The High Court in Kuala Lumpur was told today that there was no neccesity for TV3 to obtain a clarification from former Perak menteri besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, prior to airing a news item about car registration number WWW1.

Media Prima Berhad group deputy news editor Mohd Ashraf Abdullah said this was because Mohammad Nizar himself was responsible for publishing the report on the subject, via a Twitter posting.

He further told the court that TV3's presentation of the material was also consistent with the online news report.

“My opinion - no need clarification because the subject matter (tweet) was taken from the source itself (May 30, last year), which the plaintiff had tweeted, consistent with online news report.

“The newspaper report came the next day,” he said during re-examination in-chief by counsel Liew Teck Huat who is representing TV3 against Mohammad Nizar’s defamation suit.

The witness said TV3 had also not contacted Tengku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim to obtain a clarification.

Mohd Ashraf said the Tengku Mahkota had made a similar statement through his personal Twitter account and thus, no further clarification was necessary.

He said TV3 practised fair and unbiased news reporting.

Meanwhile, TV3 senior news producer Rohani Ngah said she had referred to Mohd Ashraf before airing the news, as it was a sensitive issue.

She said the TV3 presentation also included a police statement confirming that a report was lodged on the subject.    

Asked by Liew as to how she knew that the police report had referred to Mohamad Nizar, as no name was mentioned, Rohani said she knew of it through the television station’s journalist who had contacted the police for updates on the same subject.

On July 10, last year, Mohammad Nizar filed two legal actions, against Utusan Melayu and TV3.

In the suit against TV3, he named Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad and TV3 producer Rohani Ngah as the first and second defendant, respectively.

In his statement of claim, Mohammad Nizar, among others, said on May 28, last year, he had issued a statement on the car registration number, through his Twitter account, and TV3 aired it in its 8pm prime time bulletin on May 30.

Justice Yeoh Wee Siam fixed March 22 for ruling.

- Bernama