Proposal of dedicated channel for GE being refined - minister

 

The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia will refine a proposal to create a dedicated channel for the general election, said its minister Annuar Musa.

He said this is to improve the dissemination of information to the people.

Citing the special channel for the Olympics, Annuar said a designated channel could be created to give a fair space to all competing political parties.

“It is something interesting that we can establish, perhaps for the Sarawak state election it is not that suitable, but for the general election, it is conceivable.

“It is one of the options that has never been provided, but it is not impossible if the situation permits. Technology allows us to do that and the cost is not so high,” he said.

He said this when he dropped by the national news agency Bernama's Malacca polls operations room today.

Also present were Bernama CEO Mokhtar Hussain, editor-in-chief Abdul Rahman Ahmad, and executive editor Harlina Samson.

Annuar said with this dedicated channel, all campaign activities that take place in rural areas, especially those that were previously unknown to the public, could be aired.

He said once the Parliament is dissolved, the channel could start broadcasting information that would educate the public.

“It also does not interfere with other air time, the EC (Election Commission) can monitor what happens on the ground. This dedicated channel is quite interesting, we will think about it later,” he said.

Annuar said his ministry, during the Malacca polls, introduced a new approach by providing space to candidates to use Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM)’s TV and radio channels.

They could rely on the channels to disseminate information about themselves and their aspirations to voters due to the strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) to control the Covid-19 pandemic.

RTM's TV channels have started to air posters and biodata of candidates contesting in the Malacca polls as well as their audio recordings via the MelakaFM radio station from Nov 14.

In the meantime, Annuar said the strict SOPs set also increased the creativity of the machinery that helped contesting candidates in the Malacca polls.

He said throughout the campaign period, various parties have created their own campaign channels virtually through their social media accounts.

However, he said the excitement to share and be the first person to disseminate the information could lead to the sharing of factual errors, especially in publishing unofficial election results.

Therefore, while expressing his admiration for the information delivery system in the Bernama operations room, Annuar said as the national news agency, Bernama needs to maintain its credibility.

“Don’t misreport. While you want to be quick there must be SOPs that need to be adhered to. Don't get carried away to 'compete' with others.

“Moreover, Bernama is the source that other media agencies will pick up, so the level of integrity must be at the highest,” he said.

- Bernama