After the New Straits Times (NST) proved the effectiveness of an unconditional apology, private television networks TV3 and ntv7 have followed suit.

Yesterday, the stations - owned by Media Prima Bhd - apologised for inadvertently airing images of the controversial caricatures of Prophet Muhammad on Feb 3.

According to an NST report, the two stations aired their apologies during the opening segments of their 8pm news broadcasts.

TV3 reportedly stated that it 'unreservedly and humbly' apologised to all its viewers, especially Muslims.

"Further, we intend to tighten our internal process to ensure such an error will not recur," it added.

On Monday, malaysiakini reported that TV3 aired the caricatures on its prime time 'Bulletin Utama' during a report discussing press freedom in the wake of the Muslim outrage over the publication of such images.

The Malay-language news report, entitled 'Issue of belittling Prophet Muhammad: Don't abuse press freedom', showed the same images which led to the suspension of several newspapers in Malaysia.

The TV3 report showed a reader holding a Spanish-language newspaper which had reproduced two of the controversial caricatures.

The camera then zoomed in for approximately 13 seconds with the images clearly visible.

An oversight

In its statement yesterday, TV3 reminded viewers that its report had criticised the publication of the caricatures and the visual in question was aired only briefly.

"Further, TV3 had proactively written to the Ministry of Internal Security and our regulator, the Minister of Energy, Water and Communications to apologise for this error," it said.

Meanwhile, ntv7 in its apology said they 'humbly and unconditionally' apologised to their viewers and all Malaysians who might have been offended by their report and visuals.

"We admit the airing of the visuals was an oversight on our part," added the television station.

Both the free-to-air television stations said they had sourced the cartoon directly from an international news agency and had mistakenly not edited or blanked it out prior to the airing of the reports.

TV3 and ntv7 also maintained that they were committed to responsible reporting and would abide by any government decision on the matter.

Double standards?

Last week, malaysiakini also reported that state-owned RTM had also aired the caricatures during its TV2 Mandarin news on Feb 3.

However, the station has yet to respond.

Since the caricatures controversy hit Malaysian shores, Sarawak Tribune , Berita Petang (another Sarawak-based daily) and Guangming Daily have been suspended.

Tribune was the worst hit after the government decided to slap it with an indefinite suspension despite two front-page apologies.

Chinese dailies Guangming and Berita Petang have been suspended for two weeks.

Last Monday, the NST became embroiled in the controversy by publishing twice a foreign cartoon strip lampooning the caricatures controversy.

The Umno-linked daily later made an 'unreserved' apology on its front-page.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he accepted the apology on the grounds that the cartoon strip was not one of the offensive caricatures and that the daily had made a front-page apology.

However, some have accused the government of practicing double standards .

The caricatures, deemed blasphemous by Muslims and which sparked protests around the word, was first published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten .