National journalist laureate Zainuddin Maidin hoped the proposed setting up of the Malaysian Media Council would be able to address the problems of media freedom and harassment faced by journalists and newspaper publishers in the course of doing their job.

He hoped the council would also be able to handle legal matters which were more politically motivated rather than the interests of the people.

The former information minister claimed that huge corporations, big businesses and enterprises or advertisers were the "hidden hands" which prevented the media from disseminating news which could tarnish their image or interests.

"With the increasingly rapid commercial development, the danger will be bigger.

"Perhaps one day, these business giants and huge enterprises will control the media and not the government," he said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur last night.

 Zainuddin, who is also a former editor-in-chief of Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd, was commenting on the proposed amendments to the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, tabled in Parliament, which among others, seek to drop the “absolute power” of the home minister in approving newspaper licences.

 

He claimed that the “threats” faced by newspaper editors and publishers had forced them to disregard the interests of consumers for the sake of profit.

"From my own experience as editor-in-chief of a newspaper for about 10 years, I have received threats from agents of advertisers to withdraw advertisements worth millions of ringgit because certain news were not favourable to their clients.

He also claimed now there were news portals which claimed to the independent, but were actually political tools of failed businessmen.

- Bernama