KUALA LUMPUR: Following the tabling of the Malaysian Media Council Bill recently, the Malaysian Media Council (MMC) has expressed hope there will be support for professional journalism.
Its pro-tem committee chairman Premesh Chandran said he also hopes that the media industry’s financial sustainability would be improved.
He said the spirit of the Bill is to allow the media industry to self-regulate.
“We welcome the tabling of the Bill for the first reading.
“It has come a long way since the pro-tem committee was set up in 2019; we recognise the contribution of all the pro-tem committee members.
“We appreciate the support of the then Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo and the current Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil and Deputy Minister Teo Nie Ching who we have closely worked with, as well as the Attorney General’s Chambers and others who have contributed (to the effort).
“The Bill is close to the original framing set out by the pro-tem committee and is available on the Majlismedia.my portal.
“The pro-tem committee will scrutinise the Bill in detail, obtain public feedback and provide our feedback to the ministry in due course,” Premesh added.
The Bill, tabled for first reading by Teo on Thursday, outlines the workings of the council that will move the media industry in the country towards self-regulation.
It also outlines the functions of the council, its powers, membership, chairmanship, board of council, finance and grievances mechanism.
Under the Bill, the council will have to set standards and establish a code of conduct with ethical and responsible standards of journalism for media practitioners.
The code of conduct will have to be determined at a general meeting.It will also have to promote the highest standards of ethical and responsible journalism, media independence and the rights of media practitioners, in addition to regulating ethics and professional conduct among the fraternity.
The council can also suggest law reforms, facilitate and conduct training, form and maintain a database with information on media practitioners and determine the grievances mechanism and disciplinary proceedings against a council member, among others.
