By Brad Rantayy
MIRI,Jan 8: Media practitioners are ‘leaders without titles’, impacting the community.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau said the media has always held a crucial role in shaping society.
“You are leaders in your own right,” he said, at the Northern Sarawak Journalists Association (NSJA) dinner on Monday (Jan 7) at a hotel here.
He added, in today’s world, the media has become important to the needs of society.
“However with the emergence of new media, it has given rise to electronic media whereby common people can express or post their views or updates on certain issues through blogs, website posts, or Facebook.
“Despites the technological advancement, the attributes of print media still render it as an important source of information, because we still refer to print media to get the correct (information) or clarify on the facts,” he pointed out.
“As journalists you possess what we call ‘accountability journalism’; you guys do the fact-checking before publishing it, and we respect you all journalists for the effort.”
Also present were Piasau assemblyman Datuk Sebastian Ting, Miri Resident Mastapa Julaihi, Miri Mayor Adam Yii , Miri Fire Zone 6 chief, Supt Law Poh Kiong and NSJA president, Andy Jong.
Earlier, Jong in his opening speech revealed that he would not seek re-election in the association’s next Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the appointment of new committee members for the term 2019-2020 to be held on Jan 23.
The AGM is scheduled to be held at Dynasty hotel at 9am.
“I hope you all can elect the right person to hold the post as NSJA’s president as I have no intention to retain the position,” he said.
Nearly 50 NSJA members were present at the dinner-cum-appreciation gathering. — DayakDaily
