Quickly form Media Council to check and balance govt

 

Journalism is supposed to be the fourth estate of democracy. No, I’m not talking about putting the press under agencies like Felda and Felcra.

What it means is that journalism plays a role in upholding a democratic society. It’s a pretty important role that shouldn’t really be taken lightly.

Basically, we have the administrative, which consists of the prime minister and the cabinet of ministers, who administer the government. We have the legislative, the parliamentarians who create and debate the laws of the country. We also have the judiciary, which upholds the laws in the country.

So the fourth arm is journalism, which consists of reporters, editors, and news organisations that act as watchdogs of the rest.

The stories that they report are what should be informing the public of the goings-on of the government that they voted for. Basically, keeping an eye out to see if they are doing things correctly or not.

Without journalism, the other three arms could reign a little too freely and not be held accountable. Okaylah. These three are also supposed to have other checks and balances to keep them toeing the line, such as opposition debates in Parliament, etc. But all these checks and balances wouldn’t work without journalism.

So it irked me when Perikatan Nasional MP for Arau, Shahidan Kassim, in the last parliamentary session, suggested a ban on one of journalism’s fundamental elements.

He stated that protecting anonymous sources for news stories should not be allowed and that journalists need to reveal their anonymous sources.

As a journalist, I would have to say that this suggestion is very problematic. For many journalists, the confidentiality that they can assure their sources or whistleblowers is crucial to properly investigate stories and reveal bad practices to the public.

Any efforts to curb this will definitely curb freedom of speech and the media.

Importance of protecting sources

If journalists are compelled to reveal their sources, it could prevent people from ever wanting to reveal and provide crucial information in the future.

This will severely impede the ability of journalists to be the fourth estate of democracy and be the watchdog for the people by reporting wrongdoing.

The importance of protecting sources is particularly more relevant these days in the digital age when personal privacy can be severely compromised.

Imagine how sources can become targets if their identities are compromised. Let’s not talk about just the sources. Journalists can and have been targets too.

So it was a big relief to hear Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil respond that there is no plan to take such suggestions because the media needs to have the privilege of protecting their sources in order to do their jobs effectively. However, he also added that it needs to be weighed against the issue of defamation.

I do not totally disagree with the minister. We have laws that govern issues of defamation and this is important too. Journalists are supposed to have standard practices that guide them ethically and legally so that the stories that they report are credible and verified, and this needs to be systemised.

With that being said, there still needs to be guidelines to guide exceptions to the need to protect sources. There are situations where disclosure could be seen as unavoidable, such as in the case of a serious crime where information can’t be obtained anywhere else.

But this needs to be weighed against the harm to freedom of speech and freedom of the media as opposed to the matter of public interest and the greater good.

There need to be guidelines to make these issues clear and that is why the formation of a Malaysian Media Council (MMC) is crucial for journalism and democracy to progress in Malaysia.

There are many other issues that need to be addressed when it comes to journalism and freedom of speech.

The discussion on the framework and forming the MMC has been going on for years and has been proposed to different administrations before this. It seems like the current one is taking it seriously, or at least I hope so.

The 100-hundred-day milestone has come for the Pakatan Harapan/coalition government. They need to get moving on the MMC, and quite frankly, on a lot of other issues too such as the amendment of the Finas Act, the Communications and Multimedia Act (specifically Section 233), and the Right to Information Act. Let’s go! - Mkini

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ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist, and academic. The Sheraton Move really frustrated him but maybe after November 2022, he can start feeling better again. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.