Welfare of media stringers to be looked into, says Fahmi

IPOH: Welfare issues impacting media company stringers or contract workers will be looked into, says Fahmi Fadzil.

The Communications and Digital Minister said having heard the grouses of some of these workers, the ministry would need to hold discussions with the relevant media companies to ensure that their welfare was also taken care of.

Among the issues raised included, Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributions, claims and also hiring them on a permanent basis after a period of employment.

"We will discuss these matters with the media company bosses and also with the Human Resources Ministry," said Fahmi.

"We understand the challenges faced by the media practitioners on the ground," he added when speaking at a dialogue with pressmen from the Perak media fraternity organised by the Perak Media Practitioners Association at its clubhouse on Sunday (May 28).

Another issue highlighted to the minister was copyright infringement by social media users.

Fahmi said the government would look into the entire ecosystem to iron out the matter and added that there were various challenges to look into.

"At the organisational level, I think there needs to be discussions or a united front from all (mainstream and online) media organisations to sit down and have a meeting with the social media platform operators," said Fahmi.

"We want a healthy environment, and I see the need for us to sit down and discuss," he added.

Fahmi said that he understood that the same issues arise in other countries and added that he believed Malaysia could come out with a solution that was suitable for local conditions.

Also present were deputy minister Teo Nie Ching and state communications, multimedia and non-governmental organisations committee chairman Mohd Azlan Helmi.