A media frenzy to be at the forefront in reporting the Pardon Board's decision on Najib Abdul Razak's bid for freedom has led to multiple retractions and rebukes.
It started with an Utusan Malaysia report citing sources that Najib had been granted a pardon.
This led to the New Straits Times and Berita Harian also reporting on the pardon, citing the Utusan report.
Utusan, however, ended up retracting its report just over an hour after publication, saying it could not verify facts in the report.
Berita Harian subsequently also deleted its report on the pardon.
Meanwhile, both Sin Chew Daily and China Press had separate reports also citing sources alleging that the Pardons Board would reduce Najib's jail sentence.
Both reports have also been taken down.
NST in a separate article reported on the speculation that Najib's sentence was remitted.
It also reported that it “understood” the announcement on the Pardon Board's decision would be made by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail during his press conference tomorrow afternoon.
This was later denied by the Home Ministry's press team, who said Saifuddin's presser was unrelated to the pardon.
NST has since amended its article to reflect this.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil advised the media to wait for the Pardon Board to issue its official statement before reporting on their decision.
He said they should not publish reports based on sources regarding the matter.
Najib is serving a 12-year jail sentence at Kajang Prison for the RM42 million SRC International corruption case.
Earlier today, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territory) Dr Zaliha Mustafa confirmed to Malaysiakini that the board had met on the matter but declined to provide details. - Mkini
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