Freedom
The regulated freedom of the press has been criticised. Although critics concede that journalists "probably won’t be hauled off and shot" for being critical of the government, it has been claimed that the government creates a chilling effect through threats of reduced employment opportunities and refusing journalists' family members "a place at one of the better public universities". Legislation such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act have also been cited as curtailing freedom of expression.
In 2007, a government agency — the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission — issued a directive to all private television and radio stations to refrain from broadcasting speeches made by opposition leaders. The move was condemned by politicians from the opposition Democratic Action Party. The directive was later withdrawn by the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry.
Malaysia was ranked 141 out of 178 countries in the Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders in 2010 and 122 out of 179 countries in 2012..
Read more about this topic: Media Of Malaysia
Famous quotes containing the word freedom:
“Old age, calm, expanded, broad with the haughty breadth of the universe,
Old age flowing free with the delicious near-by freedom of death.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“Pharisaism, obtuseness and tyranny reign not only in the homes of merchants and in jails; I see it in science, in literature, and among youth. I consider any emblem or label a prejudice.... My holy of holies is the human body, health, intellect, talent, inspiration, love and the most absolute of freedoms, the freedom from force and falsity in whatever forms they might appear.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“[T]here is a Wit for Discourse, and a Wit for Writing. The Easiness and Familiarity of the first, is not to savour in the least of Study; but the Exactness of the other, is to admit of something like the Freedom of Discourse, especially in Treatises of Humanity, and what regards the Belles Lettres.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)