In agreeing with government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil’s take on the matter, CIJ executive director Wathshlah G Naidu said the media is the “conduit” between those in power and the general public.
Questions posed to the ministers, she said, were therefore an opportunity to engage the public and provide them access to information on critical issues.
“Answering professionally reduces any speculation and would curb the spread of misinformation and disinformation.
“Creating a hostile environment could widen the trust deficit with the minister and the government that is promoting openness,” she told FMT.
Yesterday, Fahmi questioned the manner in which housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming responded to a reporter during a press conference on Thursday.
Fahmi, who is also the communications minister, said the government took the position that reporters had the right to ask questions as part of their responsibility to the public and that “every response must be delivered with courtesy and openness”.
Nga drew brickbats for reprimanding an Utusan Malaysia reporter at the pre-launch of the “I Lite U” project in Kuala Lumpur after he was purportedly asked why the name of the programme was in English instead of Malay.
The DAP minister responded by asking the name of the media company the reporter was from, and said he would “call your chief editors because this concerns national interests”.
Commenting further on the matter, Naidu said Nga’s actions were “unethical, unprofessional, and completely discredits our government institution”.
She said that ministers who create a hostile environment would discourage the media from asking questions out of fear of the possible repercussions.
“It creates a chilling effect on the media because you’re either now starting to self-censor or not ask pertinent questions and in turn the public would not have access to a minister’s responses,” she said, adding that Nga should apologise for the way he handled the question.
Separately, UCSI University’s Tajuddin Rasdi also agreed with Fahmi that ministers must respond to questions professionally and courteously, citing his own experience.
Nga, he said, should just raise the issue of professionalism with the editor privately without mentioning it at the press conference.
Tajuddin also called for Nga to apologise and recalled the time he was questioned in an unprofessional manner by a prominent radio station.
“In that situation, I fell back on my experience in academia, clarified the question and responded. But after the interview, I called the producer and highlighted my concerns, and that was the end of it,” he said when contacted.
However, Tajuddin suggested that the manner in which the question had been asked may have led to such a response from Nga, adding that being courteous when questioning “goes a long way with politicians”.