Eight journalists from Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau have been reprimanded by the management for attending a function marking the third month since MCA's takeover of the daily.

The eight received a warning letter each from their paper's human resources department on Tuesday, a source requesting anonymity told malaysiakini today.

The letter accused them of participating in an Aug 28 function organised by the Nanyang Siang Pau Committee for Press Freedom, and of openly showing their discontent with the newspaper's new owners.

"In addition, confidential articles written for Nanyang were leaked out. This occurred without the prior consent of the newspaper and is a serious violation of the company's policy. Thus, this written warning is given to caution you against repeating the action," stated the letter.

Since MCA took over Nanyang Press - the holding company for Nanyang and China Press - hundreds of journalists from the two dailies have launched a yellow ribbon campaign in protest of the new owner.

They have been holding gatherings on the 28th of every month since May to mark the day when the dailies were sold to MCA, bringing to close an era of non-political affiliation.

At the Aug 28 event, dubbed 'Memorable Night of Press Freedom', about 50 journalists and their supporters from Nanyang gathered to hear readings of news and feature articles which had been censored by the paper's management for 'political reasons'.

The event, held at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, was also aimed at enlightening the public on obstacles the journalists have had to face in the course of doing their job since the takeover.

"It was very much regretted that the protest was distorted as an action to damage the reputation of Nanyang ," said the source who spoke to malaysiakini .

'ISA-ruled company'

The source insisted that the main purpose of the protest was to highlight to the public the rampant interference in editorial matters since the takeover.

"They have tightened the limits and have become more touchy. All news and features, even literature, which touches on the MCA takeover, freedom of the press and press monopoly are banned or strictly censored," said the source.

The source added that although the staff opposed the new management, they could not protest overtly as they are under pressure to conform.

"We have become an ISA-ruled company. We can feel the constraints whenever we want to air our views," said the source.

Last Monday, the two dailies ordered their staff to refrain from getting involved in activities that might damage the reputation of their newspapers, warning that disciplinary action would be taken against them if they did.