Rosmadi (third from right) presenting a certificate of appreciation to Jegathisan Sivanesan from The Borneo Post, while Muguntan (second from left) looks on.
KOTA KINABALU (April 15): The government needs to feed the public with real-time information according to current needs.
Sabah Public Services Department (JPAN) director Datuk Datu Rosmadi Datu Sulai said this will help counter the abundance of fake news in social media.
“It seems that everybody can be a ‘journalist’ on social media nowadays, but without legitimate sources. This is the situation that we are facing at the moment.
“Currently we can only counter fake news after it has come out. We need to change that and provide the public with real-time information or we will become obsolete.
“The people have access to news 24/7, so we also need to alter our schedule to match their needs. They want real-time news, not yesterday’s news,” he said this during a media appreciation event at a hotel here on Saturday.
Rosmadi said once the government is able to spread their plans and developments to the public immediately, gone will be the days where a government program is hosted one day but its news relayed only a week after.
Towards this end, Rosmadi said he had spoken to Sabah Journalists Association (SJA) president Datuk Muguntan Vanar, and they plan to conduct workshops for JPAN to dispense real-time information to the public.
When speaking at the media appreciation ceremony, Muguntan said social media in this day and age spins many issues out of proportion.
He said many times such issues were very minor, but the slow response to it from persons in charge could be very damaging.
“It is my hope that official explanations are given quickly to us in the mainstream media, so that we could share the facts out to the public immediately. Believe me, it helps.
“Once people know the facts, the issues spun in the social media will lose its traction or public interest,” he said.
During the event, Rosmadi alongside Muguntan had given out certificates of appreciation to the mainstream media fraternity, including The Borneo Post, Utusan Borneo and See Hua Daily News.
The previously known as Sabah Public Services News was also rebranded to JPANTV during the ceremony, in which its launch was officiated by Rosmadi.