Journalists working for Western media organisations are not "after big money and glamour" as claimed by the Information Ministry parliamentary secretary Zainuddin Maidin yesterday, said several local correspondents of foreign news agencies today.

A local journalist of an international news wire agency told malaysiakini that many people, including herself, chose to work for foreign media organisations because of the freedom of reporting granted to them.

"It's not so much about the money. If you look at the local media, most of them are restricted and they only report things that the government wants the public to know," she said, declining to be named.

However, she stressed that the freedom was not misused to distort facts and truth as claimed by Zainuddin.

"I have seen some journalists (working for the foreign media) who are much better than those from the mainstream media. They write well and verify their facts with their vast sources before publishing something," she said.

Claiming that the local correspondents of foreign media had been made a convenient target by the government, she said, "In fact, some local papers have written stories based on rumour but this has never been questioned."

Unfair, baseless

Yesterday, Zainuddin reportedly said that Western news agencies were profit-motivated and only reported negative stories on Malaysia "as they have shallow understanding of local issues".

Zainuddin was also quoted as saying that some "local lackeys" work for foreign media companies because of the "bigger paycheques" and the urge to be recognised as "real journalists" who are highly knowledgeable about Malaysia's current affairs.

(Prior to becoming the Information ministry parliamentary secretary less than a year ago, Zainuddin was the chief news editor and then managing editor of the Malay daily Utusan Malaysia .)

Another local journalist who also works for a foreign news agency said it was "unfair and baseless" to point fingers at local correspondents and accuse them of not working hard to understand local issues.

He added that Zainuddin's sweeping statement "does not deserve a lot of response".

A veteran journalist who has worked for 10 years with the Reuters news agency in the past, lashed out at Zainuddin over his remark, saying that the latter was merely finding a scapegoat to hide the government's "incapability to correct the international misconception" about Malaysia.

"What's wrong with locals working with foreign media? Why single out journalists when there are other people working for different types of foreign companies?" questioned MGG Pillai who has freelanced for many internationally-renowned publications such as the Washington Post and Time news magazine.

Neo-colonialist plot

While admitting that the foreign media indeed paid higher wages, Pillai, however, said, "The foreign press is not simply hiring anyone but picks journalists who can do their job."

He challenged the government to name one media organisation whose intention was to run at a loss. He added the reputation of a news agency was not judged and should not be affected by its capability to make a profit.

The Malaysian government has adopted a relatively hostile attitude towards the foreign media in recent years following wide international coverage on the sacking and subsequent jailing of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Many national leaders claimed that the foreign media were biased in their reporting and were part of a "neo-colonialist" plot to create negative impressions about the country in order to affect its economic progress.