The boss of a major English daily lost his cool and shouted at the paper presenters and participants during a discussion o­n media ownership at a national media conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

New Straits Times Group Editor-in-chief Abdullah Ahmad, responding to the political ownership of the daily, yelled: "Why are you all so bloody obsessed with Umno, and not MCA or MIC?"

The outburst occurred during a panel discussion after the joint presentation by Dr Yeoh Seng Guan and V Gayathry o­n 'The impact of media values and media ownership o­n information access' - which touched o­n media ownership, values and professional journalistic ethics.

Abdullah had insisted that the presenters prove that Umno, the main component in the country's ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, directly owned the 157-year-old broadsheet publication.

"Why is it that all Yeoh's references was o­n Umno's links with media, and nothing o­n MCA's open deal with the Star ?

"Can he prove Umno's direct ownership of any newspaper?

"If you feel so frustrated (with the present newspapers), why don't you start your own newspapers?

"You just talk, talk, talk, but do nothing!" he shouted, to shocked murmurs from the floor comprising journalists, journalism lecturers, human rights and community-based organisations, government officials and representatives from the IT sector.

About 90 people attended the conference o­n 'Future of the media in a knowledge society: rights, risks and responsibilities', organised by the United Nations Development Program and the research arm of Malaysiakini.com, Strategic Analysis Malaysia.

Provoking the audience

When panel member, National Union of Journalists president Norila Mohd Daud, responded jokingly that Abdullah was getting emotional, the latter explained that he was merely trying to provoke the audience.

He maintained that media business is a business with profit-making as the goal, and that people buy newspapers to be informed and educated, and in Malaysia, (they buy it) to be entertained.

Abdullah said media values were clear and simple.

"We are here to support the government and its efforts, and I believe all major newspapers and periodicals are the same in various degrees."

He said the implementation of such editorial policies should reflect clarity, fairness, honesty and integrity in the product.

"Let the news-reading public declare their choices," he said.

The panel session was moderated by Prof Hamdan Adnan, who is a member of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).

In his paper, Yeoh, from Monash University, said media democracy is essential to enable informed choices.

"For example, in Britain, there are massive debates in the newspapers, which encourages change. Public disagreement and role of the press are a creative force for better democracy."

He said the regulation of media ownership leads to potential abuse of power where the proprietors may influence their readers through the news content.

"This leads to loss of diversity of expression, conflicts of interests and a repressive journalistic culture."

Gayathry, from the Center for Independent Journalism, talked about media ownership through political parties, state, commercial and community-based or journalism groups.

Irresponsible and untrustworthy

She acknowledged that Malaysia appeared to have diversity in publications, but noted that their quality, according to public perception, was rather unfavourable.

"The public feedback received refers to the media being irresponsible, untrustworthy, unreliable - or as being true as reported."

She argued that o­ne of the biggest casualties in the news industry was the media itself through self-censorship - which has resulted in a lack of investigative journalism or critical reporting - and no level playing field for information exchange.

The presenters recommended that media plurality be encouraged and created with ownership and content in mind.

Other suggestions include judicial review, voluntary self-regulation of the media to ensure credibility and professional standards which are incorporated into employment contracts together with the code of ethics, a media council and citizen's press councils.

"Institutional support is very important for all of these to be implemented," she said.

Universiti Malaya Assoc Prof Dr Edmund Terence Gomez criticised the paper presentations as lacking indepth analysis o­n the historical and the political-business links of media ownership.

He said major Malaysian newspapers have been under state control since the 1970s, and despite no change in ownership pattern, the quality has declined to "government-says-so" journalism.