Former Bernama TV broadcaster Sydney Yap Xi Ni claimed the news agency’s management did not show any intention to resolve her complaints of pay cuts and other internal problems.
Thus, a memorandum has been sent to the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia today, to urge the minister to address labour issues related to the media.
According to Yap, an officer of Bernama chairperson Senator Ras Adiba Radzi contacted her to arrange a meeting following her reprimand against Bernama CEO Roslan Ariffin two weeks ago.
However, she claimed the officer stopped responding to her when she tried to follow up on the meeting arrangement a few days later.
“I did not see any intention from the management to solve this issue... or to have any conversation with me.
“In fact, the problem I faced was not an isolated case. That was why we came here today and handed over the memorandum to the ministry hoping we can get some positive response,” said Yap at Putrajaya today.
The four-page memorandum was received by A Subash Chandrabose, a special officer of Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa, as well as by MCA spokesperson Wong Siew Mun.
The duo declined the media’s request to have a group photo with Yap.
Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive director Wathshlah Naidu and representatives from the press freedom coalition Geramm were also present.
During a press conference there, Yap reiterated that her action today was not about personal benefit but to seek changes for a better media environment and to help younger talents.
Pay, staffing issues affect news quality
“The issues that (I highlighted) were actually faced by every media personnel such as low salary, manpower shortage, and some of them even received daily wages without EPF and Socso benefits.
“Does this sound right? That's why we must do something,” she stressed.
Meanwhile, Wathshlah pointed out that the lack of job security and sustainability in the media industry directly affects news quality.
“We, the public generally, heavily rely on the media to make informed decisions on policy matters. That is why this is a concern for us,” she said.
Therefore, she urged the minister to initiate an immediate investigation regarding the allegations raised by Yap and to make the investigation report public for transparency.
She also said it is critical for media of different languages to be well resourced and staffed because Malaysia is a plural society.
“We have diverse multilingual consumers. They need to be informed across the board with different analyses from various media.
“We cannot just rely on one media to provide the narrative and translate that information. That is not what we expect from the media,” said Wathshlah.
Other than the call for an investigation, the following were the highlights of the memorandum:
1. Conduct an immediate investigation and publicly disclose the findings on the matters related to Sydney's allegations and related state responses
2. Review and upscale the current employment and contractual practices among media agencies, especially state media agencies run on public funds
3. Recognise the critical role of multilingual media and ensure the various vernacular desks are adequately resourced and staffed to meet the highest attainable media standards
4. Dismantle repressive legal structures that make it difficult for the media to operate and move forward by establishing the Malaysian Media Council as a transparent and independent self-regulatory body for the industry
Bernama announced on Aug 5 that its 6pm Mandarin news programme will only air from Monday to Friday.
Following this, Yap wrote a lengthy explanation on Facebook, claiming there were staffing issues due to low wages, wage cuts, and delays in hiring due to bureaucracy.
Bernama issued an immediate response threatening legal action against Yap for alleged defamation, but its CEO, Roslan Ariffin, who denied most of her claims, later said the threat was supposed to be an internal recommendation, and the issue at hand should be discussed.
Yap has rebutted Roslan’s denials and reiterated that Bernama’s upper management was not responsive to her previous attempts to raise staff welfare issues. - Mkini
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