MALAYSIA needs to stop building walls and start learning to innovate if show business is to grow and develop in the country. This and other show biz topics were discussed during The Nut Graph‘s Found in Conversation: Creativity and Innovation in Show Biz forum on 8 Aug 2010 in Kuala Lumpur. When asked about enhancing […]
censorship
Will a media council work?
IN the interest of media freedom, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin recently stepped up to the plate in Parliament by calling for the abolishment of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA). Khairy advocated the setting up of a national media council and for the media to be allowed to self-regulate without government interference. The […]
Whose interest does the UUCA serve?
(© lumaxart.com | Flickr) AS an editor, I’ve sometimes had to remind journalists who merely copy and paste from a press release that they are paid to think, question, and make sense of the issues they are writing about. A journalist’s role is not to be a stenographer. It’s to be a public intellectual that […]
Najib’s call to the media
Is Najib serious? (pic courtesy of theSun) “BUT to shape society’s knowledge, so that we are more intellectual, critical, and can think objectively, this is also the role of the press. You can’t report only stories that are sensational, hot or about conflicts only.” These were Umno president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak‘s […]
Understanding ethical journalism
Bob Woodward (left) and Carl Bernstein (Woodward pic © Kat Walsh; Bernstein pic © Larry D Moore | Wiki Commons) JOSHUA Wong Ngee Choong, 42, quit his job as a producer at ntv7 on principle — he is opposed to self-censorship and political interference in the media. No wonder, then, that one of his favourite […]
“Don’t self-censor”
Joshua Wong holding up promotional material from his No political interference! campaign NEWS savvy Malaysians now probably know Joshua Wong Ngee Choong, 42, as the ntv7 producer who quit the network on 20 April 2010. The headlines, however, focused on the alleged political interference by the Prime Minister’s Office and the prime minister’s wife, Datin […]
Why freedom of expression?
(pic courtesy of theSun) WHEN Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak first came into office, he declared that under his administration, there would be greater freedom of expression and the press. Regrettably, “little concrete action has followed” his promise, according to an annual review of freedom of expression in Malaysia in 2009. Indeed, according to […]
What the film censors want
WHO would have thought that on the issue of film censorship, Malaysia and the US would have so much in common? Just look at the Home Ministry’s updated film censorship guidelines, which took effect on 15 March 2010. The four broad areas covered are: public peace and security; the religious; the socio-cultural; and manners and […]
Spotlight on party democracy
Is Malaysia on the way to becoming more democratic? (© flydime | Flickr) IT has now been two full years since the historic March 2008 elections in Malaysia. But during this period, what have Malaysians actually learnt about the nature of democracy? Is Malaysia on the way to becoming more democratic? Citizens can use several […]
Who speaks for Islam?
CAN non-Muslims speak about Islam? For that matter, can faithful, practising but non-scholarly Muslims, or Muslim women, or Muslim human rights activists, speak about Islam? As long as the fundamentals of Islam are given due respect, can’t there be room for comment or to express concern about aspects in the implementation of Islamic law, which, […]
