The media should not be blamed if it reports on matters that needed to be made known to the people as long as it does not divert from the facts, said Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim.

NONE In that regard, he said it was not proper for certain quarters to accuse the media of twisting facts in its reporting as he felt the Malaysian media was responsible in relating facts of importance to society.

"From my reading, I do not what there is to accuse (by Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming) as what happened (media reports) is for public knowledge," Rais said.

He was asked to comment on Nga's allegation that the media twisted his statement relating to government allocations for the building Islamic and non-Islamic places of worship.

Prove the allegation

Rais said Nga should not blame the media in general but rather single out media that he charged was twisting his statement.

"He should prove the allegation by singling out which newspaper or TV station did so. Don't say all media as that's not fair to media not involved," he said.

In that regard, Rais advised the country's media to always report accurate matters and facts if it did not want to be faced with the risk of being sued by quarters it reported on.

"As long as the facts are true, the media can report, but if the facts are false, then the party aggrieved has the right to sue those misreporting," he said.

On Wednesday, Nga made a statement for bigger allocations to be given for the construction of the houses of worship of other religions. - Bernama