The journalists are products of the non-questioning education system, says NUJ general secretary V Anbalagan.
PETALING JAYA: National Union of Journalists (NUJ) blamed the education system as the cause for journalists reporting badly without analytical skills.
NUJ general-secretary V Anbalagan said: “Our education system does not teach us to question but to accept. It is a talk and chalk matter.
“They (the journalists) are the product of the system.”
He said this in response to a report yesterday where Nottingham University professor Zaharom Nain accused local reporters of having no idea about journalism and this led many Malaysians to avoid reading newspapers.
Zaharom also blamed local reporters for being lazy and contributing “superficial” news reports at a forum entitled “Truth Matters: The Media and GE (general election) –13″ at UCSI (University College Sedaya International).
Anbalagan added that the maturity of the journalists in analysing issues comes over time.
“The young are ingrained with the education system. They mature only after receiving informal education on the job.”
He also called for an overhaul of the education system to arrest this problem.
“As long as there is no overhaul in the education system, progress for a critical thinking journalists would be slow.”
He added that not every journalist in the industry are as described by Zaharom yesterday.
“There is a minority who are the exceptions. Some of them are in the mainstream media and this does not mean that they have sold their souls,” said Anbalagan, who was also present at the forum yesterday.
He added that some journalists find their analytical skills when they move to the online news agencies or begin writing their own blogs.
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