News Reporting and Prostitution

The news headlines in the English MSM today of the most significant event yesterday ("Beautiful Sunday" in Desi's vocab always) say a lot about the Fourth Estate in Malaysia. The media, especially the English press, is in a poor state of affairs, in my humble opinion -- among the laments of the now famous quote from one of my favourite authors: "There is something rotten in the State of Denmark." Of course I refer to the former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's lament quoting from Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and it's Malaysia-ala-Denmark that's cause for great anguish.

Two of three are joining the oldest profession, which is already demeaning to Prostitution because the majority are in it because of circumstances beyond their control or choice. These mainstream press are prostituting themselves on their own free will; maybe their chiefs' Datuk or double-Datuk titles behooves them to sell their bodies, and their souls, mayhaps including their mothers'? I don't know, but take it from me, some members of this species called Homo sapiens are not above doing that to aim for the second highest title in this Boleh land -- Tan Sriship, yes?Or Dan Si, anyone, like that Face of NS, No?

Compare and contrast the following headlines and two opening paras:

From the New Straits Tmes:

DEFIANCE

It was an illegal assembly. A permit has been denied; a court injunction obtained.
The warnings had been clear.

Yesterday in Kuala Kumpur, several thousand Hindraf supporters (estimates
range from 5,000 by the police to 10,000 by the loal and foreign press) defied
those orders. For the second time in two weeks, water cannon sprayed and tear
gas billowed over crowds of protesters.But the cause for which they rallied-- a
demand of RM28 trilion in reparations from the British government for historical
exploitation of Indians -- ended in clashes with the police.

From The Star:

Hindraf defies court order and goes ahead with gathering

KUALA LUMPUR: The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) went ahead with its gathering here yesterday, defying a court order against the rally, forcing the police to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.

While police said they gave repeated orders to the crowd, numbering in the thousands, to disperse before resorting to limited force, the Hindraf organisers claimed it was the police who were being unreasonable.

From theSun (*which missed covering the BERSIH Rally because that happened on a Saturday and this daily does not publish on Sunday, quite sad):

Police break up
Hindraf rally

KUALA LUMPUR: Police resorted to tear gas and water cannons to
disperse a crowd of about 2,000 who took part in a rally organised
by theHindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) on Jalan Ampang
yesterday morning.

Police, who had mountedroadblocks since Thursday along entry
points to the city, had cordoned off approaches to the British High
Commission from abot 2km away from early orning.


DESIDERATA:

A quick FUN-d contest:

SPOT the prostitutes, and FIRST SE7EN correct gases can claim golden goblets of tehtarik from Desi. Drink the teh (chemical laced?) but return the goblets as Dei is a recyclist of some repute. Ring 012-9702285 and ID thyself to claim thy price -- othervice, that chemical could be arSEN..:(


Yes, Monda blues enjoys at least some relief from the morning Sun, in my humble journalistic perspective-lah if you take my word for it that I had learnt one BASIC tenet in reporting -- NEVER throw in one's OPINIONS, or use QUALIFIERS to subtly sow propaganda or push a certain obvious bias; in this case, that sort well promoted by the YB Minister of Propaganda-ganda Wang Anda, aka Zam-zam-ala-Kazam, aka ... you tell Desi!
My over two decades-plus experience in this "profession" make me conclude now that the Fourth Estate's honourable status has degerated through the years, and become worse in the last four years. My fellow mates in this writing trade -- thy good name is in jeopardy, TRY-LAH NOT TO SELL THY SOUL, OKAY!:)


*I referred here to BERSIH's Rally on Nov 10 (which I covered with blogger horseying at allofhelen.blogspot.com and her significant Other:)because, if you recall, the prostitues even were either blind or blindfolded. Their initial reports put the number of "V" Ralliers at 4,000 only. Then the next day they up-ed it to 10,000, quoting reliable Police soures. like what they also did in today's reports -- as if their own reporters could not venture an educated guess/estimate.Comapre this with Bloggers and foreign wires' numbers at 40,000 or upwards. My own estimate was 50,000 at least.

*theSun was "spared" judgement of their BERSIH reportage because they d not publish on Sunday and the evnt took place on Saturday. So I would hesitate to believe that theSun would have been equally guilt of toeing The Master's Voice in the biggest people's march for freedom to claim back their basic rights in the past decade or longer.

* YL Chong offers his sincere apologies that he has to use the "oldest profession" to compare in order to demonstrate the unhealthy state of health -- well nigh Death? -- of the Fourth Estate (English medium). Minta maaf, ia -- mari minum tehtarik dengan Blogger di Furong, nak?

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UPDATEd @11.02am:


MORE on the Hndraf Rally, and the Double Standards I wrote about on Nov 24, here's latest from malikimtiaz.blogspot.com reporting directly from the scene yesterady, posing a pertinent question on UMNO Youth's Ralliers being given Special Treatment (was that also part of NEPotism?)

"And, of course, the question that begs an answer is why stop the rally in the first place. The question of a permit, or the lack of one, is a convenient and self-serving one.

How does this rally, planned for a Sunday morning, differ from the one organized by UMNO Youth during Condoleeza Rice’s visit to Kuala Lumpur on a Friday afternoon? That demonstration took place in the same vicinity, also had fiery and inflammatory speeches and was directed to a person or organisation other than the Malaysian government. That demonstration was aggrandized by the local media, with photographs of a defiant Khairy Jamaluddin, in arm sling to boot, gracing the leading pages (if not the front pages) of the mainstream print media.

It is readily obvious to all that despite the great show, there was never any intention on the part of the police to use force where the UMNO Youth demonstration was concerned. None was in fact used. The contrast with action taken where the HINDRAF Rally is concerned is manifest."

UPDATEd November 27, 2007 @9.14am:
I copied the first few paragraphs from malaysia-today.net:


"24/11: Shame on Malaysian editors and journalists!
Category: Articles Posted by: raja petra
GUEST COLUMNISTS



M. Bakri Musa

The Malaysian media’s coverage of the Bersih rally of November 10, 2007 was disgraceful. They have failed in the most public and reprehensible manner in carrying their elemental function: that of informing the citizens. Those editors and journalists have acceded only too willingly to their political masters, treating their wishes as commands.

If those editors had disagreed with the demonstrations, they had their editorial pages to put forth their arguments. Their news pages however should be concerned with information that could affect the citizens no matter how unpalatable that might be to the editors’ individual tastes. Those editors and journalists could not even differentiate between what is and what is not newsworthy; for that most basic professional instinct they had to rely on directives from the politicians.

If those editors have any sense of personal pride and professional integrity left, they would remove their names from the masthead of their respective publications and organizations. They won’t. On the contrary, to them they have performed a splendid job. They have completely prostituted themselves as arms of the state’s propaganda machinery. Far from being embarrassed, they are proud of that fact! (Desi: highlight is my emphasis)

The surprise is not that they have so easily debased themselves and their profession rather that their price is so cheap. They may have fancy titles as Group Editor or Editor-in-Chief, their functions however are nothing more than as “chief errand boys and girls” for the establishment..."
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DESI: For the full article, visit RPK's; and more writings by Dr Bakri, surf to www.bakrimusa.com