Zakiah Koya of malaysiakini had put me in the centre of attention when she liberally quoted me as to my reasons why Barisan Nasional lost the Lunas state seat ([#1]Dr M to blame for Lunas defeat: Umno veteran[/#], Nov 30).

That was on Nov 30, just a day before the Umno Supreme Council was due to meet.

Over the weekend, reactions from two of my supreme council colleagues were in similar vein - that I should use the proper forum to express my views on matters that affect the party rather than articulating them through the media.

And I suppose, particularly on a web newspaper which is not viewed so favourably by Umno leaders since it was born out of the Anwar Ibrahim issue.

My reaction to the criticisms directed at me was that I accepted them and conceded that I should perhaps be more circumspect in commenting on something as important as an election result that was unfavourable to Umno.

The Lunas by-election would surely merit that description, considering that, according to some informed sources, only 32% of its Malay voters, 35% of the Chinese and 75% of the Indian voters had voted for the BN candidate.

My said reaction was accordingly reported by the print media with reference being made to what was reported by malaysiakini a day earlier.

On Monday (Dec 4), while I was in Johor Bahru, I again received a call from Zakiah and we chatted about my reported reaction to my colleagues' criticisms on my indiscretion in malaysiakini. That was about noon.

Less than five hours after my conversation with Zakiah, I received a call from The Star newspaper. Its reporter told me that my latest comments on malaysiakini appeared to contradict what I had a day earlier told the print media.

I dutifully switched on my laptop and accessed Malaysiakini.com. True enough, there, on its web page, were my comments as reported by Zakiah ([#1]Council should meet more often, says Shahrir[/#], Dec 4).

The first difference between a web newspaper and the print media was that a news item does not have to wait for the next day to make it to the pages.

I was asked by the reporter from The Star whether I had perhaps gone back on my earlier comments not to talk to the press about party matters.

I asked her whether my latest remarks in malaysiakini can be considered as "washing dirty linen in public" (which was the English translation used for 'membuka pekong di dada' ) and whether I had also surrendered my right to speak to the press when I said that I accepted my colleagues' criticisms in good faith.

Her answer to my first question was a safe one. "Some of your colleagues may consider them as such." Well then, I replied, we will need someone to determine what is dirty linen and what is not.

I referred her to the news item as it appeared on malaysiakini and pointed out to her that I did not "call for more regular Umno Supreme Council meetings" as reported by Zakiah since, in fact, it was Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had told the members of the council that it was his intention to have two meetings of the council every month and one of them would be held outside Kuala Lumpur. That this did not happen was most certainly due to most of the members being busy because they held posts in the government.

"But malaysiakini reports you as saying that you called for it," rejoined the reporter from a print media.

"Yes, it is technically correct because I talked about it to Zakiah but surely we have to live with the fact that every newspaper has its own perspective. Malaysiakini will choose its own angle, so will The Star when compared to the other local print media. The foreign press too will have its own angle to play, even when everybody attends the same press conference or receives the same press statement.

Fact of life

That, to me, is an accepted fact of life with the media. See, when I told Zakiah that I prefer an open relationship with the press and will always talk to them, she instead reports that the reason that I talk to the press is because I "enjoy talking". But given all that, I am not about to worry too much about the preferred angle of each paper.

"So they have their own agenda ?" said the reporter to me.

I thought to myself that not too many newspapers are innocent of that inclination, and declined to say anything to that remark. Our conversation went on for several more minutes but I would still not know what will eventually be reported in The Star on Tuesday morning since this is written before it goes to print.

However, the second difference between a web newspaper and the print media is that they are not too different from each other in that they will choose their own perspective or angle in making their press reports. Malaysiakini, I suppose, will gleefully pounce on those words which will make their news reports attractive to their own readers, and so will a print newspaper.

My own conclusion from my most recent encounters with the media, be it web or print, is that they are all driven by their own perspectives and I intend to live with that fact for so long as I am asked for my views. I can only write in my own words and put forth my own angle for my own web site, as much as the media will also do the same.

SHAHRIR SAMAD is a member of Umno Supreme Council. This article first appeared in his website, www.shahrir-umno.com