The conventional way of resorting to the mainstream media to tackle issues is ineffective, according to the Institut of Mind Development.
KUALA LUMPUR: The government must boost its presence on the Internet by mastering the new media such as “Face book” and “Twitter” which are highly popular, especially among the young.
Institut of Mind Development chief executive Norizan Sharif said the conventional way of tackling issues using the mainstream media was ineffective.
“The government must respond to the new media, otherwise the people will treat its allegations as true.
“Currently, we don’t see the government responding in Facebook, we also don’t see any (government) initiative in answering in blogs and Twitter. We can see many opposition MPs in Twitter, but on the government side, the number is dismal,” he told Bernama.
Norizan was commenting on a statement by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday who said the opposition used the new media to instigate the people to take part in illegal activities for political gain although the news they highlighted were untrue.
Hishammuddin said the government found it difficult to explain the situation on the illegal gathering on July 9 despite the various existing media channels being used, following the widespread use of the new media by the opposition.
Norizan, who also wrote in the blog http://www.nobisha.com said the absence of government engagement in the new media handicapped it so much so that it encountered difficulties in answering issues relating to the illegal gathering.
He also suggested that the government activate efforts to download every announcement or good news to YouTube because studies found that the young spent part of their time surfing the Internet.
Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan’s History, Politics and Strategy Study Centre senior lecturer Abd Ghapa Harun said the mainstream media must also dispel the fallacy that they still monopolised news distribution.
“It is important that the government is transparent when issuing related information when facing an issue because this will build confidence in the media being used by the government.”
Ghapa also said that emphasising a high level of integrity among the mainstream media by the government, would in itself weaken the public trust in the alternative media.
He said the integrity of a large portion of the content of the alternative media was questionable compared to that of the mainstream media.
- Bernama
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