Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and egg on his face

By Helen Ang 

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The 12th General Election was like a giant pendulum that swung to knock Humpty Dumpty off his perch on the wall. Egghead that the nursery rhyme character was, his shell cracked. His fall scored fissures on the mainstream media (MSM)’s previously smooth sell.   

In a Malaysiakini article, Ong Kian Ming who specialises in electoral politics wrote: “Ironically, the mainstream media’s reporting of the BN’s confidence in easily securing a two-thirds majority actually helped the opposition because more voters felt more secure that their protest vote was just that – a protest vote with little significance, at least in terms of causing state governments to fall or previously safe seats to tumble.”  

Ong lent this insight to his assessment: “[Many voters] wanted to cast a protest vote but because of the fear of voicing their opinions and the strict controls on the mainstream media, there was little indication among the elite as well as among the voters that the swing would be as big as it was.”   

Another political analyst Anil Netto commented in his blog: “Looking back, the mainstream media clearly performed horribly and dismally during the general election campaign. They actually may have contributed to the BN’s huge electoral setback by painting too rosy a picture of the situation on the ground. This may have lulled the BN politicians into a false sense of security and prevented them from taking remedial action to tackle the deep-seated grievances of the people.”   

I asked my cousin – veteran journalist and political playwright Kee Thuan Chye – for his take on MSM vis-a-vis the elections.   

According to Kee, the people had spoken. “Makkal Sakti! As the Hindraf supporters would say. Arrogant Umno had been humbled. All its dirty tactics, the spindoctoring in the mainstream media, its threats to the non-Malay communities, its unfair exploitation of state facilities, etc, had not saved it from virtual defeat (for it was indeed a defeat that it lost its two-thirds, the five states, and battles involving several ministers and big guns).”  

While Kee is not in any way associated with ‘Boycott the Newspapers!’ that The People’s Parliament Hartal MSM (of which I’m a committee member) is managing, he agreed to share some of his views gleaned from decades of editorial experience.   

Kee averred: “The mainstream media needs to change now. It cannot be partisan any more. It must adapt to the new political landscape. Report the news as it is without editorialising. Support issues fairly. Regardless of which party champions them.   

“The media cannot play the old game any more or it will end up like the BN dinosaurs. This is also the age of the Internet and SMS. People can’t be so easily fooled or sold on repackaged truth. Readers and viewers are now better informed and educated. They will abandon the mainstream media if it continues to be biased.   

“Journalists must uphold the values and principles of their noble profession. They should be the watchdogs of society, not spindoctors or propagandists,” Kee concluded.   

I’m going to add my two sen worth to my cousin’s opinion above. I don’t buy the talk of ‘rebranding’. To me, that’s just selling the same old product in a slightly different wrapper – as the MCA once said ‘Fish rots from the head’. Same stale fish in old newspaper …   

What pained me most is that MSM has determinedly maintained sloganeering BN’s ‘Security, Peace and Prosperity’ in their collective state of post-election denial.  

Election was Saturday March 8. The next day, Sunday, some Christians chose to remain steadfastly ensconced at home fearing to attend church. Is this the sense of ‘security’ BN has managed to deliver over the past half century of its rule?  

Our just concluded polls had the Opposition making a handsome headway. Any other political parties winning thus would be jubilant. Nobody’s talking about processions parading the street. Is a private gathering odds too much to ask? Yet the victors instructed their supporters: Be muted. Don’t celebrate.  

So is it ‘prosperity’ – this hunkering down in the bunkers – that BN has endowed our country, as it advertises in its slogan? What is the MSM’s definition of ‘prosperity’? Pray tell.

Posted in: Boycott the newspapers