the(new)mediaslut

A news report by The Star said that the Malaysian Government is now going to actively engage bloggers because it is now “a new dimension in shaping public opinion.”

All this when just last year (365 days ago) the very same government was “overlooking”, “criticising” and “running them down” because of the “wild and baseless allegations” which the new media makes. After March’s shocking general election results, fast forward to the present, in front of over 500 delegates from Asia and all other places that matter during the Asia Media Summit 2008 and Deputy PM, Najib Tun Razak says, “We need to have people who are active participants of the new media, who are sympathetic and understanding of the government’s position.

He even went so far as to reply to a posting on the Malaysia Today blog. Via his press secretary of course.

And while things seem to be looking up for new media at last, can the same be said for traditional media? To the same aforementioned crowd of 500 delegates, Najib had said, “If you read the newspapers on a daily basis, you will see that they don’t hold back their punches. If they know there are weaknesses or abuse of power anywhere, they will latch on to these and criticise the Government and individuals openly.”

But just three days after this news report, after a Talk for Media Freedom event hosted by all sorts of independent media bodies, Ahirudin Attan of Rocky Bru opined that while he salutes the mainstream media journos and single group chief editor he saw at the Walk and Talk event, “The others mainstream editors* are playing golf, too lazy, very contented, afraid, or probably didn’t even know what the NUJ, NPC, CIJ, WAMI, BENAR and All-Blogs were up to today.”