KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will be meeting with Awesome TV at noon today over its six offences of publishing defamatory material.
Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that the broadcast station had published its sixth offence recently when one of its broadest reports had claimed that the government was planning to lay off 800,00 civil servants.
“This is very clearly defamation, we don’t even have to say it,” he said during a debate on the freedom of media with Arau MP Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.
Fahmi said there needs to be a balance between the laws that restrict freedom of speech and the freedom of the media, adding that discussions need to be held between the two to come to a meeting point.
Journalists have the right to protect the safety of their source but it has to be balanced against defamation, he explained.
Shahidan had suggested that news based on sources be disallowed as he said that the name of the source should be mentioned.
Prior to the recent general elections (GE15), Awesome TV had come under fire for its newscasters taking a racial tone when exhorting Malay voters to turn out in droves during Polling Day or risk being overrun by ethnic Chinese voters.
In a statement, it said that if Malaysians, especially the Bumiputera, do not vote, then the risk that a government that does not take care of their welfare getting elected "is obvious".
It was also criticised in May last year for the use of racial tone with its reporting of Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd and Sapura Energy Bhd.
It had then accused Securities Commission (SC) executive chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Jaafar Albar of failing to help Bumiputera companies out of financial troubles, and initially falsely labelling him as a non-Malay.
