PR mulls Media Freedom Act

(The Sun Daily) – A Media Freedom Act, which would include barring political parties from owning media companies, is being bandied by federal opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat (PR) as a means to ensure continued press freedom in the country.

Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the tripartite PR alliance is planning to table the bill for passage in Parliament if PR assumes federal power in the 13th general election.

He said such a law would prohibit political parties from having a direct stake in media companies, be it newspapers, television or radio stations and online media.

“This means that political parties cannot have direct or effective control of media companies,” he told theSun in an interview recently.

The issue of media ownership in Malaysia is a thorny one with politicians on both sides pointing the finger at each other for abusing and stunting media freedom.

The federal opposition has been quick to point out unfair coverage on issues raised by them while their political opponents have fingered the online media as a factor for perceived eroding support.

Nonetheless, it was reported that Malaysia’s rank in the annual Press Freedom Index moved up 19 places to 122 out of 178 countries in 2011 compared to 141 the previous year.

However, Reporters Without Borders, the organisation which compiles the index, noted that the upward trend was “in fact due more to the sharp decline in the situation in a number of other countries,” in an open letter written by its director-general Olivier Basille.

On the proposed Act, Lim conceded to theSun that it would not be enough to stop indirect ownership of media companies or ownership by proxy.

“But they won’t be able to exercise effective and total control then,” he noted,.

He urged those running websites to identify themselves properly to enable them to be held responsible for the content.