Hornbill Unleashed
March 25, 2013
Mainstream media, or BN’s shrill mouthpieces?
A friend used to call Malaysia’s mainstream media the daily comics. It made him laugh with all the stories that they came up with, and how wonderful life is in Malaysia.
I never knew what he meant until I returned home last year to work in Kuala Lumpur. And, boy, was I amazed with the ludicrous coverage in print and television.
The prime-time television news is rubbish and should aptly be called the Comedy Hour. Instead of producing well-researched, intelligent and relevant news, some private stations produce drivel, innuendo and calumny.
The print media is no better. There was hardly any coverage of the most striking event of the year, a video clip of Sarawak lawyers and business people openly talking about shady deals and utter disregard for the Sarawakians who live in the verdant jungles.
Everything and everyone is a commodity, to be bought and sold.
Instead, we have news of bloggers and sex clips. How quaint is this, in a country that professes to be on its way to have the world’s best education system? A country that wants its citizens to join the high-income club but still straitjackets them as sheep that must follow the shepherd?
How do you trust the Malaysian mainstream media, then? When it can’t even bother to lift a finger to publish or broadcast news that matters.
Why are we being fed nonsense?
Don’t these news people know that this is the information age and we can access and distinguish the different shades of news, figure out the propaganda like chaff from wheat?
Why remain BN’s shrill mouthpieces, even if they own you? Don’t you have pride?
I only read the newspapers when it is a food wrapper or for my cat’s poo. I don’t watch local television because it makes me want to throw up.
I hope everyone knows that the local media cannot be trusted as a source of news and information. It is pure spin and fluff. It is an insult to journalism.
We Malaysians must read more ― everything, if possible ― and decide what country, government and media that we need. At the very least, not this nonsense that passes off as media these days.
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