Monday, March 28, 2011

JAKARTA POST: MALAYSIAN MEDIA VIOLATE JOURNALISM PRACTICE

"The Malaysian Government-controlled media violated every known ethical practice of journalism by providing graphic reports of the alleged “sex sojourn” without verifying the identities of the video’s subjects."

That's the opinion or rather the perception of the Indonesian media, to be specific the Jakarta Post, of Malaysian mainstream media.

In an editorial by the Jakarta Post on the alleged expose of Anwar Ibrahim's misdemeanour,  the Indonesian newspaper says:

"Typically, the source of the video was not disclosed, evoking the popular Indonesian (and Malay) saying lempar batu sembunyi tangan, which means “throw the rock, hide your hand”. No one took responsibility for screening the video, but the mainstream media played along and reported what their journalists saw. Ever willing accomplices, the media broke one of the credos of journalism: Identify your sources, especially when making allegations as serious as this."

Read the rest of the editorial at this link here:  http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/03/28/a-new-low-malaysian-politics.html

As a matter of fact, have Malaysian mainstream media ever been fair in its reporting?