Be responsible, bloggers urged
Bloggers should not hide behind their anonymity and must have ethical responsibility over what they write and regard their word as binding, said Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, who has had a dead blog since 1999.
Shahrir also feels that the media should not quote anonymous bloggers as this was as good as quoting a poison-pen letter.
“I am old-fashioned and what I say is as binding to me as what I write. What you write is powerful and I make sure what I write is what I see as a fact or opinion, which I sign off as myself.
“To me, bloggers must be able to stand by what they write,” he said when asked on recent comments made against bloggers.
The Internal Security Ministry’s Publication Controls and al-Quran Texts Unit senior officer Che Din Yusof was reported to have told newspapers not to quote and publish “anti-government” articles from online portals and blog.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor recently created a controversy when he said that most bloggers were women who were unemployed and bloggers should not be believed.
While declining to comment on these statements, Shahrir said it was ethically wrong for newspapers to quote anonymous bloggers as it meant they did not ascribe to a source.
He also felt that having a law to govern bloggers was not as important as bloggers themselves being ethical.
“A blogger should exercise the right to write without being vindictive and hurting anybody,” he said, adding that the best way for those who wanted to seek recourse against bloggers was through a media council.
Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, however, said such “anti-blogger attitude” by the authorities was worrying and not keeping with the Government’s aim to have an information- and knowledge-based society.
“The blanket denunciation of bloggers is not good and reflects on their attitude of not being ready for an information society and advances of ICT (information communication technology).
“They are doing a disservice to the Government, which talks about promoting ICT and transit to a knowledge-based economy,” said Lim.
He said the authorities had to live with blogs and not conveniently denounce bloggers for revealing unpleasant things about the authorities.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said blog postings could create confusion and feelings of hatred and bigotry in youths.
Syed Hamid, who is also the Malaysian Association of Youth Clubs president, said some bloggers might have an ulterior agenda.
(From Star)
Meanwhile Long Yew Foo, the reporter currently embroiled in the bloggers’ controversy with Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan, went on record again, this time in Sin Chew Daily, saying that the minister had indeed made the statement, condemning women bloggers as liars.
Quoted from Susan's:"Bloggers controversy keeps journalists busy"
“I still have the evidence in my hand. He did not say this was a joke, nor had he ask to say this off the record,” said Long, in his article featured in the Interactive Platform column in Sin Chew yesterday (original article inside).
Long reiterated that Adnan’s press conference that day (8 March) lasted nearly an hour, with his critic on bloggers taking up most of the time.
He added that during Adnan’s press conference, the minister had mentioned that STAR’s Wong Chun Wai should not have quoted a blogger’s statement in his column. (Wong wrote about Nila Tanzil, which subsequently led to the minister’s sweeping comments, and eventually the loss of Nila’s job at the Tv station).
“Thus, the critics on bloggers had replaced the issue of ‘mega sales’ in the press conference,” added Long.
Long said he did not want to repeat the minister’s statement as it had been published on Sin Chew’s March 9 edition.
Then he took a swipe at one of the Chinese news websites, probably Merdeka Review, calling them “one of the Chinese news portal who hardly double check their news writing” and said they “later quoted a comment from a blogger, insinuating that Sin Chew was a liar“.
“This has indirectly questioned my professionalism and ethics,” said Long.
The reporter went on to lament that the website quoted a person’s statement, and created a false impression that Sin Chew was a “liar”.
“No doubt it has turned white into black and claimed that the black was even blacker, but the one who wrote the news did not even attend the function on that day, hence what is the basis for making this malicious statement?“
“Again, this is another concrete attempt of an Internet portal to tarnish Sin Chew’s image and harm its credibility to promote itself”.
It seems Long is now on the defensive mode, trying to prove that Sin Chew did not lie. But until Long reveals “the evidence in my hand“, in this case the recording of the minister’s accusation, we would never know who indeed lied, would we?
Below is the original copy of the article in Sin Chew by Mr. Long.
Shahrir also feels that the media should not quote anonymous bloggers as this was as good as quoting a poison-pen letter.
“I am old-fashioned and what I say is as binding to me as what I write. What you write is powerful and I make sure what I write is what I see as a fact or opinion, which I sign off as myself.
“To me, bloggers must be able to stand by what they write,” he said when asked on recent comments made against bloggers.
The Internal Security Ministry’s Publication Controls and al-Quran Texts Unit senior officer Che Din Yusof was reported to have told newspapers not to quote and publish “anti-government” articles from online portals and blog.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor recently created a controversy when he said that most bloggers were women who were unemployed and bloggers should not be believed.
