Government stakeholders in consultation with media industry players over proposed amendments to the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) are mulling to expand existing controls to include content on digital media.
According to a Home Ministry report on a public consultation held last month over proposed amendments to the PPPA, the discussions noted how the publishing industry has evolved along with technological advances.
“The creation of new applications in the realm of communication technology offers alternative mediums for the public to quickly and easily obtain information.
“These changes include not only the production process but the entire publication chain, including marketing,” read the report in a section that highlighted the government’s analysis of current scenarios surrounding digitalisation.
The Home Ministry noted increasing challenges to control printed publications, with more and more non-printed content easily available online.
“This situation posed a challenge for the government to regulate online publications.
“It is viewed that there is a need to expand the PPPA, enacted to control printing activities and publications in the country, to include control on content published on the internet,” read the report.
Mixed reactions
The report also recorded an analysis of feedback from consultations held between April 1 and April 16, including mixed inputs on the proposal for PPPA’s provisions to be expanded online.
Internet regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), an agency under the Communications Ministry, said it agreed with the proposal because its current role does not include regulating news or licensing online news portals.
Instead, action will only be taken on a website based on public complaints.
The MCMC also suggested having a clearer definition or criteria for online news portals such as the percentage of daily news content, subscription numbers and the number of journalists writing news.
On the other hand, media editors representing Bernama, RTM, Makkal Osai, New Straits Times and Sinar Harian objected to the proposal, suggesting that the government should instead move forward in setting up the Malaysian Media Council as an independent regulator.
“Control on online news content will impact newspaper publishers who also own online news portals.
“At the same time, unregistered online publishers are free to do what they want without any Home Ministry action,” said the editors.
The group also highlighted their main challenge came in the form of “aggregators” or content creators who “plagiarise” online news content on their platforms.
On March 1, a month before the latest series of consultations that started in 2022, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail reportedly said the government would not be making any amendments to the PPPA, dismissing concerns raised by senior editors as mere rumours. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.