Women's groups have slammed the media for their bias reporting on the Kuching sex tape, criticising them for highlighting the involvement of a schoolgirl above everything else in their reports today.

Four local dailies - three English and one Malay - carried reports on an illicitly-filmed video depicting 10 people engaged in sexual acts on a park bench in Kuching. All but one focused on the uniformed schoolgirl performing oral sex on her partner, with sensationalistic headlines, such as "Sex-in-park student on film" ( The Star ) and "Porn videotape involving schoolgirl found" ( The Sun ).

The All Women's Action Society of Malaysia (Awam), Women's Candidacy Initiative (WCI) and Women's Development Collective (WDC) have contended that the emphasis placed on the schoolgirl in the news reports reflects the double standards practised by the media when reporting on issues involving sex and morality.

"Whenever there is a report on two people engaging in sexual activities, we notice that the focus is always on the girl or the woman," said Awam vice-president Manohari Subramaniam.

"If a boy commits this act in a public park, it is perceived as being something that is expected of him. If a girl commits the same act, it becomes a moral issue. The press, by sensationalising such news, is reinforcing these bias perceptions to society."

According to WCI spokesperson Zaitun Kasim, the press appeared to have honed in on the schoolgirl in spite of the involvement of nine others, including male youths and schoolboys, as it makes for titillating news.

"There is obvious titillation value in this kind of reporting. Why is it that out of the 10 people filmed, not one except the schoolgirl was singled out for mention? Why is this vilification of young women allowed in the media ?"

The groups have also expressed concern that the identity of the girl and the other victims of the video was made known to the public before a proper investigation was carried out.

Reporters were shown five segments of the video on yesterday by Ellias Mat Rabi, enforcement head of the Home Ministry censorship and publication unit in Sarawak and Berita Harian published a photograph of Ellias pointing at a television screen depicting a young couple with the girl in schoool uniform, sitting on a park bench together.

The eyes of the boy was blacked out but the girl's was not, although her side profile could be seen.

WDC executive director Maria Chin Abdullah questioned the motive behind showing journalists clips from the video. "It is not proper to show a video like this to reporters, more so if the identities of the people involved are not verified. It is not as if the reporters are going to the investigate into the issue is it ?"

" The Star almost published the identity of the girl by mentioning the fact that she was from a prominent girls' school in Kuching. There is only one (such school) and it makes it easy for people to identify the girl," Maria added.

"The fact that the girl is probably a minor is even worse as there is a code of practice governing reports on minors. The press is not allowed to reveal identities of minors involved in such cases but more often than not, this code of practice is not heeded."

Zaitun contended that the authorities should be investigating the perpetrators rather than the victims of the illegally-shot video.

"Why are the victims of this crime exposed to punishment through trial by media when there is no effort made to investigate the people who filmed and distributed the video?"

The 30-minute video was sent to the Home Ministry's enforcement unit two days ago and is believed to have been widely distributed in the city but Ellias said that the ministry has not been able to trace the parties involved in its filming.

However, the police and the principal of the school identified have been notified in a bid to track down the people shown on tape.