COMMENT | Two weeks ago, DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang criticised reporters who questioned him about his place of birth. Pertubuhan Minda Sosial Prihatin alleged that Lim’s Wikipedia page stated that he had arrived in Malaya in 1957 but that information was erased 12 days ago. And of course, Malaysian reporters sought some clarification from Lim.

If only the reporters had done their homework, they wouldn’t have incurred the wrath of Lim, a former reporter himself. “I was a reporter before and if the story is trash, I will investigate first. So investigate before posing the question, otherwise it will reflect on you and your newspaper,” he lectured the media.

But weren’t the reporters aware that anyone can write or amend Wikipedia entries, except in limited cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism.

I have always supported ethical journalism and was always in the forefront when politicians claim they had been “misquoted” or the issue was “taken out of context” after they put their feet in their mouths.

This time around, I will not and cannot support the cause. The reporters got what they deserved. A simple search would have revealed the truth. But why did they have to take the words of a discredited leader of an NGO? Remember Lester Melanyi and his claims?

In those not-so-olden days, we only knew “engine” as a mechanical device of a car or a gadget that could be found in factories. Even if you checked all the available dictionaries, you wouldn’t have found “google” in any of them. The reporters’ research skills were restricted to the thousands of news clippings, neatly pasted on newsprint and placed in files according to the subject. In those old days too, a reporter’s tools were a pen, a notebook, a typewriter and perhaps, the Oxford Dictionary.

These days, information can be retrieved at the click of a mouse and downloaded for reference. No hassle of having to beat the clock before the library closes because such systems operated round-the-clock and 365 days a year.

Couldn’t they have typed “Lim Kit Siang” on their smart phones and found the answer? Yesterday, the Wikipedia entry for Lim said: “1941: Born in Ramesh Rao House, Johor, British Malaya now Malaysia.”

With these kinds of entries, would any reporter worth his salt raise any question? Are these the new breed of reporters being groomed to work as zombies as instructed by editors with political agendas?

Or are editors afraid of the threat made by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in one of his fiery speeches which were laced with threats three years ago?

In what has now become his infamous speech as home minister, Zahid’s nonsensical tirade and his innocuous links to a secret society were recorded and went viral. In that recording, he threatened to shut down newspapers which reported his speech...