Newspapers have been advised to be more sensitive as well as creative when coming out with headlines.

This comes after Malay dailies Berita Harian and Kosmo’s reports on Malaysian mixed doubles pair Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying winning the silver medal drew flak from netizens.

Newspapers, said former Bernama general manager Yong Soo Heong, play an important role in shaping the minds and feelings of the people.

“So they have to be more sensitive to the situation,” he told Malaysiakini.

“As newspapers are important vehicles in shaping the minds of people, then they ought to exercise more sensitivity.”

This is especially since Chan and Goh had surpassed expectations by qualifying for the finals in the mixed doubles event at the Rio Olympic Games, Yong pointed out.

“The Malaysian pair had actually upset other pairs to enter the final. That was already a major achievement.

“Of course when they go into the finals, the expectation was to go for gold but the Indonesian pair was simply more experienced,” he said.

Berita Harian’s headline had read ‘Beregu campuran sekadar raih perak’ (Mixed doubles pair merely manages a silver) while Kosmo’s headline stated ‘Peng Soon-Liu Ying hampakan jutaan rakyat Malaysia’ (Peng Soon-Liu Ying disappoint millions of Malaysians).

The dailies’ Facebook pages saw scores of angry comments, and this led to Berita Harian and Kosmo changing headlines for their online versions to ‘Olimpik: Peng Soon-Liu Ying raih Perak’ (Olympics: Peng Soon-Liu Ying wins silver) and ‘Tetap bangga pulang dengan perak’ (Still proud for having returned with silver) respectively.

The matter also took a racial twist, with netizens circulating the Berita Harian Facebook posting on national cyclist Azizulhasni Awang clinching the bronze medal in the Keirin event.

“Azizulhasni Awang melakar sejarah jadi pelumba basikal pertama negara memenangi pingat di Olimpik apabila raih gangsa acara Keirin” (Azizulhasni Awang makes history in becoming the first national cyclist to win an Olympic medal when he garnered bronze in the Keirin event), read the post.

On this, Yong said it was sad how Malaysians still viewed things through a racial perspective.

Yong therefore believes it is time that such racial thinking is put aside.

“Azizulhasni is Malaysian, Chan Peng Soon is Malaysian. This is our nation, why do we want to stoke the fire?

“We should think as one nation, we should think less of ethnicity,” he said.

‘Maybe editors should have used more productive words’

Meanwhile, former editor of Malay Mail Ahirudin Attan is also of the opinion that more sensitivity should have been exercised by the newspapers.

“Maybe the editors could have been more creative, they should have used more productive words,” he said.

He, however, admitted that it was always a challenge for sub-editors and editors alike to compress headlines into five or six words.

“In the case of Kosmo’s ‘menghampakan’, what they probably meant was Malaysians had built up our expectations to a frenzy.”

Ahirudin himself was disappointed when the doubles mixed pair did not win that night.

“When they did not win, of course I was disappointed because of the expectations that I put on them. But overall, of course we felt very happy (and) very proud of them,” he said.

Ahirudin also said that it was typical of Malaysian netizens to overreact at times.

“This Olympics is teaching us all some lessons about ourselves.

“(People) find something to pick on, like the headlines. (It is) something netizens would do,” he added.

Also commenting on the headlines, Centre for Independent Journalism Malaysia (CIJ) director Jac SM Kee also opined that both dailies could have been more considerate.

“It speaks to how the newspaper places value on the wins and participation in the Olympics. And this value has been responded to by the readers and that response speaks volumes.

“So hopefully they will do a better job as a conduit or channel of reporting for and on public interest better in the future,” she said.