Good journalism is bad news for backdoor gov’t

It did not take long for Perikatan Nasional (PN) to unmask its agenda to wield RTM and Bernama as the state apparatus to push the government’s version of issues and events.

Its move to give state-owned media exclusive access to Parliament on May 18 on the pretext of keeping other journalists safe from Covid-19 should be condemned for what it is – a government incursion into journalists’ right to report on the one-day proceedings, now limited to the king’s speech, and relegating a proposed motion of no-confidence vote to the backburner.

The prime minister and his cabinet clearly hold a contempt for unrestrained media scrutiny of their legitimacy to govern, and their fragile position hogging the headlines.

As a journalist friend commented on the recent defections of Pakatan Harapan assemblypersons to PN in Johor, Perak and Malacca: “Human and political decency has been thrown out the window, which partly explains why non-government media outlets have been barred from covering certain proceedings (and other state functions)”.

The slow death of critically constructive journalism under PN is possible, but not inevitable. What RTM and Bernama may leave unreported on May 18 will speak louder than what actually gets covered. And, over the decades we have learnt to read beyond the printed text.

Thanks to the Internet, I will look forward to reading the analyses by local observers. The question is whether the PN ministers and their press secretaries could empathise with the public discontent and address the issues raised by concerned citizens.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin’s backdoor entry to power, his collusion with Umno-PAS, and sidelining of DAP will, until the GE15, continue to be judged harshly by the rakyat and unpacked by media pundits.

Until the betrayers and the betrayed retire and publish their tell-all memoirs – if they do at all - we will not know the complete stories behind the political plots during the few weeks when the coronavirus was about to plague the country.

As the Muhyiddin works to cull a comfortable majority leading up to the next Parliament sitting in July, and, as he would hope, a new mandate in GE15, coming up with sound policies matters less than peddling to his base a myth that his ascension is a blessing from Allah, that he is “saving” the Malay agenda from Harapan’s more liberal reforms.

Glimmer of hope?

Notwithstanding the uncertain capacity of PN to govern with transparency and accountability, I turn to Saifuddin Abdullah, minister of communications and multimedia, for a glimmer of hope - a hope that direct state control of the media would be kept at bay. With no other performative indicators, I rest my hope on his credentials as the former CEO of Global Movement of Moderates and a proponent of academic freedom.

Commenting on the exclusion of non-government media from Parliament, Saifuddin said that journalists could still cover the proceedings by following the live coverage by RTM.

That is missing the real issue – which is that a ‘government-for-the-people’ should uphold the media as a de facto fourth branch of government, as a non-partisan watchdog for the public interest, even if political reporters may not be completely impartial observers of the goings-on in the Dewan Rakyat.

Notwithstanding the obligation of RTM and Bernama to push the government’s agenda, the minister needs to ensure that the PN government will leave journalists to do their job without state interference, to ask the hard questions, to report fairly and accurately.

During a global pandemic lockdown and the associated spread of misinformation, public demand for accurate news and trustworthy information tends to soar. But, business expenditure on media advertising tends to fall. Here lies the dilemma of our news portals, which I deem to be our ‘public interest media’.

BBC Media Action defines public interest media as outlets that are “free and independent, that exists to inform publics on the issues that shape their lives in ways which serve the public’s rather than any political, commercial or factional interest, to enable public debate and dialogue across society, and to hold those in power to account on behalf of the public interest”.

It implies a focus on “ethical and credible media working in the interests of all people across all of society, not just those who have the power or money to pay for or influence media. Public interest media can be commercial, public service or community media and distributed online, broadcast, through print or other channels”.

Many of our current news portals - products of the post-1998 reformasi era - would fall into this category. It is not unthinkable that state-owned media – and former pro-government mainstream publications – may return to being the main news providers if news portals are compelled to close from the economic fallout of a global pandemic.

Which brings us to this: What can we, the readers, do to ensure that the few ‘independent’ news portals remaining can continue to operate as significant sources of news and information, commentaries and analyses?

The answer is simple. Good journalism costs money to run. And, journalists need their basic salary. To tide things over, readers must be willing to pay for ‘good journalism’.

PN will rejoice if public interest media fade from the scene. Then, it will be back to square one – a media environment characterised by compliant reporting over decades of Umno-led Barisan Nasional rule, soon to be repeated by an unelected backdoor government.

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ERIC LOO is the founding editor of the academic journal Asia Pacific Media Educator. - Mkini