Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today said that he regretted the "sensationalism and inaccuracy" of the media's reporting of the MH370 crisis, reminding the press that "lives are at stake" in the quest to find the plane that has been missing for 121 days.

Hishammuddin, who was the acting transport minister when the plane disappeared on March 8 and fronted the search and rescue operations coordination for several months after that, also said the media attention was "overwhelming" during the crisis.

"One of the things I have taken away from this event is the power of the media and need for public leaders to constantly engage it," he said in his speech launching a photo exhibition on MH370 at the Publika Shopping Gallery.

The exhibition is organised by the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) of Malaysia, and is a collection of photographs taken by several international and local news agencies.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin (above in blue) also announced that another Royal Malaysian Navy vessel will be leaving for Australia on August 4 as Malaysia beefs up its assets deployment for the forthcoming phase of the search and rescue operations.

A couple of local commercial companies - government owned Petronas and Boustead Heavy Industries will also be sending a sonar scanning vehicle each.

"Instructions for immediate mobilisation have been given and the assets are expected to reach the search area in mid-August 2014. Operational requirements for these assets will be coordinated with the Australian authorities," he said.

He also said that while the costs for the new search phase has not been calculated, it would only be "fair" for Malaysia, Australia, and China, the tripartite countries leading the search mission to share and bear the costs.