Two-way street with the leadership

The media has its faults, but it behoves all members of the Cabinet to have good working relationships with us.

IT’S rare for a Federal Minister to face a table full of news editors to apologise for his remarks about the media, but that was what Fahmi Fadzil did last week.

The Communications and Digital Minister had found himself facing a salvo of criticism from the press for his comments against a report on the overnight policy rate (OPR) by Berita Harian (BH).

Fahmi was upset that the heading of the report made it look like it was an official decision by Bank Negara.

BH, on its part, defended itself by saying that the report was based on the views and predictions of analysts.

The publication relented after a meeting between Fahmi and its editors that a question mark to the heading would have been more appropriate.

Just a few months earlier, the unity government minister also lost his composure over survey findings by O2 research, which were published by five media outlets, namely Sinar Harian, The Star, Astro Awani, Sin Chew Daily and Malaysia Nanban.

He disputed the results of the survey that showed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not won enough Malay support after 100 days as the Prime Minister leading the unity government.

In both instances, the Lembah Pantai MP used very strong language to accuse the media of making defamatory remarks.

Of course, anyone with some knowledge of the law would know it’s not applicable at all. He also described the reports on the survey as “dishonest” and “an attempt to deceive the public”.

For this, Fahmi also expressed his regret. He is certainly a gentleman and the cool dude that he is most times.

He has reasons for losing his cool. He is, after all, a human being facing tremendous pressure as the unity government is sailing through uncharted waters.

But Fahmi needs to restrain himself better in dealing with the media.

This is the first time we have a unity government, which includes long-time political foes. Most of the PKR leaders, except for Anwar, have never been in government before. Used to heaping criticism, Pakatan Harapan politicians are now in government and suddenly find themselves on the receiving end.

In all fairness, the media is also not without flaws. The Fourth Estate must be prepared to face scrutiny and is no sacred cow.

If it flounders and has indeed damaged someone’s reputation, it should be held accountable and face legal action.

Ideally, though, we’d prefer to have a good working relationship with both sides of the divide.

It doesn’t hurt Cabinet members to meet journalists more regularly – not merely at press conferences – to share their predicaments and limitations. Their positions and background information would serve as a basis for commentary pieces.

The narratives are often more powerful than news reports quoting these ministers.

Anwar is surely a master at dealing with the media. For those of us who’ve interacted with him since the 1990s, he has remained reachable. No matter how busy he is as the PM, he attempts to reply to WhatsApp messages.

He is more reachable than some ministers who, until now, have shied away from the media.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke reached out to the media, which had acrimonious issues with previous DAP leaders, even before GE15, with a pledge of a different type of leadership.

Local Government Develop-ment Minister Nga Kor Ming has gone one step further. He has appointed a panel of experts to provide advice and proposals from major stakeholders, and it includes a representative from the media.

Umno ministers including Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz know the importance of having the media on their side or, at least, to make themselves available for information.

Understandably, many Pakatan ministers are new, especially those from outside Kuala Lumpur, and are not comfortable dealing with a large group of local and foreign media, which can be pushy sometimes.

Politicians and the media have a love-hate relationship, but I believe both sides just prefer a good working arrangement. Anything too close would also be uncomfortable.

The year is almost halfway through, yet some ministers remain elusive. Let’s hope we, at least, get to meet and have some acknowledgement from their media teams.