Malaysian media hits out at Australian current affairs show’s MH370 story for ‘bad journalism’
A number of Malaysian journalists have hit out at a Australian current affairs for a segment featuring two teenage girls who raised questions about the cockpit behaviour of two Malaysia Airlines pilots, one of whom was on board the missing MH370 flight.
On the A Current Affair show, the two Australian girls described spending time in the cockpit with the pilots some weeks ago as “a bit sleazy” and said that the two men – one of whom was allegedly First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, who was on board MH370 – were smoking during the flight.
The video went viral and a still image (above) from the show has generated a lot of heat on Facebook.
An article on independent news site Malaysian Digest quoted journalists who attacked the A Current Affair report for being one-sided, based on hearsay and not giving the pilots in question the right to reply.
Datuk Johan Jaafar, non-e
“MAS [Malaysia Airlines] has to get the other pilot in the video to explain what actually went down that day,” he said.
Another journalist, the former managing editor of the New Straits Times Datuk Nuraina Samad, was quoted as saying: “It made me cringe to see the way the girls told their story. It is bad journalism, but then again Australian media is known for such behaviour.”
The managing editor of Astro AWANI, Suhaimi Sulaiman, was also quoted for the piece. He said: “We will never feature a story if there’s [sic] no views from all the parties involved. In journalism, we have to give people the right to reply to an allegation. This is the basic [sic] of journalism,” he said.
A journalist from state news agency Bernama suggested that the A Current Affair report showed an abuse of press freedom. “The media has to be responsible,” he said.
The seven-minute clip from A Current Affair can be viewed here:
I am an Australian citizen living in Malaysia and completely agree that ACA’s story was insensitive, one-sided, poorly timed, and gossipy. I am totally embarrassed for A Current Affair, and hope they apologise. I have also written a letter of complaint to A Current Affair about this story.
ReplyAbsolutely insensitive and a blatant disregard for the crisis at hand.
ReplyIt was terrible, crass television – exactly what you expect from ‘A Current Affair’. It’s tabloid trash. This is the same programme that keeps highlighting how Asians are taking over Australia, and giving a soapbox for Pauline Hanson to air her views.
ReplyMay be gutter journalism, but is Malaysia really lecturing Australia on the freedom of press?
Some journo at the Malaysian digest stated it’s “hearsay”…
I dont think he actually understands what hearsay is..
ACA aired a 1st person witness account, not hearsay..
Again.. Not taking away the fact it might be gutter journalism.. But the response from the Malaysian (state owned) press is almost laughable..
Reply@Another expat
This is not a question of press freedom – it is about the ethical standards. How do you think the families of passengers on flight MH 370 feel when they see this?
Reply@Vladimir:
They wont be feeling any worse than they already do….which is at the max level right now dues to the rabbit in headlight stance of the malaysian authorities.
ReplyHave your say