Bernama sends wrong message to Guan Eng

Reporter reprimanded in Little Napoleon squabble

Bernama and Lim Guan Eng had a little ding-dong on Saturday which exposed self-censorship and left one Bernama reporter reprimanded.

But Bernama management should reprimand themselves, as well as their poisoned culture in which journalists know that pandering to Barisan Nasional politicians is the way ahead.

The agency did right to later send out a proper version of what Lim Guan Eng said. The reporter was rightfully reprimanded for using a distorted and inaccurate quotation.

But a stern reprimand must go to Bernama management past and present for the self-censorship that is part of editorial culture and with condemnation for political ownership and control of the media, Fascist tendencies in government, and the heavy hand of KDNs philosophy that allows this to happen.

The dispute comes in the midst of the continuing squabble between the Penang Chief Minister, the federal-appointed state development officer, and Guan Engs battle against the main papers and Utusan Malaysia.

Bernama ran a story with a truncated quotation from LGE.

I accept the message from the prime minister and deputy prime ministerI thank them for the message, he said after officiating at the Family Day of the Penang Development Corporation here today.
( Republished at Malaysia Chronicle)

The Penang Chief Ministers press secretary later said in a statement that the reporter had told him that she

had left that phrase out so that the story can come out. If she had reported what I said exactly the story would not come out.I told her firmly that we want a true statement and if that cannot be truthful then dont publish the story. She then said she would pull out the story.

Bernamas response was that it took a professional and balanced approach when handling news stories and had undertaken a correction once the error was discovered. The reporter concerned at Bernamas Penang bureau has since been! reprima nded, the statement said.

But why reprimand only the reporter? Why not reprimand Bernama management and KDN also? They are to blame for encouraging and allowing a culture of self-censorship in newsrooms. Instead, why not issue a statement to condemn self-censorship as expected by KDN, the home ministry?

The Bernama reporter had told the CMs press secretary she left out the phrase so that the story can come out. She knows the unwritten rule of mainstream Malaysian journalism.

And they put it in the headline, too, just to be sure

The unwritten rule is: Dont bother with all that, you know they wont use it. Its almost a law and some journalists will quite cheerfully quote it to explain shoddy work.

People who dont understand soon get the message when their stories are cut or rewritten by a desk editor, or when a senior editor throws a tantrum late in the evening and starts pulling pages apart and spiking stories just before press time.

Some of those in power will take note of what happened with the LGE quotation and the reporters role. And who knows where that could lead.

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