I read with detest Tony Thien's Will M'sian journalism set with The Sun ? (Jan 17). Journalism was not built around The Sun . Journalism is a collective effort by professionals disseminating information, gathered from the source, to the reader.

The setting of The Sun does not mean journalism will set with it. Call a spade a spade. The current crisis in The Sun has more to do with bad management and poor business acumen than a clampdown on good journalism.

If the public wants the truth, here is the truth. Ask any journalist and most will tell you that the front-page assassination story on Christmas Day was a wilful, half-cooked dish served on a golden platter.

I have been very curious as to why The Sun did not see fit to report the matter to the authorities when they first 'learnt' of the plot. I might sound like the PM by saying this, but were they actually waiting for the incident to happen? Is a story more important than a human life?

When The Sun 's editorial honchos decided to publish a story based on a rumour that has been circulating for months on Christmas Day, they were screaming for attention hoping to escalate their flagging circulation.

Raja Komando as the assassin? It was pure defamation and a direct attack on his rights as a Malaysian citizen. That was not journalism, it was mere fiction dressed in frills of sensationalism.

Any journalist worth his salt would know that the article was shallow and not deserving of the brouhaha created by the bold headline.

To be fair, I admit as a reader, that mainstream papers like The Star and NST carry the "aspirations" of the government. The Sun is however no better. It was and still is, financially in the doldrums and has been attempting to boost its sales by ignoring basic journalistic ethics and sensationalising many of their stories.

Make no mistake, I personally sympathise with the retrenched journalists but this time The Sun shot itself in the foot. True, The Sun did a good job for its readers, especially with the MCA team A and B stories but on the whole it was still a "running dog" for the government.

So please don't over emphasise on their self-righteousness. They took every opportunity available to smear their rivals with manure that they forgot that the journalist, whether in The Sun or Harakah should support each other in the fight for press freedom.

Is The Sun so bad that they can only sell their paper through smear campaigns? The Sun 's owner is a Mahathir crony by the name of Vincent Tan, so why put additional emphasis on who owns The Star , NST, Harakah , Berita Harian or Utusan Malaysia ?

It would be a big blow to press freedom if The Sun goes as it gives the other papers a run for their money but if there's demand, alternatives would surface.

For the interest of the nation, Malaysia would want a healthy Sun but journalism will continue to survive and never set if The Sun goes down.