By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, April 30: Reporters are urged not to fabricate news as it can lead to conflicting reports, said Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) Youth chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan.
He cited as an example recent articles published in two local Chinese newspapers concerning what his party president, Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing, said about Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).
When asked by reporters during Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)’s pre-council meeting on Sunday (April 28), Masing replied, “GPS would in the near future make a decision regarding PSB.”
“That’s all Masing said, no more and no less. But one newspaper reported ‘PSB is likely to join GPS’, while the other paper wrote ‘There’s hope for PSB to join GPS’,” Snowdan told DayakDaily.
“Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing answered simultaneously to all the media that one common question at the time.”
Snowdan commented that what the two Chinese newspapers did is tantamount to “unfair reporting by telling the untruth from the truth”.
“When James answered the reporters on the subject, I was there at that time, too.
“It was the media that interpreted it differently. He (James) was not answering each media at different times and at different places. He gave one common answer to all from the same tongue, but each media interpreted it differently, according to their own narration. And that caused the confusion,” he lamented.
Snowdan said his statement today is to clear the air over the confusion that arose.
“I urge the media to be fair and correct in their reporting and do not fabricate. It only creates uneasiness among readers and enthusiasts alike,” he said. — DayakDaily
