The opposition coalition will launch a boycott of what it described as "pro-Barisan Nasional" media and their advertisers on Feb 1.

The Barisan Alternatif has identified three mainstream media establishments which it claimed played a leading role in BN's "dirtiest election campaign" last November. The boycott, a joint effort by the BA coalition, unions and NGOs, would target New Straits Times , Utusan Malaysia and TV3 for their "blatant, unfair and one-sided reporting", KeADILan media spokesperson Raja Petra Kamaruddin told malaysiakini today.

He added that the group would identify the advertisers to be targetted in the campaign, especially those involved with TV3. "We intend to call for a boycott of TV3 advertisers to pressure them to pull out their advertising contract with the station," said Raja Petra.

He added that the boycott should also serve as a warning to other mainstream media publications.

"We will not hesitate to extend the boycott to the other newspapers as they have also, to a certain extent, played up anti-opposition issues in the last general elections," Raja Petra said, adding that they were, however, a little more "tolerable" than the targeted ones.

The local media have been widely condemned by the Opposition for being a mouthpiece of the ruling BN coalition. During the election campaign, BA had alleged they were denied advertising space by most of the mainstream media.

PAS newspaper Harakah yesterday quoted BA spokesperson Rustam Sani saying that the media had distorted facts and used blackmail and threats to goad voters into voting for the BN coalition.

"Islam was pictured as cruel and Islam's laws as primitive and barbaric. It was promised that riots and racial strife would occur in the event the government-of-the-day fails to retain its two-thirds majority - just like what happened 30 years ago in 1969," Rustam said.

The boycott campaign will be the second anti-media campaign organised in the country by political parties and NGOs since the sacking, arrest and assault of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998. The first boycott campaign was launched by PAS-led opposition front Gerak in the wake of Anwar's arrest.

According to the Opposition, the first boycott campaign had contributed to a drop in sales of a number of the mainstream publications.

KeADILan vice president Chua Tian Chang told malaysiakini that the boycott campaign was not only to punish the mainstream media for their distorted reports but also to raise political consciousness among consumers.

"We call upon the people to demand for a press that is free and responsible and to restore certain basic journalistic ethics, which is severely lacking in this country," said Chua.