Mpb

Media Prima Berhad has just announced that it incurred a first quarter loss of RM23 million. MPB is the owner of TV3 and the first steps to take to avoid or minimise further losses are to examine how its tv stations like TV3 are operated. TV3 today is pretty much run by people who still think that it is a private tv operator owned by some reclusive tycoon who is perhaps a local version of Howard Hughes. TV3 is very much known for its provincial style of reporting, whether it's on the subject of current news coverage or the manner in which its sports newscasters presented sports news or its unabashed fondness at regurgitating mundane slogans. The tv station is never hesitant in conveying to the public its stand on the local politics in the country. The station belongs to a public company, yet when doing reporting on the local politicians, it would never hesitate to put aside the critical journalistic professionalism expected of it by the public. Minority and opposition politicians are regularly lambasted in its news broadcasts, with words like 'uncouth', 'disloyal, 'rude', 'unpatriotic' being liberally used against them. At the same time, the station does not find anything bad or rude with its habit of frequently mouthing words like 'kaum' and 'bangsa' in its programmes or bulletins. Try to imagine tv stations eleswhere using words like 'race' or 'ethnic background' with a round the clock regularity. It would have created an almighty uproar or even a riot. But in this place TV3 is acting like a reflecting echo of TV1 and getting away with it. TV1 is controlled by the Ministry of Information on the behalf of the government and therefore it is naturally inclined to belittle minority or opposition groups but the same should not be the case for TV3. TV3 is also guilty of a lack of professionalism in its sports coverage. When a certain foreign team was not present to take part in The Proton sports meet, the station was quick to give out a presentation about the need to request the world body for possible sanctions or punishment for future absences but just on the eve of the current Sudirman meet, the station was suggesting that the meet needed to be postponed or cancelled. There is suspicion that such behaviour by TV3 was born out of spite or ill will. Or just plain bad journalism. Previously, the station was fond of labelling a top player belonging to a foreign country as 'conceited' after that player began defeating our top player too often. It only served to reflect the shallow and narrow nature of the station's news editors. Surely, they must have never heard of that vitally important word: 'professionalism'. Where is the 'Budi bahasa budaya kita" stuff ? Never heard of it ? Never knew about 'politeness & courtesy our culture' slogans from the MOI ?

It is a good thing that our Sudirman team lost 2 - 3 in its first match and 0 - 3 in their semi-final match. It also serves to remind us that we should not be encouraging our young people to take up sports like badminton, divng, or squash and tennis. They should be encouraged to go for sports that are related to martial arts. The high crime rate in the country now necessitates this particular approach to sports. Schools in the country should start to form sports clubs that cater to the learning of martial arts and not badminton or some other useless activities. MPB should re-examine why stations like TV3 are not that very popular with advertisers nowadays. The provincial nature of its news reports and the narrow-mindedness of its newscasting crew are among the main reasons for the fall in its popularity and the consequent fall in revenue. MPB should do a shake-up of TV3 and clean out the dirt.