MANY of us have long been opposed to monopolistic or oligopolistic control of institutions, including media institutions. More often than not, critiques of such control have been levelled at large corporations or moguls.
Hence, many who are concerned about media freedom and democracy are currently pleased, if not absolutely thrilled, with the reports about the closure of Rupert Murdoch’s News of The World (NOTW).
This, and the current revelations about the alleged dirty tricks employed by NOTW reporters and top executives, have evidently now put Murdoch’s global media empire under much scrutiny and under threat.
But capitalists like Murdoch are not the only ones who wish to monopolise media ownership.
Many tin-pot dictatorships and their authoritarian cousins also try to do so, believing in the maxim that those who own the means of material production (the economy, including media organisations) will also own and control the means of mental production (ideas).
Malaysia presents an example of such concentration of media ownership but here it is very much political ownership though predictably of course, this has led to unethical reporting, deliberate distortion and misrepresentation.
One consequence has been the rapid decline in newspaper readership in Malaysia, indicating perhaps the Malaysian assumption that trivia is what’s important in a newspaper and that ‘real’ news is to be got elsewhere. ‘
The problem with attempts to monopolise information production these days is that new and alternative sources of information are now quite easily available.
Even the (allegedly ignorant) oppressed do wise up in the end. There is just so much condescension and stupidity that one can take, however humble and ‘uneducated’ one may be. Indeed, the act of arresting, detaining and then sending elderly activist, Hii Tiong Huat, to a psychiatric ward surely smacks of more over-reaction? The poor guy has been arrested thrice in two weeks for apparently wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a sign supporting Bersih, culminating in his being sent to a psychiatric hospital by the police on Friday.
Perhaps just ignoring him and spending more time catching real criminals might be a better strategy. Especially given the fact that the crime rates in KL and Selangor aren’t exactly something to boast about.
Then there’s the recent conclusion of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the death of Teoh Beng Hock. Of course, this being Malaysia, many had anticipated the outcome.
But the minister who announced the findings had perhaps gone over the top with his ‘reading’ of the Teoh Beng Hock’s character when the RCI had made no such reference in its 124-page report.
The fact is an innocent man is dead. Remember, he was summoned not as a suspect but as a potential witness. And, whatever the shortcomings of the RCI, it has pointed out quite clearly at least three individuals who contributed to the death. They’ve now been suspended.
With all this happening, we may well ask, what is happening to this country of ours? More pointedly, what is happening to make our leaders act this way? Indeed, could Euripides have been right all those centuries ago?
Comments can reach the writer via [email protected] (The writer’s opinion does not reflect that of the paper).