It was unanimous. Newspaper editors and their representatives who attended a meeting to discuss the setting up of a media consultative council in Kuala Lumpur pretty much shot down the idea.
They were from the NST, Berita Harian, Nanyang, Oriental Daily, The Sun and Utusan. Also there were Syed Akbar Ali who was there not to represent all bloggers but as president of Bloghouse Malaysia and National Union of Journalists' secretary-general V Anbalagan.
Bernama editor-in-chief Yong Soo Heong was present.
Notably missing were representatives from the Sun, the Malay Mail, Sin Chew and the Edge who were invited.
The online news portals were not invited to the meeting.
Chairing the meeting was the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry's secretary-general, Kamaruddin Siaraf.
After the outline of the proposal was read out, we were asked for our views.
The print media representatives spoke up. So did Syed Akbar and Anbalagan.
After about an hour of exchanging views during which Kamaruddin explained at great length and insisted that it would be a "consultative" council and not at all to control the press - it was clear that none of us were in favour of having the council.
Kamaruddin accepted the decision and concluded the meeting, saying that he would be reporting to the government the outcome of the meeting.
Aiya, what an embarrassing flop for Rais. Doesn't even know how to control the media.
ReplyDeleteWe need to know the details or the reason(s) why the media practitioners rejected the ministry's proposal. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI hope Datuk Seri K is not frustrated with the outcome :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Another wayang by Nuraina and friends. When I first read the news, I exclaimed "Wow! Could this be true?" Then I realised it is just another trick. I'd often wondered, how do come by all these slight of hand nonsense? Do you have a committee? Tell us the truth, I promise I won't inform the village folks! Hehe!
ReplyDeleteanon@5:59PM:
ReplyDeleteI don't think you make any sense.