PAKATAN Harapan (PH) said there should not be any political interference in the affairs of media organisations, and hopes Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will stick to the assurance he has given on the matter.

It said it hopes Ismail’s statement that media practitioners in the country are free to report any news centred on accuracy and facts is not just “lip service”.

“The prime minister’s guarantee (on media freedom) needs to be expressed not through lip service, but through actions that are in line with his word,” it said in a statement.

The statement was issued by PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil, Amanah communications director Khalid Samad, DAP national publicity secretary Teo Nie Ching, and United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation information chief Joisin Romut.

PH was referring to Ismail statement as reported by the media, where he gave assurances regarding press freedom.

“Although the guarantee is well received” the reality is different, it said.

PH was referring to the appointment of a group editor to New Straits Times Press (NSTP) Bhd, which various parties, including journalists, claimed to have been politically engineered.

PH said it does not bode well for the notion of freedom of reporting as well as the political agendas of the media organisation.

Earlier, National Union of Journalists Malaysia (NUJ) raised its concerns over the appointment of the new group editor for NSTP.

In a statement, NUJ general secretary Chin Sung Chew said the removal of the entity’s previous group editor Ahmad Lokman Mansor came as a surprise.

“This is so shocking, especially with reports citing that the appointment came to pass due to alleged political interference,” said Chin.

There have also been reports of journalists being unhappy with the company’s new direction.

NSTP, a subsidiary of Media Prima Bhd, had announced that Farrah Naz Karim has been assigned as group editor to its English daily New Straits Times.

PH also said it is disappointed in the actions of the government and deputy public prosecutors for prosecuting two media practitioners from The Edge publication for defamation under Section 500 of the Penal Code.

“This allegation is related to a series of articles published by The Edge regarding the buying and selling of cheap stocks (penny stocks), which is believed to have been manipulated by certain parties in Bursa Malaysia.

“We demand the government withdraw these criminal allegations, and for the affected parties to file a civil suit against the media if they wish to.”

Yesterday, The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd questioned the criminal defamation charges brought against its former editor-in-chief Ahmad Azam Mohd Aris and its contributing editor M. Shanmugam.

Ho Kay Tat, publisher and group CEO of The Edge Media Group, said in a statement that he was shocked the authorities were intervening in what should be a civil dispute.

“As media that reports on the stock market and corporate sector extensively, we have a responsibility to highlight important matters to the investing public, including alerting them to how stock prices are being manipulated,” he said.

“We are, therefore, baffled as to why police and deputy public prosecutors of Kuala Lumpur are pressing criminal defamation charges against us for informing investors about stock market manipulation.

“If the complainant, who is a private businessman, feels we have defamed him, police and deputy public prosecutors should ask him to file a civil suit against us instead of using public resources.”

Azam and Shanmugam were charged at the Petaling Jaya magistrate’s court with criminal defamation over two reports on the abnormal surge in penny stocks in 2020 and 2021. – September 15, 2022.