Shabery: Ranking dropped because media treated badly

MALAYSIA’s World Press Freedom (WPF) ranking, which dropped from 122th to 145th spot last year, was partly due to concerns over the treatment of journalists who covered the Bersih 2.0 protests, says Communica­tions and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

He denied that the drop was due to political pressure on the media, saying that some media personnel were alle­gedly assaulted by the demonstrators during the street protests held in Kuala Lumpur last year. These incidents, he said, had affected Malaysia’s ranking in the report, which surveyed some 179 countries by the media NGO Reporters Without Borders.