Pressing need for freedom

“FREE media, pillar of democracy” is the theme of this year’s 2023 National Journalists Day, which will be marked tomorrow.

It is also a reminder to the government to honour its pledges to ensure media freedom, particularly through the establishment of a media council as soon as possible.

As the proposed Malaysian Media Council’s pro tem committee explains at mediacouncil.my, an independent media council “is the way forward to regulate the fast changing media industry, particularly to reconcile regulations covering print, broadcast and online media, while ensuring the freedom of press, as guaranteed in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution”.

A media council could help ensure journalists are allowed to report without fear or favour or threat of harassment.

Malaysia has come a long way in improving its media industry’s standing globally, as illustrated in the World Press Freedom Index 2023 released by the non-profit group Reporters Without Borders.

It ranks Malaysia in 73rd position out of 180 countries, up a huge 40 places from the previous year. We are placed highest among Asean countries, ahead of Thailand at 106th, Indonesia at 108th, Singapore at 129th, Philippines at 132nd, Brunei at 142nd, Cambodia at 147th, Laos at 160th, Myanmar at 173rd, and Vietnam at 178th.

It is a development which needs to be supported by the unity government led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as one of its commitments is to media freedom and an effective checks-and-balances process in governance, of which the media is a vital part.

And while numbers in the index show that we are ahead of some countries that have media councils, that does not mean our position will improve or even remain the same. Not when laws that can curtail media freedom with one stroke, such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA)1984, Official Secrets Act 1972 (Amended 1986), and the Sedition Act 1948, are still in force.

Already there has been industry-wide disappointment when Anwar’s administration vacillated over the PPPA and finally decided to retain it despite electoral campaign promises.

This does not bode well for either democracy or cooperation between the fourth estate and the government in nation-building.

The good news is that, as we traverse this winding path towards a council which began years ago, the government today is showing a positive involvement in the endeavour with the Malaysian Media Council Bill in the works and expected to be tabled in Parliament latest by next year.

That said, it would not be imprudent to have the procedure hastened and the law introduced by year-end.

This is not a call made out of a sense of entitlement. It is a reminder to the government to have a sense of urgency in getting this Bill passed so we can take steps to fight the plague of misinformation afflicting the country.

The proliferation of unverified or fake news in a digital age necessitates both education about healthy media practices and a watchdog body run by those who are involved in the industry.

We also need the council to monitor ethics and conduct among media companies to affirm practitioners’ integrity, which would go a long way towards increasing the media’s standing in the eyes of the rakyat.

It has been more than four decades since the idea was first mooted.

Years of setbacks prompted by not only the government of the day but also at times by those in the media industry itself, saw the proposal mothballed time and again.

Tomorrow, Anwar is scheduled to give a speech about the matter – hopefully, he will announce something worthy of this long wait.