Editors to be called in for meeting with Hisham

It is the responsibility of the chief editors to ensure that their organisations do not go beyond the boundaries set in reporting such issues, says the home minister.

SABAK BERNAM: Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein plans to meet chief editiors of newspapers on the reporting of sensitive issues.

He said he wanted to ensure that the chief editors exercised caution in the reporting of sensitive issues on race and religion and that they understood they would be held responsible for their action.

Commenting on a report published in Utusan Malaysia recently alleging that certain groups wanted to make Christianity the official religion, Hishammuddin said:

“There are times when the Malay community were unhappy with the reporting of the Chinese newspapers (on sensitive issues) and vice versa.”

“It is the responsibility of the chief editors to ensure that their organisations do not go beyond the boundaries set in reporting such issues,” he told reporters after opening the Sungai Besar Umno division delegates meeting near here.

Despite the clarity of the country’s publishing laws and guidelines, he said, “every paper has crossed the line (in reporting sensitive issues) one time or another. Now it’s Utusan (which has crossed the line).”

Hishammuddin said that it was difficult to control the flow of information on sensitive issues, especially with the emergence of the new media.

“If it (the information) does not make it to the mainstream papers, it will somehow or rather get to the new media like online news portals, Facebook and short messaging service,” he said.

Referring to the acid splashers who have been terrorising women in the Klang Valley, Hishammuddin urged people with information on the suspects to come forward and help police with their investigation.

He said he was making the appeal on behalf of the police who had so far received 22 reports on women being splashed with acid.

- Bernama