I received the following e-mail from MA a couple of day ago. He’s just consented to my posting it here.
I’m a regular middle class Malaysian.
Though I’m no supporter of Anwar nor the non-BN parties, I am disgusted by RTM when they aired a short clip showing many faces of Anwar such as “Anwar Ulama, Anwar Penari, Anwar Penyanyi…” & more recently the interviews with the leaders of Komtar protestors.
I’ve written emails to the leading newspapers (NSTP, The Star etc) on the two subjects but have yet to receive any acknowledgment from the Editors (despite it’s so easy to click “reply” & reply with the legal disclaimer bla bla).
Seems they prefer to play “dead” & hope this sentiment will go away – boy they are WRONG!
This kind of action only make the Rakyat more passionate in demanding a reform!
Even TV3 also didnt reply my email..
So Haris, I hope you can do something.
__________________________
Many of you have written in with comments that this effort to rahibilitate the MSM should now turn its attention to the advertisers.
The Hartal MSM committee has been working on this feverishly and the launch of this phase of our efforts is imminent.
Stay with us, please.
________________
Many of you who will be lending us your support on the forthcoming week-long boycott will be first time boycotters of the MSM.
At the end of the boycott, we’d like to hear from you about how you kept to the boycott and yet managed to keep yourself informed about what was going on in the country and on the outside.
We’d like you to send an e-mail to thepeoplesparliament@gmail.com and share your experience with the rest of us. I will post your little write-ups on a page created for this
And the Hartal MSM committee has decided to give to the first 10 persons who write in and have their write-ups posted a ‘Boycott the newspapers! No buy, no lies’ and a ‘Barisan Rakyat’ T-shirt at no charge.
We’ll even absorb the postage charges.
Selamat berboikot!
March 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm
The disgusting reports by the MSM resulted in me cancelling my subscription to NSTP and STAR from 1st March. I didnt listen to the news on TV during the election campaign.
I get my news from the bloggers now, besides Malaysia Today.
Boycott the MSM. Do your part to reform the Medias.
March 22, 2008 at 1:46 pm
I have no problem, stopped buying MSM a long time ago, right after they printed Tengku Razaleh Hamzah’s photo with a Kadazan head dress.
My sincere appeal to all Malaysians, boycott MSM and teach them a bitter lesson.
March 22, 2008 at 2:24 pm
It’s just ridiculous how the pro-govt papers have been reporting stories from the opposition parties governing the 5 states ever since March 8. I am all out to boycott all the pro-govt media as well. To all Malaysians, we need reforms for the future of this country and to teach those hooligants Malaysian Boleh…
March 22, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I haven’t subscribed to ANY newspaper since Operation Lallang in 1987. That’s right, 21 years of freedom from psychic toxins have only made me a clearer-thinking and stronger-feeling human! And I don’t watch TV either (except when visiting friends with TV sets who never turn the damn thing off). Try boycotting the MSM for a year – I bet you’ll never go back to subscribing to their crap.
March 22, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I will support this boycott – if only so that the likes of Jocelyn & WCW gets sucked into journalism balck hole…never to return.
What a sad turn of events – STAR is derived from Suara Tunku Abdul Rahman…
March 22, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Still boycotting…! Don’t seem to see much improvement except some guest columnist who did quite honest analysis of the recent 12GE in the recent print MSM.
Read at newstand – just flip through. No buying!
But at the end of the column, these finishing words … “is the writer’s own opinion… blah, blah, blah”. Still want to qualify themselves, just in case. No balls!
March 22, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Have stop buying all papers for the last 8 months now.
March 22, 2008 at 7:14 pm
The boycotting of the MSM by not buying their papers is not going to be effective. Let’s think, what will hurt them. As a business entity generating Revenue is their Objective. By generating enough revenue they will make profit. So where does this revenue coming from. The main bulk of their revenue comes from the advertisement. Not your buying of the papers. So its the adverts space that we are buying contributes to their revenue. And that’s the place that we should hit. Okay???
March 22, 2008 at 7:20 pm
If STAR and NST is bad, TV3 is the most disgusting. They potray Hindraf and Bersih as cowboys but glorify the Penang UMNO as though they are national heros. They even interviewed the so-called leaders and broadcast over prime time. If the media is to be boycotted, TV3 should be the first.
March 22, 2008 at 7:30 pm
The guts from the Star and most TV and Media has been taken away by the umno or opposition (bn). It seems they kept it under lock and key.
March 22, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I’ve stopped subscribing to the Star since reading the article by Helen Ang calling for a boycott of all the MSM – that was about 4 months ago, I think.
Now, I am trying to wean myself from watching the free to air tv stations!!!
Getting my news from the internet and Malaysiakini with its related links!
March 22, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I am not just going to boycott MSM, but also TV news. Few days back, RTM1’s 7am news still declare us as “Negara Islam” regarding the celebration of Prophet Muhammad. I respect that it is a holy day, but Malaysia is never a “Negara Islam”. This is the second time in a month I caught RTM1 presenting such idiolt news, the first being asking people to vote for BN.
They should know what is “People’s Power”…we can have a tsunami in the recent election, and in Penang, they can turn down the Mamak’s food, and I think with this, the ruling government, or the MSM, should know that we, the rakyat, can be as powerful as the immortal Superman.
I am all out to support this boycott.
March 23, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Haris,
I am in total support of this boycott campaign! I cannot write well, but I can do my little part with these drawings :
http://liyindesign.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/buy-no-lies/
Buy No Lies! Boycott the local newspapers!!
Yours sincerely,
Liyin
March 25, 2008 at 10:56 am
[...] I’m joining the MSM (mainstream media) boycott. (For the background to it, you can read it all here) [...]