Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has told editors not to play up negative news because Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's pledge to "hear the truth" does not apply to the media.

Zainuddin said this during a one-hour meeting on Wednesday at the RTM headquarters in Kuala Lumpur with the country's top editors.

The country's information czar is one of two top government officials to hold meetings with the media top brass this week.

Yesterday, chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan in another meeting urged media organisations to avoid emphasising on news deemed negative against the government, such as the 2006 Auditor-General's report.

According to sources, Zainuddin began the meeting by declaring that he would frequently meet editors to advise them about national issues.

However, he stressed that he would only "advise and not give warnings".

The information minister claimed that he assumed the new role under the instructions of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Zainuddin then explained that Abdullah's often repeated pledges of "listening to the truth" were only restricted to government officials and Barisan Nasional leaders so as to assist the cabinet in making decisions.

Based on the account by a well-placed source, Zainuddin said Abdullah's pledge did not mean that the media have the green light to practice unrestrained reporting because certain topics were considered highly sensitive.

Zainuddin added that the cabinet often scrutinises media reports and have noticed that at times, Abdullah's statements have been misconstrued. However, the minister did not elaborate on this.

The information minister also ticked off two television stations, warning them to stay away from reporting with a racial slant as this could trigger another 'May 13' riots.

No live Umno telecast

Zainuddin blamed negative media reports on the public's loss of confidence in the police and urged the media to be fair to the force because they have successfully investigated many criminal cases.

He then trained his sights on opposition parties for raising many controversial issues. The information minister said that if the government had to answer to all the issues raised, it would be seen as playing to the opposition's tune.

On bloggers, Zainuddin told the media professionals not resort to information provided in blogs.

"They (bloggers) are citizen journalists. If you use (materials from) their blogs, then you are no longer a real journalist," he said.

On the Umno general assembly last year, Zainuddin said live telecasts of the event was a "big mistake" and that debate sessions of future assemblies would not be telecast live.

In a related development, Umno information chief Muhammad Muhammad Taib in announcing that there would be no live telecast of the party debate sessions, was quoted as saying by Sin Chew Daily today that Malaysians are not ready to hear such frank debates.