Several media editors on Friday have come to an agreement that news reporting, from both mainstream and alternative, should emphasise more on the concept of 'balance in distributing information'.
They said every journalist and editor had the responsibility to educate Malaysians on the importance of practising moderation in daily matters, including the need to stop publicising the views of extremists.
"We felt the emergence of these extreme voices and most of us are quite disturbed on how the country was shaping based on the opinions of these people.
"Doesn't matter what religion you are, which country you are from, there is a commonality that runs across the difference including the concept of tolerance, forgiveness, anti-corruption, fairness, that should be promoted through news reporting," said CEO-cum-group chief editor of Star Publication (Malaysia) Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai, in a roundtable discussion held by Global Moderation Movement (GMM) here.
The roundtable discussion themed, 'Expressing Moderation', was also attended by senior journalists and editors among them, Steven Gan from MalaysiaKini, Sharaad Kutan from Business Finance Malaysia (BFM) Radio, Terence Fernandez from The Edge Daily, Kamarul Bahrin Haron from Astro Awani; the forum was moderated by CEO of GMM Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
Also invited to the forum were Asean media editors including Thailand-based, The Nation regional news editor Supalak Ganjanakhundee, senior fellow of the Institute of Security and International Studies Kavi Chongkittavorn, managing editor of Jakarta Post, Primastuti Handayani, and senior journalist from Philippine Daily Enquirer Fe B. Zamora.
In his opening speech, Saifuddin said every stakeholder, including the people and policy makers should be aware of the fact that the concept of moderation must be translated into action, through well-discoursed policies and strategies.
Otherwise, he warned, extremists would take over the concept, and have it defined or misappropriated based on their perspectives, which could lead the nation into a more dangerous situation.
To this, Fernandez replied that Malaysia had historically-proven that it could set the standard of 'moderation' among the Asean countries based on its diversified communities which had been living together for years.
"In Asean, we are the ones who define moderation by our population, ethnic makeup ... we Malaysians set the whole standard and it is only right if it comes back to us," he said.
Sharaad, meanwhile, expressed his concerns on how a few media outlets in the country had allowed a group of extremists to appear publicly, giving them more publicity.
He, as other editors agreed that the media have power and influence to combat extremism.
Bernama
Sat Apr 18 2015
The group of media personnel from Malaysia and abroad who attended the roundtable discussion titled, 'Expressing Moderation'. - Bernama Photo
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