Don’t belittle hearsay, Hannah
How else do we check if government statements are not propaganda?
From Zaid Ibrahim
A minister attacking journalists and news portals in Parliament may surprise me but for youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh to do that, it blew me to smithereens.
Politicians, particularly those holding office in government, should be doubly cautious in launching tirades against journalists and newsmakers. It can backfire big time.
In this era where information is available from multiple sources, many facilities enable citizens to fact-check quite easily. That alone compels journalists and commentators to be extra careful in their writings.
It also means ministers need to be extra cautious in their responses, especially in Parliament.
One of my favourite portals is FMT, and their reporters are responsible journalists. They came up the hard way in an era when they had to be bold but accurate lest they be severely reprimanded.
They did not have the comfort of, say, The Star or New Straits Times, nor were they interested in parroting varnished news. They always tried to present the news as they saw them.
Hannah contended that some reporters from FMT apparently relied on hearsay when doing their stories. I would say most of us who write rely on hearsay.
In fact, in Islam, the corpus of the law is the Quran, and the sayings of the Prophet, the hadith, are hearsay. But the hadith that are acceptable (sahih) are those that meet specific requirements.
Similarly, when we write, we rely on specific information we consider credible, and the informants are to be believed. The sources meet the exacting standards.
So Hannah, don’t belittle hearsay, for how else do we check if government statements are not propaganda?
Zaid Ibrahim is a former law minister.
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