Utusan Malaysia is more transparent than other media in the country in terms of ownership, its online senior editor Gamal Nasir Mohd Ali said.

He said the Umno-owned media has always been frank about their owners and their editorial decisions.

"Other media portals are either directly or indirectly controlled through person, persons, non-governmental organisation (NGO) and so forth," Gamal ( photo ) said at Journalism Now forum in Kuala Lumpur today.

Media organisations in Malaysia are often called biased by supporters of different political divides.

Gamal said the news organisations such as Utusan have their own highlighted issues depending on their readerships.

This is why the daily keeps writing about religion, race and politics through the context of the Malays, he added.

This makes Utusan the target for some quarters accusing them of being racist, he said.

Gamal said that as long as race-based political parties existed in Malaysia, politics will always be viewed racially.

Owners never interfered

However, he added, Utusan owners have never interfered with any editorial decisions.

"In my 30 years, I have not seen any direct interference by any political party in Utusan ," he said.

Earlier, Deputy Minister of Communication and Multimedia Jailani Johari said the government takes the press freedom ideals seriously.

He said that the ideal was for a timely, accurate and impartial press with an emphasis on impartiality.

"The press must be independent and be seen to be independent," Jailani ( photo ) said at an event in Kuala Lumpur to mark World Press Freedom Day which fell on May 3.

He noted that a lot of media organisations worldwide were owned and influenced by 'outside' entities.

However, he believes Malaysia has a good mix of private and government-owned media.

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