TWO MILLION BLOGGERS PROOF OF MEDIA FREEDOM IN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 (Bernama) -- The existence of two million bloggers in
Malaysia shows that the mass media in the country are free to publish their
views and criticisms, the House of Representatives was told Thursday.

Information Communication and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim said
that with the development of information technology, the government had never
denied any party the opportunity to speak up and give its views.

"We can see now that the mass media, especially the alternative media, are
flourishing with the existence of the broadband service.

"It is reported that there are about two million bloggers in the country who
are free to report their views and this reflects the freedom of the media in
this country," he said in reply to Teng Boon Soon, a member of parliament in the
House of Representatives.

Teng wanted to know whether freedom of the mass media in the country was
restricted as contained in a report by Freedom House, a non-governmental
organisation based in Washington, entitled "Malaysia Press Still Not Free".



Dr Rais said Malaysia had 76 dailies run by various parties including
opposition newspapers, 151 satellite television channels, nine free-to-air
television channels and 53 radio stations.

"This does not include Internet Protocol Television (PTV) which will soon be
available to the people with the existence of the broadband service," he said.

All these showed that the mass media in the country were not restricted as
alleged by Freedom House and it was just an arm-chair report, he said.

However, he said, media practitioners must still ensure that the contents
that they wanted to print conformed with the laws and ethics set by the
government because freedom of the media differedraccording to the host country.

"The media, as a mass communication tool, whether electronic of print, do
not have absolute freedom but are subjected to the ethics, rules and laws of the
host country.

"All broadcasting bodies, both government-owned and private, must play their
role in ensuring that the contents of their reports abide by the law in helping
to create a caring and responsible society," he said.

-- BERNAMA