While declining to comment on these statements, Shahrir said it was ethically wrong for newspapers to quote anonymous bloggers as it meant they did not ascribe to a source.
He also felt that having a law to govern bloggers was not as important as bloggers themselves being ethical.
“A blogger should exercise the right to write without being vindictive and hurting anybody,” he said, adding that the best way for those who wanted to seek recourse against bloggers was through a media council.
Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, however, said such “anti-blogger attitude” by the authorities was worrying and not keeping with the Government’s aim to have an information- and knowledge-based society.
“The blanket denunciation of bloggers is not good and reflects on their attitude of not being ready for an information society and advances of ICT (information communication technology).
“They are doing a disservice to the Government, which talks about promoting ICT and transit to a knowledge-based economy,” said Lim.
He said the authorities had to live with blogs and not conveniently denounce bloggers for revealing unpleasant things about the authorities.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said blog postings could create confusion and feelings of hatred and bigotry in youths.
Syed Hamid, who is also the Malaysian Association of Youth Clubs president, said some bloggers might have an ulterior agenda.
(From Star)
Meanwhile Long Yew Foo, the reporter currently embroiled in the bloggers’ controversy with Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan, went on record again, this time in Sin Chew Daily, saying that the minister had indeed made the statement, condemning women bloggers as liars.
Quoted from Susan's:"Bloggers controversy keeps journalists busy"
“I still have the evidence in my hand. He did not say this was a joke, nor had he ask to say this off the record,” said Long, in his article featured in the Interactive Platform column in Sin Chew yesterday (original article inside).
Long reiterated that Adnan’s press conference that day (8 March) lasted nearly an hour, with his critic on bloggers taking up most of the time.
He added that during Adnan’s press conference, the minister had mentioned that STAR’s Wong Chun Wai should not have quoted a blogger’s statement in his column. (Wong wrote about Nila Tanzil, which subsequently led to the minister’s sweeping comments, and eventually the loss of Nila’s job at the Tv station).
“Thus, the critics on bloggers had replaced the issue of ‘mega sales’ in the press conference,” added Long.
Long said he did not want to repeat the minister’s statement as it had been published on Sin Chew’s March 9 edition.
Then he took a swipe at one of the Chinese news websites, probably Merdeka Review, calling them “one of the Chinese news portal who hardly double check their news writing” and said they “later quoted a comment from a blogger, insinuating that Sin Chew was a liar“.
“This has indirectly questioned my professionalism and ethics,” said Long.
The reporter went on to lament that the website quoted a person’s statement, and created a false impression that Sin Chew was a “liar”.
“No doubt it has turned white into black and claimed that the black was even blacker, but the one who wrote the news did not even attend the function on that day, hence what is the basis for making this malicious statement?“
“Again, this is another concrete attempt of an Internet portal to tarnish Sin Chew’s image and harm its credibility to promote itself”.
It seems Long is now on the defensive mode, trying to prove that Sin Chew did not lie. But until Long reveals “the evidence in my hand“, in this case the recording of the minister’s accusation, we would never know who indeed lied, would we?
Below is the original copy of the article in Sin Chew by Mr. Long.
《星洲日报》刊登旅游部长发表“一万名没有工作的部落客当中，有8000名是女人”，是根据部长的谈话写新闻，并不是《星洲日报》所杜撰。
旅游部长的确有说过这番话，我手上还保留著证据。他并没说这是开玩笑或要求Off The Record。
部长当天的新闻发布会接近1小时，其中对部落客的批评花了不少的时间。他当时指《星报》副集团总编辑拿督黄振威，不应在其专栏引述部落客说的话，新闻发布会的话题就从“销售大减价”，转为对部落客的批评。
部长当天的话，我也不想再此重述（请参阅3月9日星洲日报）。过后，许多部落客及网站均引述我们的新闻。
不过，一家常不求证就写新闻的中文网站事后竟然利用其中一名部落客的评论，来影射《星洲日报》是骗子，这间接质疑我的新闻专业道德。
这个网站随便引述一个人的谈话，就予人一种星洲日报是“骗子”的假象，无疑是将白的说成是黑的，黑的说成是更黑的，而且写这新闻的人根本没出席当天的节目，却又凭甚麽含血喷人？
这又是一起电子媒体抹黑报纸，企图打击星洲日报公信力，抬高自家形象的实例。 （星洲日报／沟通平台·文∶龙耀福·2007.03.22）
Labels: Press Freedom
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