ID :
164990
Tue, 03/01/2011 - 12:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/164990
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JOURNALISTS MUST BE FAIR AND BALANCED IN THEIR REPORTS, SAYS MINISTER
KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 (Bernama) -- Every news reported by journalists must be based on the principles of justice without any element of biasness, said Information Communication and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim.
"We want to see our journalists having two view points, that is, when we have an issue, there must also be view points from the other side and as a journalist, we must always balance the situation.
"If, for instance, we criticise a situation, we must also give other view points to soften the blow so that it would not become too extreme," he said at a dialogue session with participants of the 1Malaysia Young Journalists Fellowship, here Tuesday.
Eighteen young journalists from the various local media participated in the month-long programme which began on Feb 21, held for the first time by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) with the cooperation of the Ministry of Information Communication and Culture.
Rais said the articles in any media organisation should not merely praise or criticise a particular situation but should also give an overall picture.
He said the articles written by journalists must be based on facts and should not offend anyone, besides helping society through the reports made.
"For example, the report in Merlimau, the people attending (a function)numbered only 200, but stating that only 200 people attended may be shameful, so the figure is exaggerated to 800 people. This is clearly a misrepresentation of facts...if it is found out that we have lied, it would be difficult to redeem ourselves.
"Malaysia needs journalists who report fairly. Becoming journalists is not merely to report, take photographs or write articles for the newspapers...what we can contribute to our country that would make the article carry value," he said.
He also encouraged journalists in the country, especially the young ones to come up with feature articles of quality to be developed into a short documentary and aired by Radio Television Malaysia (RTM).
"If any of you have good feature articles, RTM will pick up the feature to be turned into a short documentary or turn it into news items for radio broadcast.
"We will also give payments (to journalists) for the best feature article turned into short documentaries," he said.
"We want to see our journalists having two view points, that is, when we have an issue, there must also be view points from the other side and as a journalist, we must always balance the situation.
"If, for instance, we criticise a situation, we must also give other view points to soften the blow so that it would not become too extreme," he said at a dialogue session with participants of the 1Malaysia Young Journalists Fellowship, here Tuesday.
Eighteen young journalists from the various local media participated in the month-long programme which began on Feb 21, held for the first time by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) with the cooperation of the Ministry of Information Communication and Culture.
Rais said the articles in any media organisation should not merely praise or criticise a particular situation but should also give an overall picture.
He said the articles written by journalists must be based on facts and should not offend anyone, besides helping society through the reports made.
"For example, the report in Merlimau, the people attending (a function)numbered only 200, but stating that only 200 people attended may be shameful, so the figure is exaggerated to 800 people. This is clearly a misrepresentation of facts...if it is found out that we have lied, it would be difficult to redeem ourselves.
"Malaysia needs journalists who report fairly. Becoming journalists is not merely to report, take photographs or write articles for the newspapers...what we can contribute to our country that would make the article carry value," he said.
He also encouraged journalists in the country, especially the young ones to come up with feature articles of quality to be developed into a short documentary and aired by Radio Television Malaysia (RTM).
"If any of you have good feature articles, RTM will pick up the feature to be turned into a short documentary or turn it into news items for radio broadcast.
"We will also give payments (to journalists) for the best feature article turned into short documentaries," he said.
