Disgusting!

A lot has been said about the quality of Malaysian journalism - while some has been very good, some leave a lot to be desired. The piece run by the NST today, "Medical attendant set ablaze in car after terror ride" has left a very bad taste in my mouth - its one thing to report the facts (nothing wrong with that), its another thing altogether to do it without the practice of common decency and sensitivity. Sharanjit Singh and Mohamad Yatim Latip did a pretty good job with the facts, but did they have to run along with the piece an image of the victim? No, they certainly didn't. The fact that they did smacks of sensationalism and borders on irresponsibility.

A completely unnecessary photo

Irresponsible because family and friends of the victim read the NST: seeing him so injured can only make a bad situation worse, emotionally and psychologically. Irresponsible because its needless - the story on its own was adequately descriptive. We often complain that the Malaysian press is not sufficiently "free". Could this is a case where it has been too free?

UPDATE: I've been informed that "NOTHING passes through without the editor okay-ing it" - in this case, that would be a Mr Abdullah Ahmad. Shame on you for allowing the photo to run! Shame, shame and triple shame!

UPDATE 2: Received an email from a friend saying: "A journalist friend (name withheld) called me earlier and asked if (today's 24/6/03) blogs by me, Jeff and Aiz was a 'coordinated attack' (sic) on mainstream press today. I told her, on my part, it was an 'attack' on public apathy and it was co-incidental. Maybe she read too much between the lines."