PETALING JAYA: There have been several reports by certain media outlets in the country that are overly sensationalised, says Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
The Communications and Multimedia Minister said some of them were reporting on the rate of bankruptcy, shortages of medicine supply and even the Supplementary Food Programme (SFP).
"We have reviewed some of these reports, and found them to be over-sensationalised. We don’t want to single any media out but we want to ensure that the news churned out is accurate and not sensationalised purposely.
"For example, the news on the bankruptcy rate, we had checked on this, and the rate is actually coming down while the SFP programme news had used pictures that were not under the scheme.
"The news on the shortages of medicine supply with clinics closing down, these numbers presented are not accurate.
"As for the shortages of medicine, they involved only a few," he told the press after chairing the third series of Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation meeting, on Thursday (July 14).
Annuar who is also the Task Force chairman said although there are some elements of truth in the reporting but with some "sugar and salt" added to the mix.
As such, he urged the media to be more accurate with their reporting as it could mislead the public into panic buying and hoarding by certain quarters as well as inflation and prices of goods going up.
"The role of the news outlet is crucial and big, so we urge cooperation from them to report with accuracy, especially on reports that involve numbers by verifying them with relevant authorities.
"The task force appreciates all the news reporting but hopes the news reports are truthful and not cause grievances among the public due to sensationalised reporting," he said.
During the meeting, he added that sentiment analysis on social media reporting and sentiment analysis based on ongoing findings by certain agencies were presented.
On cooking oil, Annuar said Sabah Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs enforcement team and 20th Battalion PGA confiscated 9690kg of cooking oil and 5,000 litres of diesel worth RM2mil from a ship that tried to smuggle them out of the country.
He added that from July 1 to 13, some 100,000 investigations have been carried out nationwide, and enforcement is continuously conducted.
