PUTRAJAYA, July 14 — The Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation is seeking the cooperation of media agencies to give accurate reports and not sensationalise news items that can cause concern among the public.
Its chairman, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, who is also the Communications and Multimedia Minister, said that while the government never denied the media’s crucial role in reporting because it is a source of obtaining the latest news, there were several news reports that were sensationalised.
“Although there were some truthful elements (in the reports), there may have overdone it,” he said at a media conference after chairing the meeting of the Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation, which also looked at several media reports to verify their authenticity.
“So, I ask that we give reports that are as accurate as possible because we do not want to paint the wrong picture. All these are related to issues on price hikes and panic buying and will assist us in our efforts to control the impact of inflation and price increases,” he added.
According to Annuar, among the media reports looked at were allegations that many would go bankrupt for various reasons, but checks with the Finance Ministry showed that the bankruptcy trend in the country, which rose previously, was on the decline and it was completely different from what was reported.
On reports regarding the quality of food served in schools under the Supplementary Food Programme (RMT), he said the pictures used in the reports were not accurate.
As for reports of thousands of clinics being closed due to drug shortage, Annuar said checks found the numbers to be inaccurate and had been sensationalised as the report from the Ministry of Health showed the shortage of drugs was only limited to “one or two types of medications only” and would not lead to the closure of thousands of clinics.
“A report, although seemingly normal on the surface, could have an impact if it is not accurate because it will trigger issues like the shortage of supply of certain goods or encourage people to hoard certain items,” he said.
Annuar said communicating accurate reports played a big role in assisting the special task force in tackling the issue of inflation.
“We seek the cooperation of media in reporting as accurately as possible and if there are any doubts about certain figures or data, check and verify them with the authorities so that the people will get an accurate account of a situation,” he said.
