KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 ― Media organisations may find it hard to produce balanced reports as long as they are owned by political parties, minister Gobind Singh Deo said today.
The communications and multimedia minister reiterated his stance that such parties should at least limit and declare their stake in such companies, and vice versa with the media organisations.
“It is obvious that as long as the media is controlled by political parties, the very idea of balanced reporting by these media outlets is unattainable.
“It is also difficult for media organisations to say that they will report without fear and favour if they are not transparent about their ownership information,” he said in a speech at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia’s (Suhakam) meet-the-press session.
In a dialogue session later, veteran newsman Datuk A. Kadir Jasin also agreed that media outlets should reveal who owns their companies.
“I think that should be the case,” said the special adviser on media to the prime minister, when asked about the matter.
Kadir, who used to be the group editor-in-chief of New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd, said in an “ideal” situation, no media should be owned by political parties.
Last year, Kadir had said that a news agency can still be independent even when it is owned by a political party, and a publication’s editors are sometimes at fault for not ensuring full independence of the contents they carry.
Umno used to be the majority shareholder in Utusan Malaysia’s parent company Utusan Melayu (Malaysia (Bhd), which also publishes tabloid Kosmo!.
Earlier this month, 31.6 per cent stake of the company was bought over by former Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Datuk Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir from Umno.
Barisan Nasional (BN) also used to control Media Prima Bhd which runs New Straits Times, Berita Harian and Harian Metro, TV channels TV3, 8TV and TV9, and radio stations.
Fellow BN component MCA controls Star Media Group that publishes The Star, and owns several radio stations.
