Many of my friends may not agree to my previous notion that linked the ordinary Germans during the Nazi period and Malaysians now. Well, at least 49% of the Malaysian voters are a bit more courageous in saying no to BN as what the last election showed, they said. But, there is one group of Malaysian that nobody would disputes if I were to link them to Germans during the Nazi period. They are the mainstream news media.
Joseph Goebbels , the Nazi propagandist would be proud of what they do for the current ruling party. There is a different between news and propaganda to begin with. If you were to report the news as what it is and analyse an event or policy critically, and will not hesitate to review it if the policy is flaw, then I would say that's news. Furthermore, I think media should not take side politically. The people's interest and truth should always come first. But propaganda is different. If the news/reports are always about the ruling party's interest and would not criticize even if it's flaw and would only report views from the ruling party's officials or politicians, then that is propaganda.
Well, in reality there are no independent media. But that is a okay. Look at the developed nation. I don't think they have true independent newspapers. BUT, they have media (especially those private funded) that are free to align themselves with political interest. I repeat, FREE TO ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH POLITICAL INTEREST. They have newspapers who are aligned with Democrats, with Labour, with Republican, with Conservative, with Liberal Democrat, etc., to name a few. When you allow certain media to support certain political ideas, make sure that other media would not be striped off their right to voice out other political ideas. Because, a nation does not make up of only one political idea. There are many competing ideas that compete to win over people's heart and mind so that one day they can also form the Government to implement their ideas. That ought to be a normal process for a normal country.
Are we a normal country? Some people say, we have press freedom. The media are free to report anything. Yes, we have press who are free to report anything and everything that is positive to the ruling regime but report everything and anything that is negative to the opposition. If this is press freedom, then former Soviet was a democracy. The media are always defending their role by saying that they have the duty to report and disseminate the ruling Government's views and policy. That is good. But not copy and paste. Because Government does not belong to only one political party. It does not even belong to political party. One has to know how to differentiate between the two - political party and Government. You are governing on behalf of the citizen and citizen are tax payer. Every eligible tax payer, pays tax to the government, regardless of what ones political leaning. You may have the right to govern, but it's not exclusive. And please don't treat it as if the country is own your property.
On this fact alone, I am convinced that our Malaysian mainstream media is indeed the BN's willing executioner. Believe me, you would not miss anything without reading and watching the mainstream media. If you read and watch daily you would not gain any insight into the policies and events, but would come out even more confused and might think Nazi was right and Mugabe is lovable and that the West is out to invade Malaysia and all BN politicians are saint and all Pakatan politicians are devil's messengers. The mainstream media has a choice to say no but did not want to say it and willingly being used as a tool to continue helping BN in creating the repressive environment that we are in now.
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