Be it a provocative, politically motivated or a dead blog, Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin is dead wrong at one stage.
Zainuddin advised readers suspicious of the information posted on blog websites to refer to the mainstream media to get the true picture.
Excuse me Datuk ZAM, it should be the other way round. The better question for you to ponder is, why the sprouting of new blogs nowadays? It’s neither bloggers love to tell lies on blogs nor unemployed women is too free to blog, but rather, this is no longer the 80’s era where mainstream media is the only information provider available.
It’s about one of the gift of birth, which is choice! The choice to do something differently, the choice to know something more than being reported, the choice of exercising one’s brain and allows others to read what do you really think of on certain matters or rather, the choice of embracing the evolution of new media!
Nowadays, people turn to blog to find alternative news which they’re not able to read on mainstream media. It’s also very important to note that, human living in this informative era is able to think and smart enough to differentiate between fact and fiction. What bloggers really do is to provide another perspective to readers and in the end of the day, there is no obligation for any readers to buy into the idea, unless of course the Minister is pushing himself hard enough not to believe in blogs?
Or maybe, maybe when one is too afraid to accept any changes, living in self-denial is the next best choice of life. Call this ignorance?
Meanwhile, Minister of Energy, Water and Communications Lim Keng Yaik reiterated on last August that the Government has no intention to censor and regulate internet content, saying that you can’t the break the promise given (no censorship) while promoting the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).
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Lol. I think we might have blogged after reading the same article.
Anwyay, mine was less direct. :)
The simple facts are these:
1) "Mainstream media" is censored and do not give the "true picture".
2) Read Jeff Ooi or Rockybru: nowadays, editors are frequently called on by the government when they report something the government does not like.
Examples of these:
1) The recent toll hike mass protests were not reported by all mainstream media! You had to read blogs to see the photos that proved such a protest really happened! SHOCKING CENSORSHIP in a supposed democracy!
2) Mainstream media frequently sweep a lot of issues under the carpet: what happened to the AP fiasco, no one held accountable at all? The highways cracking and the overly expensive repairs? Snatch thefts are still happening, what happened to ambitious (if ineffective) plan of installing video cameras at all major streets? Zakaria and his mansion, he’s still in the Klang office! Many many more, reported once, then conveniently forgotten, no action taken.
I agree with the first part that we shud always be suspicous. To be precise, we should be ‘alert’ on any information from ANY source ( not only blog).
I do not agree on the second part for trusting mainstream media on true picture. Not to say i don’t trust mainstream media, but i cant trust them 100%
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