Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching said with the MMC Act, the government was confident the media industry could implement checks and balances to enhance integrity and ethical compliance.
She noted that one of the challenges currently faced by the media industry is the absence of a standard reporting code of ethics applicable to all media practitioners in Malaysia.
Civil society groups envisioned that the MMC Act would uphold and enhance confidence in the media and strengthen the information and freedom of expression ecosystem - especially in an environment too often marked by self-censorship, the spread of disinformation and hate content, unethical reporting driven by racism, bigotry, misogyny, or xenophobia, and the abuse of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms to maximise profit and economic viability.
Let me reiterate that the MMC is not the panacea for all the problems facing journalism and its practitioners.
I refer to the bad old days of the BN government when then communications minister Salleh Said Keruak...