– Sam Peh
The Malaysian Insider
May 12, 2012
MAY 12 – Even during the most dictatorial days of Mahathir Mohamad, the mainstream media has not been this inept, corrupt, dishonest and even clumsy.
But during the Najib reign, the New Straits Times, the Star and the Malay language papers have crawled to depths never before experienced. Take today’s NST.
Yesterday more than 1,200 lawyers voted at a Bar Council EGM to condemn police brutality at Bersih 3.0 but the Umno owned paper focussed on 16 little known lawyers who dissented. And to make matters worse, the report focussed on whether the quorum was reached (which it was) and whether all those who turned up were lawyers. What rubbish reporting.
I am making public this dishonest reporting because this is the stock in trade of the NST . Remember how the paper tried to stitch up Lim Guan Eng as unpatriotic and Senator Xenophon as anti-Islam.
In Malaysia, the health of newspaper follow that of who occupies Putrajaya and it is no coincidence that the NST and Star have stopped being newspapers and have become ragsheets for wrapping fish.
Najib Razak wants his papers supine. The Star will try and sound balanced but make no mistake, the editors and journalists at the MCA-owned paper are just as guilty of selling innuendo and vile stuff as news.
So my advice to the Bar Council is this. Start a boycott of the mainstream media. Team up with Bersih and other NGOs and get people to stop buying the paper. I have stopped buying papers and only read it online when someone draws attention to some ridiculous report.
The Bar Council has the moral standing to lead a campaign against the media. You have nothing to lose because you are already being demonised.
There is no downside because any newspaper which presents Perkasa, Zahrin as worthy of coverage does not deserve any support. Only contempt.