With 5 Tamil dailies in the market, it seems to us that in the race to sustain sales and readership, the Tamil newspapers have compromised on the true ethics and value of journalism. Simply look at the daily news reports, the community benefits nothing from reading news reported, unsubstantiated political news and bickering, rape, murder, pages of India and Sri Lanka news, that is what we see daily.
P.M. Sivalingam
The near-scuffle at the office of Malaysian Nanban on Thursday was caused by the series of articles on Indians and their support the for political parties in Malaysia. Over the last few weeks, Malaysia Nanban has been carrying pseudonym-signed articles that criticises both the ruling Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, claiming that both have failed to look into the plight of the Indian community.
In one of the series of the article titled 'Evukanai' or missile, published on 20 February 2013, it carried a section that ridiculed the People Progressive Party or PPP, with the following lines:
"Datuk Seri Kayveas is the President of PPP, a party formed in 1953. The party which was an Opposition party is now with the ruling party. Although it is a multiracial party, it has predominantly Indians as its members. Being part of the ruling coalition, PPP at times is seen as supportive of MIC. PPP only believes in giving empty promises to Indians but has no real intentions to bring permanent solution to their problems. This party is only active during elections. One of their common tactic to attract voters is providing free mutton briyani. This is the only party that uses this tactic of giving free food to attract support. Kayveas himself is a leader who belittles the Indian community that they will vote for free food."
This irked the leaders of PPP that they stormed the premises of the newspaper, demanding an apology.
There can be no justification for the protesters to take the law into their own hands. If they felt aggrieved, they should have made a police report and let the law take its course.
At the same time, Malaysian Nanban should have acted more responsibly and refrained from insulting the Indians. Whatever the political concerns are, as a responsible Tamil daily, Malaysia Nanban should have practiced responsible journalism. Why did the Nanban newspaper mock Indians? The newspaper seems to have taken leave of all journalistic ethics. Their stories on Indians were unsigned, carried no attribution, were exaggerated and one-sided.
With 5 Tamil dailies in the market, it seems to us that in the race to sustain sales and readership, the Tamil newspapers have compromised on the true ethics and value of journalism. Simply look at the daily news reports, the community benefits nothing from reading news reported, unsubstantiated political news and bickering, rape, murder, pages of India and Sri Lanka news, that is what we see daily.
The incident that took place at the Nanban's office today could have been avoided if the newspaper owner and editorial team acted more responsibly and professional. Its owner, Shafee Zaman, who was made a Datuk early this month on FT Day, should control his newspaper rather than giving them a free hand to write anything they want. Number 1 can always go down, Shafee and his people need to realise that.
If the right attitude and responsible journalism continues to be absent, it is rest assured that the extinction of the Tamil newspaper industry in this country is not very far away. We pay RM1.30 on weekdays and RM1.50 on Sundays to buy the Tamil newspaper for quality, so please in return, respect the value of our money and give us something useful and resourceful.
