NTV7's Mandarin news desk has been co-producing news analyses with the Sin Chew Media Corporation since mid-July. A marriage that sounds reasonable in marketing sense since each represents the biggest media group in non-pay TV and local Chinese dailies respectively. Both of them are just hooking up with the biggest partner in different markets.

This project by 'Your Feel Good Channel' however doesn't make media watchers feel good. And why is this? We need to go back to 2006 to catch the whole picture.

In October 2006, with the sale of MCA's 21.02% shares in Nanyang Press to Ezywood, a company owned by Tiong Hiew King, Tiong monopolised 87% of the local Chinese dailies. 'Siasat Mandarin', a news programme produced by NTV7, had then carried a balanced report on this development.

In response to the NTV7 report, the four local Chinese dailies owned by Tiong blacked out news of 'Siasat Mandarin' introduction to the local air waves, though the programme was still listed in their TV guide pages respectively. Tiong's act of a monopoly was not so welcomed.

As a TV station owned by the nation's only non-pay TV group, Media Prima, NTV7's reaction to the blockade of its programme introduction was surprising. According to Sin Chew's then deputy executive editor, the leaders of NTV7 apologised to Sin Chew and that what 'Siasat Mandarin' had carried was 'biased'. NTV7 remained silent to this claim.

If what Sin Chew said was true, the silence of NTV7 was like admitting a wrong of its own doing by its news team. It was truly a big blow to its own news credibility and to that of its production team. It signifies that professional journalism and editorial independence were not priorities in NTV7, but rather stumbling stones to its public relations. This somehow reenforces the impression that Malaysian TV news has low credibility and the one with the least influence given that the print media is still dominant in this country.

The co-production project mentioned above could thus be seen as a step by NTV7's to repair its public relations with its print media counterpart which owns 87% of the local Chinese dailies. To Sin Chew, it's just a reasonable marketing strategy to expand and extend its influence in the electronic media. NTV7's consequent reaction after Sin Chew's 'blockade' shows that Sin Chew's strategy works with NTV7 bowing.

Even without the report of 'Siasat Mandarin' and the consequent blockade and apology, choosing Sin Chew as a partner to co-produce news analyses is not a wise choice in the eyes of many media watchers. It would be wise to choose a partner with the largest readership such as Sin Chew in the publicity and marketing sense, but not so if the credibility and quality of news content of that partner is taken into consideration. The quality of a news programme depends not on readership nor ratings but on its presentation and angles and the mastery of related issues by the production team.

If an editor from China Press or Oriental Daily or Nanyang Siang Pau or Kwong Wah is more qualified or has better knowledge on certain issues, how can NTV7 not choose him or her to analyse issues and serve the audience better?

None of the locally produced Mandarin talkshows in this country, such as TV2's 'What Say You', previously 8TV's 'Ba Fang Dian Ji' (which means 'Eight Angles of News'), Astro AEC's 'Jiu Shi Lun Shi', etc, have tried their best to maintain their editorial and production independence from powerful interest groups. These programmes have commentators from different media groups and from different professional backgrounds to present their audience different perspectives of the same issue. How can NTV7's Mandarin desk be a step behind?

Any news programme which places readership and ratings before quality of content and independence is going to lose its credibility. NTV7's Mandarin news segment will be no exception.