By Khairie Hisyam
Tiger is always wary when creatures comment on a matter in which they have a vested interest. Utusan Malaysia’s tirade last weekend against GLCs for not advertising in Malay-medium papers enough smacks of bitterness and self-entitlement, and Tiger cannot help but wonder what Awang Selamat is smoking.
Tiger ended a pleasant, de-light-ful weekend with some amusement because Utusan Malaysia is acting up again. This time with an editorial that hits at government-linked companies (GLCs) for allegedly not advertising enough in Malay dailies.
Reading through it, Tiger can’t help but feel the piece was fuelled by the bitterness of rejection, despite the broadsheet positioning the editorial to ostensibly represent Malay-medium newspapers as a collective.
First, the newspaper laments that GLCs seem to be forgetting their roots, pushing advertising matters to foreigners and racist agencies, expressing concern over the position of the Malay language should this continue.
But the question here is whether GLCs were supposed to be the main players in upholding the national language. Do we not have specialised bodies for that very purpose?
Most GLCs were set-up for very specific purposes that do not include the national language. Petronas, for example, was set-up to be the caretaker of our country’s oil and gas riches. Was it meant to be the protector of the Malay language as well?
Another grouse by Utusan is that certain banks and telcos do not advertise enough in Malay dailies, going so far as to lament the “rich rewards” given to so-called “anti-government” media.
The delusion here is the perception that a media must be either pro-government or anti-government when in fact a good media organisation stands neutral in all its reporting.
Only then can a media organisation command respect and wider readership — especially since Malaysians have been long starved of truthful, objective journalism — and with wider readership comes a bigger attraction for advertisers as they can reach more people.
Last weekend’s tirade paints a picture of a bitter, rejected maiden who cries racism and conspiracy when she could not find suitors over her own failings. What Utusan needs to realise is it only has itself to blame for pushing away potential advertisers.
For one, its reputation and image is not exactly the best, that advertising in it for GLCs would, in Tiger’s opinion, do little good.
There are the double standards in reporting, there is the racist slant. There is also the string of defamation suits that the paper continues to lose one after another.
Why, even an Utusan editor heroically proclaimed that spinning facts to craft a “desired” picture for the reader is okay, that it is a way to launch a “gentlemanly attack” on the opposition.
The image that emerges is makes Utusan seem biased and manipulative and think nothing of fabricating “news” to further its political and racist agenda and unworthy of the connotation “newspaper”.
And Utusan now wonders why GLCs, who deal with widely diverse clientele both local and international, do not want to be associated with it?
Birds of a feather flock together, after all.
Truth be told, Utusan’s rejection of a local airline’s advertisements because the latter’s chief criticised its racist slant rings hollow now. Because Tiger suspects that local airline may not have wanted to be associated with Utusan anyway.
Recall that last September, prime minister Najib Abdul Razak called for GLCs to send more adverts Utusan’s way.
“I hope all government agencies, GLCs and private companies, especially those owned by Bumiputeras, will show their support by giving more advertisements to Utusan. Only this will help keep Utusan on track,” the prime minister was quoted as saying.
Now to have the prime minister calling for more advertisements in any particular newspaper is worrying enough, because given the government’s links with many GLCs, questions of power abuse arise as many have pointed out.
Funnily enough a minister has made an about-turn on the prime minister’s endorsement of Utusan, saying there was never any recommendation for Utusan to be given priority in terms of advertising.
“The government only stressed that advertisements be placed in main newspapers in Malaysia so that the message can achieve its objective,” said minister in the prime minister’s department Shahidan Kassim in Parliament.
Too late for damage control, Tiger thinks.
Then again, if you have to resort to the prime minister’s influence to try and scrounge up some advertising income — and still fail— then maybe there’s a deeper sickness that needs treating.
GRRRRR!
You must be logged in to post a comment.