National laureate A Samad Said has urged Malaysians to read and support the alternative media in order to get balanced news reports that "shape one’s attitude".

NONE "Without the alternative media, the mainstream media would be gangsters," he said.

"In the mainstream media, there is only black and white. All the ruling parties are right and the opposition is deemed wrong."

At a speech officiating the ‘Let's Read Alternative Media’ campaign in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Samad revealed that he has not read the mainstream press for a year now.

"I don't mind being left behind. But I don't feel lost not reading because I already know," he told the audience of about 100, consisting mainly of university students.

internet media and print media The former Berita Harian editor - who had resigned out of objection to "being absorbed into the political power of the press" - took the opportunity to encourage the younger generation to change.

Apart from calling for a change in their reading materials, Samad said he hopes for a greater change toward a "transformed regime".

"It is about time we changed the regime. We have given it 54 years and we should not take longer than so ... when will a leader from the rakyat be picked?" he posed at the event organised by the Students Solidarity Group of Malaysia.

Samad played a high profile in the Bersih 2.0 rally of July 9. This was his second major involvement in a public protest following his objection to the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English in 2009.

Toward fair play

At the same event, Malaysiakini chief editor Fathi Aris Omar said the growth of the alternative media as a source of information will assist in taking the nation in the direction of "democracy and fair play".

NONE The current media landscape was in an unhealthy state due mainly to restraints imposed by the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, Fathi said.

"Take, for example, the lack of right to reply or for counter-discourse (in the mainstream media)," said the former editor of Detik magazine.

However, Fathi noted that alternative media operations were highly reliant on readership support and funding because of low revenue from advertisements.

Press freedom, he added, was best supported through the financial independence of a media organisation.