Wahai Najib, Bebaskanlah Media!

Hari Kebebasan Media jatuh pada tanggal 3 Mei setiap tahun. Bersempena dengan perlantikan Datuk Seri Najib Razak sebagai Perdana Menteri baru, kita mungkin tertanya-tanya apakah halatuju media di mata beliau.

Dalam sebuah Negara yang berpegang kepada demokrasi yang digembar-gemburkan oleh kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN), amalan media yang bebas menjadi pegangan.

Seperti yang kita sedia maklum, Malaysia mempunyai akta khusus bagi mencengkam kebebasan tersebut. Akta Percetakan dan Penerbitan menjadi kekangan dalam perihal ini. Sebarang penerbitan termaktub dalam akta ini termasuk pihak kerajaan mempunyai kuasa bagi menetapkan syarat-syarat penerbitan tersebut.

Semasa pilihan raya umum yang lalu, pengundi telah member isyarat yang agak kuat bahawa mereka mahukan media yang lebih bebas. Mengikut beberapa kajian yang dijalankan, tujuh hari sebelum pemilihan, New Straits Time memaparkan 17 halamannya mengutuk parti alternatif khususnya Ketua Umum Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Ini mendatangkan impak yang disebalik kerana kecaman-kecaman yang berlebihan tersebut bukan hanya telah menimbulkan rasa marah pengundi malah telah mendatangkan rasa belas kepada bekas Perdana Menteri itu.

Baru-baru ini semasa persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri di Perak 7 Mei, had telah diberikan kepada media maya. Sekatan tersebut diberikan oleh kerajaan BN Perak. Pendekatan tersebut amat bertentangan dengan konsep “1 Malaysia” yang diperkenalkan oleh Perdana Menteri.

Sekurang-kurangnya, bekas Perdana Menteri, Abdullah Badawi telah mula member kelonggaran kepada media maya dalam menghadiri majlis-majlis rasmi kerajaan. Tetapi, sekarang nampaknya tahap media kembali selangkah demi selangkah ke belakang.


Selain itu, kerajaan pusat juga mengguakan Akta Multimedia dan Kumunikasi dan Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) bagi member ugutan kepada blogger dan pihak yang turut serta dalam memberi komen di dalam beberapa laman.

Semasa kemelut perampasan kuasa kerajaan perak, Kementerian Multimedia dan Komunikasi telah mengambil tindakan yang tidak diplomatik dengan mendakwa blogger.

Pada September 2008, satu lagi penghakisan dalam kebebasan media apabila Raja Petra Kamarudin (pengendali laman Malaysia-Today ), Teresa Kok (anggota exco negeri Selangor) dan Tan Hoon Cheng (wartawan) dikenakan tindakan di bawah ISA. Raja Petra kini sedang dalam perlindungan kerana khuatir akan dikenakan di bawah akta yang sama buat kali ketiga.

Apa yang diharapkan di bawah pimpinan Najib, langkah pertama yang beliau perlu ambil ialah dengan menubuhkan Jawatankuasa Pemilihan parlimen bagi mengkaji semula undang-undang yang mencengkam media di Negara ini.

Labels: Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri, Anwar Ibrahim, Barisan Nasional, BN, freedom of information act, ISA, malaysia today, media, najib tun razak, Parti Keadilan Rakyat, perak, PKR, raja petra, teresa kok

Anonymous merepek ... permalink ... 5/02/2009 08:43:00 pm ... 1 blast off

 

 

Public critical of media content, want more independence

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 - A public survey commissioned by a media watchdog found that a significant majority of Malaysians want media independence, with close to half believing the mainstream media to be performing below the best of ethical standards.

Commissioned by Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) with funding from Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the survey was conducted by Merdeka Center for Opinion Research from 8 to 14 May 2008, through phone interviews with 1,203 Malaysians who were randomly and proportionally selected according to state of residence, ethnicity and sex. CIJ also received partial support from the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), based in Bangkok.

Eighty-seven percent of those polled would like to see changes leading to greater media independence: 26 percent wanted a more critical media, 23 percent thought a complaint mechanism was the best answer for the malaise affecting the media, while 19 percent wanted an enabling environment for media plurality.

However, 35 percent believed that the onus for media reform was on the government. Significantly, 79 percent were unaware of the role civil society organisations in promoting media independence. Seventy-eight percent agreed that media owners have a significant impact on content and may therefore be a hindrance to media independence. Half identified the government (53 percent of respondents) and people/companies connected to the government (15 percent) as the owners of most media outlets.

The survey revealed that Malaysians were critically assessing the content of the local mainstream media, upon which the majority relied heavily as sources of information.
Asked to rate the performance of the mainstream media according to six indicators— ethical, variety of opinions included, variety of issues covered, objectivity, fairness and truthfulness—only 56 percent said they were all met; the figure plummeted to 35 percent when it came to fairness of reporting.

Malaysians were also opposed to censorship of topics of public interest: Eighty percent thought coverage of outbreaks of diseases should not be censored, 69 percent felt strongly about exposing allegations/implications of corruption, 58 percent wanted reports of street demonstrations, and 48 percent did not think the identities of crime victims and criminals should be kept hidden. The only censorship that Malaysians overwhelmingly agreed to was on vulgarities, indecent pictures, and lurid and obscene details.

CIJ Executive Director Gayathry Venkiteswaran said that the survey pointed to the need to liberalise media control as media consumers are becoming more savvy. Referring also to an earlier study by CIJ and its partners, on election coverage by six publications, Gayathry said both studies reflected a consistent level of crisis in confidence in the traditional and big media houses.

Merdeka Center Director Ibrahim Suffian said that civil society organisations need further support in working for the interest of the public who, though open to and seemingly desiring of the ideal of media independence, still have vague understanding of the concept.

Labels: CIJ, media, merdeka centre

Anonymous merepek ... permalink ... 9/05/2008 05:19:00 am ... 0 blast off