KUALA LUMPUR: Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil today gave his assurance that the unity government would not stifle freedom of the media.
This, Fahmi said is contrary to what was practiced by the previous administration.
"The situation now is way better than what the media friends have gone through before.
"Since I became the Communications and Digital minister, not a single journalist was arrested by the police and not a single newspaper has been shut down, compared to what had happened before.
"This is something that the unity government will continue to defend and as someone who has been (working) for so long, even before I even became an MP, fighting and upholding media rights and freedom.
"Now, as a minister, I will stick to that principle," he told reporters after attending the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya level Kita Madani Programme today.
"Among the evidence (of upholding media freedom and rights) is our efforts to speed up the Media Council draft bill."
Meanwhile, in a similar development, Fahmi said he accepted the views made by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently.
"I hope that there are some improvements that can be made so that we continue to guarantee and defend the rights of the media to continue to report freely, but some elements such as defamation or incorrect information must be addressed.
"For example, during the recent state polls, there was a news published by a famous media outlet saying that a politician had been arrested by the police, but it was proven to be false news.
"For things like this, I hope my media friends can discuss to make sure it doesn't happen again because, in reporting, it is as important to be first as to be right in reporting for any news," he said in response to a question asking for his comment on recent RSF statement.
In the statement, RSF denounced the arbitrary blocking by a Malaysian regulatory agency of several political news websites critical of the government.
RSF also urged the ministry to put an end to such acts of censorship.
Fahmi said the ministry is ready to meet with all parties to iron out some matters.
"This is to ensure that all parties understand why such action was taken by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
"I believe that the MCMC also proactively contacted the relevant parties to provide some explanation as to why the action was taken."
Fahmi added at the same time, he had conveyed his views to MCMC to ensure that any action taken by the commission does not cause misunderstanding.
"This as the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) and under this administration, we must defend media freedom and we will continue to defend it."