RTM Won't Rush To Set Up International News Channel. Wise Decision.

(Above image is of Al-Jazeera's English news channel)

Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) will not be hasty in setting up an international news channel although it has the capacity to do so technically, said Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin.

He said a feasibility study would be carried for another six months before a decision would be taken whether it could be implemented effectively.

Speaking to reporters after a dinner in conjunction with the management meeting of the Malaysian Broadcasting Department at Awana Porto Malai, here last night, he said the feasibility study would include the broadcast content and the capability of the newscasters besides the profit and loss consideration.

"I don't want to set it (international news channel) up merely for the sake of creating the channel. If we launch it, it must have an impact internationally," he said, adding that the matter had yet to be submitted to the Cabinet.

He said following the launch of the Measat 3 recently, about 75 per cent of the people in 110 countries worldwide would be able to receive RTM broadcasts compared with only 25 countries when the Measat 1 was used previously. "The challenge before us is to ensure that the channel can operate smoothly and can be accepted by all countries," he said.

Zainuddin said RTM also had to get feedback from the countries that would receive the channel.

In order to set up the channel, he said, RTM had to have journalists and newscasters who were truly capable. The minister said that most of the international news channels run by television stations worldwide engaged foreign journalists and newscasters. "We also need journalists to be stationed at strategic locations throughout the world including London and Dubai for news coverage," he said.

He hoped the international news channel, which would bring significant benefits to the country economically and politically, could materialise during his tenure as Information Minister.

On RTM's `warta perdana' or premier news, he said the move to strengthen it by reducing the air time to half-an-hour had brought positive impact as there was an increase in the number of viewers.

Zainuddin also said that the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) was being strengthened with the establishment of foreign bureaus including two new ones in Dubai and New Delhi soon. Currently, Bernama has bureaus in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the United States and China. (Bernama)

***** On paper the move to have an international channel is a good one. Apart from gaining greater exposure to Malaysian views worldwide, it serves to enhance our prestige. However the biggest problem here, as with other things in Malaysia, is our inability to eschew ethnic considerations and consistently maintain standards.

The government's penchant for close control and interference as well as pandering to base racial demands by insistence on ethnic quotas and a hundred other rules, regulations and riders as we have witnessed in many other areas, the international school syllabus for locals being the latest, will inevitably throw a dozen spanners in the works.

While it would be ideal to get the right people for the job, most importantly the newscasters, let there be no doubt that certain quarters are going to raise a hue and cry especially if there are very few Malay faces on the international channel. I can already visualize a few crackpot MPs making a scene in Parliament and a couple of 'nationalists' and Malay language fanatics venting their spleen in Utusan and other Malay newspapers and tabloids.The government as usual will back down and put in place another RTM style Malay channel which no one except some linguistic purists from semenanjung will view daily and happily and heartily applaud our very own 'international' channel. I know I'm a trifle pessimistic but our past record doesn't give me any reason for optimism.
Image - Source