Tress and I were viewing some video clips last night. After viewing them for a while, we telephoned a relative in Malaysia. Just as we expected, that relative knew nothing about what had happened. This is the single most despicable thing the Badawi government has done since assuming control in what – 2003? – And yet save for those closely or directly linked with politics, barely anyone in Malaysia knew what was going on. This is why we should never go easy on the media in Malaysia. Whenever we pick up anything that even remotely sounds like rubbish, we should write to the person responsible, including the editor, and let them know exactly what we think. Don’t mince your words and don’t go easy – just go in hard. Be unforgiving.  I don’t mean to be heartless and uncompassionate. I am deliberately adopting this stance because of the special place occupied and special roles played by journalists in the current situation. The editors in particular, should stand up and be counted. If they persist in playing the pliant servant of the ruling party how can they be the conscience of the people? If they write and report only in the manner approved by the government they are mere instruments of propaganda, not honorable journalists. I suppose to a large extent, Malaysia is more about making money than anything else. This holds true for newspapers which are also business enterprises. They have to turn a profit for their shareholder. And I suppose in a country like Malaysia, where credibility isn’t a differentiating factor, there is no incentive to do the right thing and damn profits. In more mature societies, a sycophantic media soon loses its credibility and therefore its audience. Very quickly after that it loses its advertisers. There is a business case for credibility in these societies. In Malaysia the reverse is true. There is a business case to be sycophantic.  A sycophantic media serves very little useful purpose in terms of its original raison d’être. It may have a business case for being sycophantic but it no longer is the media as it is traditional known. I do not think those of us who call it an instrument for propaganda are being unfair or unkind. Freedom should be qualified only in terms of public standards of mores. When the press does not have such unqualified freedom, it is anything but a press.