MCMC to meet TV channel after fake news report on reduction of civil service, says Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will meet with a local television channel on Monday (Feb 20) to discuss a possible breach of news publication after it published a report claiming that the number of civil servants will be reduced, Parliament was told.

Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil said that the local television channel published fake news quoting sources saying that the government had the intention to cut a total of 800,000 civil servants.

"Awesome TV has committed six breaches, five previously and this is the latest. So at noon today, the MCMC will meet with Awesome TV to discuss the possible breaches.

"Perhaps this is more of a form of a discussion between media practitioners and the authorities to find a common point on the issue," he said in reply to a question from Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau), who asked about the action taken by the ministry on media reports that use sources in their reports but without proper verification.

The government had previously denied allegations contained in Awesome TV's news programme Berita 757 that there are "observers" who have proposed that the number of civil servants be reduced.

A video clip of the broadcast posted online shows two presenters discussing the need for civil service job cuts, with one presenter saying “it’s not just that the government needs to reduce the number of civil servants, from 1.6 million to 800,000 people as reported by Berita 757 many times" while going on to suggest reductions in the wage bill.

Fahmi said that the government takes the issue of journalistic ethics seriously and any reports must be based on accurate, balanced and authentic news.

"Journalists should stick to the principles and ethics of journalism by only reporting accurate and authentic news in accordance with the provisions of the existing laws.

"Any publication of inaccurate information must be corrected immediately with notification of the error (errata)," he said.

At the same time, Fahmi said that the government had always supported freedom of speech in line with the provisions of the Federal Constitution and such rights must be exercised in line with the existing laws.

He also pointed out that the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588) was never used to limit media freedom as long as the use of electronic media does not violate any of the provisions, especially Section 233.

Section 233 criminalises online content that is “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person”.