MAINSTREAM media headlines of late point to a pattern: an emerging range of national stories.
Some are without borders. Some not so. The story of our Dr Nur Amalina Che Bakri, the doctor who paved the way for 9-month-old Ainul Mardhiah Ahmad Safiuddin’s successful tumour-removal operation in the United Kingdom is journalism without borders.
When news of Ainul’s condition first broke, Dr Amalina had reached out to the baby’s mother, Nurul Erwani Zaidi, 24, to offer her help. She appealed for help on social media to bring Ainul to London for treatment after a course of chemotherapy failed to kill the tumour growing in the baby’s mouth.
Other Malaysian surgeons and volunteers were drawn into the national narrative. Even Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was on his visit to the UK, became part of the Malaysian tale.
The New Straits Times’ “Our Tigers’ Tale” frontpaged on Saturday is a national story, too. From the time of the birth of the three Malayan Tiger cubs on May 1, Malaysian eyes have been on them.
So are the keen eyes of international conservationists. This is understandable. After all, there are only 200 of them in the wild.
This paper will grow the story as the three cuddly cubs become the tigers we want them to be. This is as Malayan as mainstream media can get. Digital yes, print most certainly.
But things have gone digital in a big way, bringing in its wake our Malaysian narratives. But not as mainstream print like this paper will want the stories to be — all things national. Not just political stories taking us nowhere. The world wide web isn’t really wide when it comes to Malaysian news stories.
Cybersites and portals seem to have space enough only for sex and slime, not sense and sensibilities. This has to change, but social media isn’t going to do it. Mainstream portals and print must be the change we want.
The NST is on a journey to shape this emerging Malaysian narrative. Left alone, online sites will narrow the conversations. Malaysians with a view need to join the mainstream media and help them configure the contours of a broader Malaysian story.
Malaysian journalism must perforce draw its content from a wider pool of expertise. Remaining dormant is not an option. Unreported and underreported stories must be given fair space. The pen is, after all, mightier than the sword.
News must not only tell, it must teach, too. National stories are made of these. And more. A story of pride, not prejudice. And most certainly, not narratives that get us mired in muck and mud.
Mainstream media must aspire to a wider canvas. We must each have a national brush. We must paint our national palette blue, yellow, red and white. No hue must escape our eyes. Everything remotely Malaysian must be sketched in.
This paper was Malayan once. It is now as Malaysian as any mainstream media can be. The social media isn’t telling the Malaysian story. Mainstream media must. The NST certainly will.