Speaker to consider airing press conferences held at Parliament - Fahmi

 

Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun will consider airing live broadcasts of press conferences held at the Parliament’s media room, said Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil.

According to the MP, the matter was raised when he met Azhar today to persuade him to allow more reporters to cover the parliamentary session.

“I have proposed that Parliament helps to provide live broadcasts of MPs’ press conferences that are often held at the media room - whether through Facebook Live or other application - so that media that are unable to attend can still cover issued raised by MPs.

“The speaker said he would consider the matter and it would not be too difficult to implement,” he said in a Facebook post today.

On the matter of allowing more reporters to attend the session, however, Fahmi said the speaker had stood his ground and reiterated that Covid-19 precautions set by the Health Ministry and the National Security Council meant that the media room can only accommodate about 70 people.

Nevertheless, Fahmi said he thanks Azhar for being prepared to listen to feedback.

Previously, Parliament administrators have restricted media coverage of the current parliamentary session to just 15 media organisations and each is only allowed to send one reporter, and one photographer or videographer.

These media personnel must also undergo RT-PCR swab tests on Oct 30 and present the test results on Nov 2.

Media organisations that are not among the 15 approved organisations had been advised to make arrangements with government-owned RTM and Bernama. Malaysiakini is among the media houses not approved to attend the parliamentary session.

Currently, parliamentary debates are being aired live by the state broadcaster, but those not attending the session can only access MPs’ press conferences only if it is broadcasted live elsewhere or if a recording is otherwise available.

Those who are not attending the session would also have to seek other means to pose questions to MPs.

Several MPs had spoken up against the restrictions, saying it hampers people’s access to information as the Parliament gears up for the highly anticipated Budget 2021 proposal that will be tabled on Friday. - Mkini