MOST unusual decision this -- and taken by none other than the Cabinet!
No one should doubt that it's well-intended but how could the government decide on something that involves others not under its jurisdiction? The issue is one of training in safety procedures for journalists on assignment in conflict zones and disaster areas.
One is sure the local press will be more careful in how it prepares its journalists for such assignments after the shooting death of Bernama TV cameramen Noramfaizul Mohd. Nor on September 2 in Mogadishu but compulsory training by the government?
Willing editors should not have too many problems adhering to this if it's about coverage of an ongoing conflict but a disaster is a completely different scenario. It usually strikes without warning, thus giving editors almost no time to make advanced preparations. Often the journalists assigned have only hours to pack their backs and pick up their passports before making their way to the airport. So when do they train?
Question is: Doesn't the government have enough on its plates already?
NOTHING IS PRIVATE THESE DAYS
JUST saw a headline quoting Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as saying that whatever he uttered at a luncheon in Singapore last week, including some uncomplimentary comments about Johor, was a "private conversation". My foot......
You speak at an event organised by journalists and attended by journalists and you say it's private? Worse still insisting so in this age of the new media, where almost nothing is secret and left to the imagination.
Lim hasn't denied saying all those things which have offended Johoreans and others and now that what he said in that supposedly private environment has gone public, Lim should be man enough to bite the bullet and deal with the consequences. That's what leadership is all about and it's time Lim shows if he has it.
