The Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) today launched a media complaints working committee as a precursor to the proposed media council, which failed to take off due to a lack of consensus among the interested parties.

"The public, members of the media or any aggrieved party can now complain to the committee through e-mail or letters, and we will try to mediate the dispute between the parties," said commissioner Prof Hamdan Adnan.

He said the committee will receive and probe into complaints pertaining to '...human rights violations in relation to the print media and journalists and editors'.

The committee is a temporary measure pending the actual formation of a media council and will be chaired by Hamdan.

It comes under of the complaints and inquiry working group, which is also chaired by him.

The committee's members include mass communication lecturers Dr Mohd Safar Hashim and Dr Ahmad Murad Merican, and former teacher and trade unionist S Siva Subramaniam.

"The Suhakam commission agreed to having this committee and we are starting off with a few people. Our law reform working group members will also sit on the committee," Hamdan told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

"We will soon invite those who were nominated at a media consultation held by Suhakam in early January. We have met informally but we need to conform the details soon," he said.

Journalistic standards

The members of the media complaints working committee nominees will be drawn from three main groups - editors/owners, journalists and civil society bodies.

Hamdan said among the reasons for setting up the committee was the recent disturbing trend of sensational reporting for rape-murder trials which had caused a public outcry.

"This (avenue) is to strike a balance between freedom of expression, information and the press, the protection of the rights of the individual as well as the public's right to know," he said.

The committee will consider complaints lodged with it based on various national and international human rights instruments.

Hamdan said the complaints would revolve around journalistic standards such as alleged inaccuracies, denial of a right to reply, no gender sensitivity, practice of communalism, biased reporting and lack of objectivity.

"The committee will also look into complaints on individual privacy infringements as well as family life, home, health and correspondence.

"Complaints involving the privacy of children will also investigated especially in the reportage of cases involving minors. Other vulnerable groups include women, hospital patients and those at risk of discrimination," he said.

Ethics code

The human rights commissioner, who is also a mass communications lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara, said the setting up the committee was a timely move considering the number of complaints Suhakam received on the media.

"We've received many complaints against media coverage including the negative portrayal of certain groups of people such as effeminate men and masculine women, the Orang Asli/Asal and the disabled," he said.

On a code of ethics, Hamdan said the committee would formulate it and try to incorporate it into the terms of employment or the collective agreements of media companies.

"We'd like to see an independent and free media in this country. For this, there must a uniform code of ethics that is complied with by all media practitioners.

"The committee will be talking to editors or media owners soon to explain the importance of having a uniform professional standard," he added.

Last August, Suhakam recommended a review and a subsequent repeal of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA) and the Official Secrets Act 1972 restrictive laws which rights groups claim curb media freedom.

Not binding

On the derailed media council proposal, Mohd Safar said he hoped that the media complaints working committee would set some form of framework for the eventual formation of the council.

"And looking at the long-term implications of the committee, its immediate task is to educate the public and media on their respective roles and balance of interests," he explained.

"Although the committee cannot be 100 percent effective, we will try moral persuasion to effect a change in mindset among those involved."

The Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia journalism lecturer said it was better to start something instead of waiting for a full consensus for a media council.

Ahmad Murad said the decisions of the committee would not be binding on the parties involved.

"But we will issue statements on our decisions which may require the media organisation to publish an apology or correction, if it is found to be guilty as charged," he said.

He said the committee would work towards improving on the existing draft code of ethics that was discussed as part of the media council proposal before moving to make it a part of journalists' terms of employment.

Ahmad Murad, from UiTM, said the National Union of Journalists and the media companies should cooperate and accept a ethics code as part of professional journalistic practice.

Public inquiry

On the committee's investigation methods, he said there were many other ways of obtaining information including in the face of a possible lack of transparency.

"Even if we don't have freedom of information laws, the committee can summon parties to testify at a public inquiry on specific complaints pertaining to the denial of access to information," he said.

In 1999, the idea for a media council was mooted by more than 500 journalists through a signed petition to then Home Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi calling for the repeal of the PPPA.

The journalists had proposed a media council as an alternative governing structure for the industry in place of legislation.

The government later commissioned the Malaysian Press Institute to prepare a draft on its recommendation for a statutory media council, as opposed to a self-regulatory one, causing contention between different groups of participants as to the preferred model.

The NUJ blamed restrictive laws governing the flow of information for the lukewarm response from journalists.