responses by these public figures undermine not just the concerns raised by Yap but also the credibility of the media industry and the Communications and Multimedia Ministry in its entirety.
Annuar must also review and upscale the current employment and contractual practices among media agencies, especially state media agencies run on public funds.
As signatories to fundamental International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions, Malaysia should uphold its commitments toward ensuring a fair, decent and sustainable work environment within the media industry, including paying a decent wage, if possible, compatible with market rates.
The review should include multi-stakeholders such as media owners, media workers, labour experts, media support organisations and civil society, and be conducted across the media industry.
Furthermore, Annuar must recognise the critical role of multi-lingual media and ensure that the various vernacular desks are adequately resourced and staffed to meet the highest attainable media standards.
Besides that, he should dismantle repressive legal structures that make it difficult for media to operate and move forward with the establishment of the Malaysian Media Council (MMC) as a transparent and independent self-regulatory body for the industry; doing so would address the trust deficit in the media amongst the public.
Last but not least, the state should promote media freedom and create an enabling and safe work environment for the media to function independently and without fear of job insecurity while carrying out their reporting functions.
This would require the commitment of the Government to actively fulfill its role as duty bearers and eliminate all forms of violations and discrimination against the media. – Aug 27, 2022
The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is a non-profit organisation promoting media independence and freedom of expression in Malaysia, while GERAMM is a loose coalition of media practitioners and supporters of press freedom in Malaysia and across ASEAN.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
