GOVERNMENT MUST BOOST PRESENCE ON NEW MEDIA

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- The government must boost its presence on
the internet by mastering the new media such as 'Face book' and 'Twitter' which
are highly popular, especially among the young.

Institut of Mind Development (INMIND) chief executive Norizan Sharif said
the conventional way of tackling issues using the mainstream media was
ineffective.

"The government must respond to the new media, otherwise the people treat
its allegations as true.

"Currently, we don't see the government responding in Face book, we also
don't see any (government) initiative in answering in blogs and Twitter. We can
see many opposition Members of Parliament in Twitter, but on the government
side, the number is dismal," he told Bernama.

Norizan was commenting on a statement by Home Minister
Hishammuddin Tun Hussein Tuesday who said the opposition used the new media to
instigate the people to take part in illegal activities for political gain
although the news they highlighted were untrue.

Hishammuddin said the government found it difficult to explain the situation
on the illegal gathering on July 9 despite the various existing media channels
being used, following the widespread use of the new media by the opposition.

Norizan, who also wrote in the blog http://www.nobisha.com said the absence
of government engagement in the new media handicapped it so much so that it
encountered difficulties in answering issues relating to the illegal
gathering.

He also suggested that the government activate efforts to download every
announcement or good news to YouTube because studies found that the young spent
part of their time surfing the internet.

Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan's History, Politics and Strategy Study
Centre senior lecturer Abd Ghapa Harun said the mainstream media must also
dispel the fallacy that they still monopolised news distribution.

"It is important that the government is transparent when issuing related
information when facing an issue because this will build confidence in the media
being used by the government.


Abd Ghapa also said that emphasising a high level of integrity among the
mainstream media by the government, would in itself weaken the public trust in
the alternative media.

He said the integrity of a large portion of the content of the alternative
media was questionable compared to that of the mainstream media.