{"id":16694,"date":"2020-10-20T12:50:48","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T04:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=16694"},"modified":"2020-11-03T14:43:31","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T06:43:31","slug":"reasons-why-parliaments-move-to-restrict-the-media-is-so-dodgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/reasons-why-parliaments-move-to-restrict-the-media-is-so-dodgy\/","title":{"rendered":"Reasons why Parliament’s move to restrict the media is so dodgy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Parliament\u2019s decision to limit media coverage of its upcoming November sitting to only 15 agencies is undemocratic and oppressive! The 2021 federal budget is a matter of great national concern that affects all Malaysians, especially when our country is drowning in a third wave of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s why Parliament\u2019s move to restrict the media is so dodgy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Covid-19 is used as a tool to censure the media<\/strong><\/li>
  2. All exclusively online media are left out<\/strong> (Based on the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020, online media remains the major source of news for Malaysians)<\/li>
  3. Malaysians have the right to know<\/strong> what bills, policies, and measures are debated and passed to counter Covid-19 and save our economy from recession<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has called for this decision to be reviewed immediately<\/a>, and that the Dewan Rakyat House Select Committee as well as media organizations should be given an opportunity to provide input.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Likewise, Wong Shu Qi, MP for Kluang has stressed that instead of censuring the media<\/a>, strict Covid-19 SOPs should be set out for all who attend Parliament, regardless of rank or position. She also suggested that Parliament restrict the size of ministers’ entourages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Describing the move to restrict as atrocious and regressive, Shu Qi has called upon Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun to reverse it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Similarly, Chiong Yoke Kong, ADUN for Tanah Rata has spoken out against this decision<\/a>. Condemning PN\u2019s double standards in fighting Covid-19 and calling for accountability, he said that the media plays an important role in keeping a system of checks and balances alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Parliament’s business is the people’s business too. Malaysians have every right to be informed via fair media reporting and the media has the right to freedom of press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Therefore, Parliament is duty-bound to defend these freedoms, not suppress them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Parliament\u2019s decision to limit media coverage of its upcoming November sitting to only 15 agencies is undemocratic and oppressive! The 2021 federal budget is a matter of great national concern that affects all Malaysians, especially when our country is drowning in a third wave of the pandemic. Here\u2019s why Parliament\u2019s move to restrict the media […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,260,531,274],"tags":[367,921,920,905,918,74,462,456,917,919],"class_list":["post-16694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-story","category-current","category-featured","category-national","tag-covid-19","tag-double-standards","tag-federal-budget","tag-media-censure","tag-oppressive","tag-parliament","tag-parliamentary-sitting","tag-press-freedom","tag-right-to-information","tag-undemocratic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16694"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17077,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16694\/revisions\/17077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}