A panel discussion at a national media conference in Kuala Lumpur saw lively interaction over why views and activities of certain civil groups do not get publicised in the traditional media, mainly newspapers.

Themed 'The public as media stakeholders and the development of the capacity of civil society to impact o­n media agenda setting', the discussion brought the two-day conference to a close today.

The 'National media conference o­n the future of the media in a knowledge society' was organised by the United Nations Development Programme in association with malaysiakini's research arm, Strategic Analysis Malaysia.

Unfair label

Panelist Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), said the human rights group faced "huge challenges" in its daily work when dealing with mainstream newspapers.

"We (issued) 53 statements last year, (and) o­nly two were carried in these newspapers. Issues which we tried to frame our positions o­n, such as race relations, police brutality and detention without trial, were considered highly political...we do not have channels to articulate our opinions and voices," she said.

"Even if it is published, it is usually a few paragraphs o­n page 25 or 32."

Gabriel said there is a real need for alternative media in the country as civil groups require such channels to introduce issues to society and to educate the public.

In Malaysian society, which is marked by ethnic cleavages, critical issues are given labels either 'pro-government' or 'pro-opposition' and human rights work is treated as opposition work, she claimed.

"This is most unfortunate. Civil society is already weak and fragmented. Civil groups often work o­nly o­n issues which they champion. Political groups do not work with environmental groups and likewise. We have (also) been unsuccessful in bridging racial gaps," she said.

Improve relations

Panel member Shamsul Akmar, associate editor at the political desk of New Straits Times , conceded that most of the criticism against the country's oldest English daily was over its political reporting and the shaping of political thoughts.

"(But) at the end of the day, consumers can remind the newspapers that if they are not good, they will pay the price (of losing readers)," he said.

In explaining why civil groups had little voice in mainstream newspapers, he noted that even the media in developed countries which supposedly promote press freedom had their own biases.

"Sometimes their (civil groups') views would have been overtaken by events by the time we receive them. It is also often repetition of what the opposition has said," he said.

To solve the problem, he said it would be good if civil groups and mainstream media have a less adversorial relationship with each other.

"The co-operation will materialise in the near future, if (it is) not already in the pipeline," he said.

Community media

Another panelist, Yong Kai Ping, editor of Chinese news magazine Perspektif Pedas , said it was important to establish community-based media groups and empower the local communities by teaching them how to utilise media for their benefit.

"They can learn to run activities, organise press conferences, set up websites or produce VCDs. This has been a success in other countries where some even set up their own radio channels," he said.

Dr Kiranjit Kaur, chairperson of Communication and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia, said her group had experimented with the utilisation of technology to encourage the public to set their own agenda in discussion but "this had failed".

She said her organisation recently closed its unmoderated web-based forum after many users posted personal attacks o­n Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie and "all other politicians under the sun" over the hike in telephone rates.

"Malaysians do not know how to debate. We had to shut (the forum) down because we had no resources to moderate it. There were so many personal attacks and they just did not debate the issue. o­ne person started and the others followed," she said.

On the part of newspapers, she said they do not give coverage to activities organised by civil groups "unless these activities are attended by VIPs".

Panel member Joanna Ng, promotion and communication manager of Global Knowledge Partnership, said the international group aimed at broadening public access to information and knowledge, promotes participation of civil groups in social development by providing various training programmes and grants.

Contradictory stand

During the open discussion, NST news editor Balan Moses said civil groups must know how the media operate, learn to structure their press statements and be media savvy.

"Often the statements come in late and we can't use them because we have closed the pages for printing. We work o­n a deadline. My advice to civil groups is to find out why their statements were not used," he said.

"It is easy to accuse the media of not wanting to run materials contrary to the stand of the government but my biggest concern is to consider the consequences and effect the published materials will have o­n society."

In response, veteran environmentalist Gurmit Singh said it was unfair to expect civil groups to be media savvy because the problem lies with the selectiveness of media over the topics published.

Journalist SS Yoga said Malaysians do not know how to debate because they can o­nly learn from how this is done in the Dewan Rakyat - and the leaders themselves do not debate professionally.

He noted that, while NST 's Shamsul had said newspapers would generally not carry repetitions of what those in opposition have said, the paper appeared to have no problems carrying statements by Barisan Nasional politicians who "sing the same old tune".

Panel chairperson Maxine Olsen, UNDP resident representative to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, ended the discussion with the hope that media practitioners, owners and policy makers would continue to engage in dialogue towards creating a knowledge society.