PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Media Council (MMC) has condemned the doxxing, harassment and intimidation of journalists following an online backlash against a Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reporter after a public lecture earlier this week.
The council said it takes note of the public apology issued by the news portal and the clarification provided following its internal review into the recent matter involving one of its reporters.
The council said it acknowledges the steps taken by the news organisation to address the issue and to publicly account for its handling of the situation, in line with principles of transparency and editorial responsibility.
"MMC strongly condemns all forms of doxxing, harassment, intimidation, and threats against journalists.
"Such actions place media practitioners at risk, violate their privacy, safety, and basic human rights, and undermine the fundamental role of journalism in a democratic society.
"No journalist should be subjected to personal harm or intimidation, regardless of disagreement over their work," it said in a statement on Thursday (Jan 15).
At the same time, the council said journalists must uphold critical thinking in their reporting, including in the framing of questions and narratives.
"Such critical inquiry must be grounded in thorough preparation, in-depth research, and careful analysis of the issues being covered,” it said.
However, the MMC stressed that the responsibility for maintaining these standards does not rest solely on individual journalists, but on newsrooms and media organisations themselves.
It said this includes providing proper training, guidance, and a strong editorial culture that supports responsible journalism while avoiding a climate of fear or self-censorship among journalists.
The council then urged restraint, saying "cooler heads" should prevail.
"As an independent statutory body established to uphold media standards and accountability, MMC stands ready to offer its good offices to facilitate dialogue or mediation between the parties concerned, should this be appropriate," it said.
Separately, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) said it viewed the incident “with alarm”, citing the doxxing and harassment directed at the FMT journalist following the event.
CIJ executive director Wathshlah G. Naidu said the organisation strongly condemns the actions by those that seek to threaten the journalist’s safety and privacy.
“We are particularly concerned with this issue of doxxing where many social media users have taken it upon themselves to reveal personal information about the journalist.
"Many netizens have also used inflammatory, racist, and dehumanising speech against the journalist, these actions have amounted to viable threats against this journalist," she said.
While journalists were expected to uphold ethical standards, Wathshlah said no amount of dissatisfaction or criticism towards a journalist’s manner of carrying out their duty warrants an attack on their safety and privacy.
“We must unequivocally condemn all forms of doxxing, harassment, and threats directed at journalists,” she said, adding that accountability should be pursued through appropriate and legitimate channels such as the MMC, and not through online mob behaviour or the weaponisation of personal data.
The incident stemmed from a public lecture titled “Gaza Exposes the Complicity of International Actors” held on Jan 12, featuring British politician George Galloway, where an FMT reporter posed a question that later drew widespread criticism online.
FMT later issued an apology, saying it had no prior knowledge of the journalist’s intention to raise the question and had not approved of his comments, adding that disciplinary action was taken following an internal investigation.
