EYE ON ETHICS

This article was originally posted last April 25 in the Khaleej Times Online.
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The second day of the Arab Media Forum held in Dubai saw serious criticism of the Arab League Broadcasting Charter issued by Arab ministers of information, to regulate satellite broadcasting in the region.

Eminent journalists and media personalities who attended the panel discussion rubbished the relevance and legality of the Charter saying the ministers of information had no right to draw ethical codes for the Press.

They maintained that it was a clear violation of Press freedom and impeded free and fair coverage by satellite channels.

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This report was posted last March 24 in Xinhuanet, the internet arm of the official press agency of the People Republic of China, Xinhua News Agency. The press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders has described the Xinhua News Agency as the world’s largest propaganda agency.
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Chinese experts on journalism and communications have expressed disappointment with some western media’s distorted reports on the riot in Lhasa and urged them to replace those reports with truthful accounts.

“They should make corrections and report more objectively,” said Guan Shijie, professor at the School of Journalism and Communications of Peking University.

In recent days, some western media organizations were criticized by Chinese netizens for distorted coverage of the violence in the capital city of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.

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The writer is a Malaysian journalist.

The daily struggle of the Malaysian journalist is to try to apply journalism principles in an environment where the government treats the media as its personal tool. Some rebel and leave, citing principles, but almost all try to come to terms with it for the sake of a paycheck.
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A journalist with one of the leading dailies in Malaysia looked worried as he watched the editor-in-chief of his newspaper go through his commentary.

The editor-in-chief wanted to “clear” the story on an anti-government movement that the journalist had been asked to write a few days after the announcement of Malaysia’s general election date. Malaysians will vote on March 8.

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