KUALA LUMPUR – For many years now, the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) has never failed to provide comprehensive and detailed coverage every time the annual Umno general assembly is held.
It has been a practice in line with its role as the country’s official news agency, which, among other things, includes providing news reports for various local and international media companies.
However this weekend, the coverage of the Umno General Assembly 2020 (PAU20) has been far more meagre compared to previous years.
Questions were naturally raised over this sudden break in convention, and according to a report by Getaran, the official news agency was “enlightened” to keep attention away from certain national political issues.
A Bernama source confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that the agency had been issued a “revelation” not to publish any negative reports about Bersatu, Umno’s splinter party that now heads the federal government.
The source said that the agency is free to report statements about Umno’s struggle for Malays, as long as it does not condemn or criticise Bersatu.
“Yes, that’s right. We were also having a headache trying to see what should be reported,” the source told Getaran.
“Everything has to be vetted now,” the source added, stressing that there is far more restricted reporting than before.
The process of cutting out, however, does not cover criticisms against other parties in Perikatan Nasional (PN) like PAS, or other components of Barisan Nasional (BN).
“If we want to publish a statement condemning PKR, we can, but it must not (touch on) Bersatu,” he said.
This scenario raises the question of whether the PN government is so afraid of media freedom that it has taken such an action over Bernama, although Umno is also part of the federal government as an ally of PN.
It is indeed strange to think that those who claim themselves to be quite open, can arbitrarily determine the direction of a media agency’s reporting. – The Vibes, March 27, 2021
