Wagging the dog

Remember in a previous post Where is MH370, and where MH370 is? I wrote about the Australian media and how a TV Channel aired an incident about the copilot of MH370, Fariq Abdul Hamid, allegedly inviting two South African women to the flight deck of an aircraft flying from Phuket to KL (maybe a B737?).

It was tasteless and shameful of that TV Channel to rubbish a man who has gone missing in a lost aircraft, and one who won't be able to answer back (at least until he's found alive somewhere if he's not already dead).

I mentioned that unfortunately that's the downside of a free Australian media which for the purpose of ratings and their commercial viability would not hesitate at times to stoop down real low (like paying questionable but controversially delightful-for-TV interviewees) to air sleazy scandalous stuff.

The recent Schapelle Corby case was an example of the vulture-like antics of the Aussie news media where Schapelle's sister was rumoured to have been paid to give a TV review on Schapelle's case following her recent release on parole by the Indonesian authorities.

Some of her reckless allegations (good for TV ratings) so riled the Indonesian government that it considered cancelling Schapelle's parole and re-imprisoning her. Now, wouldn't that just be further great TV news?

Yes, some of the media misuse their freedom of speech/expression during their strive for higher ratings by promoting gossipy scandals without a shit of a care for those affected, like digging up and revealing the identity of a man who won the Aussie lotto of $60 million dollars and who obviously had wanted his identity to remain confidential for his personal security, or like poor Fariq Abdul Hamid who now isn't around to provide his side of the story.

But these haven't been as bad as wagging the dog, which would consist of 'leaking' so-called 'news' but always from an 'un-named source' or 'an official who spoke on conditions of anonymity', and which 'leak' would hopefully trigger some juicy but injudicious response from a bono fide source, for example, like a minister or an IGP, wakakaka.

We have been getting a lot of so-called 'un-named officials' apparently leaking all sorts of theories, as if by claiming such sources are 'insiders' or 'officials who prefer to be un-named', the media stories would sound both plausible and credible.

The latest is that MH370 has been hijacked and taken somewhere in the direction of the Andaman Islands.

Quite frankly, on a personal basis I love a happy ending too and only wish this story is true and that the B777 had landed safely on one of the Andaman islands on a secret strip prepared by the hijackers, and all on board are still alive but constrained by armed air-pirates who will demand several billions of dollars for their release, or the release of political prisoners from Country X, Y or Z.

Anyway, with each passing day of the missing MH370 I notice and grudgingly concede our Minister for Foot-in-his-Mouth seems to be getting better at handling the press, wakakaka.

In the Malay Mail Online report titled Malaysia to widen search for MH370, says satellite signals unconfirmed, when Hishammuddin, wakakaka, was asked to confirm reports (from ‘un-named’ US officials in the Pentagon, wakakaka) that satellites had picked up signals from MH370 long after it disappeared, he replied that investigators were well aware of the reports, but said they had come from ‘unnamed officials’ and thus remain ‘unverified’.

When pressed on what information Malaysia has with regards to Pentagon (again ‘un-named’) officials saying MH370 might have been diverted towards the Indian Ocean, he stated: “I said a lot of unnamed officials are making certain suggestions. I think we need to go deeper into who actually made those statements. At the moment, I don’t have that information.”

Bravo Minister, I’m glad you’re showing the cool clinical composure we want to see in our officials, and f**k those ‘un-named officials’, wakakaka,

I know the media is hungry for new angles in the news and there’s a hungry public out there ranging from China to all around the world, but don’t let the tail wag the dog.

Incidentally, WSJ has corrected one of its reports (about Rolls Royce receiving MH370 ACARS transmissions during the 5-hour period after its last known position in the South China Sea) which Hisham had asserted as incorrect, and which of course now means poor Hisham had been correct all along but we (including distrusting kaytee, wakakaka) had rather believed WSJ than him, wakakaka. Poor Hisham.

The Israeli tail wagging the American dog