The proposal to form a Media Consultative Council (MCC) has been held up due to uneasiness in media circles about the government’s involvement in the council.

"(They) want the council to be made up of only media representatives,” the Dewan Rakyat was told during Question time today.

The Information, Communications and Culture Ministry said the government was still willing to set up the MCC, but that it needed the media to come forward to make this happen.

ppp supreme council pc maytower 111208 maglin d cruz "As at this time, there is no request from the media to do so. We urge the media to cooperate with the government to set up the council,” deputy minister Maglin Denis D'Cruz (l eft ) said.

Replying to Tian Chua (PKR-Batu), D'Cruz said the MCC remained in the proposal stage and that the ministry was considering the intended structure.

This, he explained, was the subject of a discussion held between the ministry and selected media representatives at a meeting on July 25.

The proposal has been a thorny issue for journalists and editors, who fear that such a council would enable the government to exert an additional level of control over the mass media, under the existing situation of restrictive media laws and politically-linked ownership of media companies.

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