The idea of a press council in Malaysia caught public attention particularly when some 1,000-odd journalists, who presented several months ago a petition to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, made a request for a repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) and also recommended the instituting of a press council.

Recently it was raised again at the International Press Councils seminar organised by the usually muted, if not submissive, National Union of Journalists.

In principle, and given the sorry state of Malaysian journalism today, a press council in the country may help improve standards of journalism as well as promote democracy, freedom and justice if it is fiercely independent, and is managed in an ethical and professional manner. Its existence can also be useful for the promotion of a free and responsible press, thereby reducing, if not curbing, any form of governmental interference and controls.

A press council, the first of its kind being established in Sweden in 1916, is normally founded on the primary objective of addressing grievances or complaints that have been made by a reader against a newspaper or a journalist concerned.

In other words, it is making highly accessible to the aggrieved reader - especially one who is economically weak - a mechanism where a perceived inaccuracy or misrepresentation in a news report, article, editorial or column can be lodged to an independent panel, and subsequently a solution will be sought. This stems from the belief that the press should be self-regulatory and accountable to the general public.

In the Malaysian context, this would mean that, say, some of the pro-reformasi street demonstrators who sense that they had been wrongly depicted by the media as demons and trouble makers may want to file a complaint with the press council. The Opposition who believe that they had been unfairly portrayed, say, in the last general elections as rabble rousers and a threat to law and order may also want to present their grievances to the council.

The Orang Asli and other ethnic minorities in the country may want to complain to the council if they feel offended by the cynical manner in which the media used them only to parade "multi-culturalism" and national harmony during National day celebrations and the run-up to general elections.

Without fear or favour

But for a press council to be effective and well respected, it simply has to be, as intimated earlier, fiercely independent of the government as well as the private sector. It has to discharge its duties and responsibilities without fear or favour.

A look at a few examples of press councils in the world would give us some indication as to what independence of a press council really entails. In Australia, for example, its press council, established in 1978, has two primary aims: "to help preserve the traditional freedom of the press within Australia, and to ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically".

The council is funded by the newspaper and magazines industries and its authority hinges on the willingness of the publishers and editors to respect the council's views, and to adopt voluntarily ethical standards and to admit mistakes publicly. Composition of the council plays a crucial role. The Australian press council consists of 21 members, representing the publishers, journalists and members of the public while its independent chairperson is normally a retired judge.

In India, its press council was first set up in 1966 upon the recommendations of the First Press Commission. It is a quasi-judicial body that has all the powers of a civil court. The Indian press council is funded by a revenue collected from a fee imposed on registered newspapers in the country on the basis of their circulation.

The balance will be made good by a grant from the central government. The council chairperson is, by tradition, a sitting or retired judge of India's Supreme Court, an indication of the importance placed on institutional independence.

So what form and shape would a Malaysian press council take, given the existing political and legal constraints, and media ownership pattern in the Malaysian society? Will the chairperson of the council be appointed from among the ranks of the pro-establishment press organisations, including Bernama, the national news agency? Or, will s/he be a politician, an academic or even a retired judge with a certain political bent?

Who would represent the publishers (many of whom are closely aligned to the ruling party) in the council; and which journalists would represent the mainstream media? Would the majority of the council membership come from a certain group of journalists and editors who are "government-friendly"? Who are those supposedly representing the general public? The most important question of all: who calls the shot?

Independent body

The credibility of the proposed Malaysian press council would crumble should its membership be largely composed - or perceived to be consisting - of people in, or who are overly supportive of, the government. Similar problem may arise if a majority of the council membership comes from the private sector. The fear is that the interests of each of these two big groups would override those of other smaller groups in the country.

It is, therefore, vital that the composition of the press council be seen as independent and able to entertain and represent the interests of all sectors of society. Unless this issue is addressed carefully and resolved successfully, the setting up of a press council can be seen as an attempt by certain quarters, particularly the government, to impose curbs and controls on the mainstream media in an indirect but pragmatic fashion. This would also be seen as a public relations exercise mounted by the government.

To reiterate, the proposed press council is likely to function as a government's instrument if it is not judicious about its membership and doesn't jealously guard its independence. A press council of this nature may turn out to be as restrictive as the PPPA, which is also supposed to govern the running of the press council, and one that has been firmly insisted by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim.