1. Why did you become a journalist?
I actually didn't know what I wanted to be when I was young. I knew I liked writing, and I was curious about things that happen. I like writing and I love reading the encyclopedia. When I was in Form 6, I had to make a choice on what I wanted to do, and that's when I started reading on how is it like to be a journalist. It got me interested, and that's how I decided to become a journalist.
2. After working as a journalist for a few years, what do you love about your job?
I love that being a journalist means you wake up every morning, and things could be different. You can meet a lot of people, go to a lot of different assignments. One day you might be covering an accident, the next day you might be covering a court case. And the day after you might be covering the launch of an event. I like how it's so different and it is not a routine. I can't stay in the office 9 to 5. I like to see the world. I like that it's changing everyday and that I get to learn a lot of new things.
3. Do you like meeting important people? Is that a favourite part of your job?
Yes it is, there are times you go to an event and you get to see the Prime Minister. You also get to see people who are very inspiring. There was once I took a trip up to Grik to an orang asli village, it was a 2-hour boat ride and 1-hour 4-wheel drive journey just to get there. I actually interviewed an orang asli lady who saved her husband from the tiger by just throwing a utensil at it. It's really stories like these that when you cover it, you get to see a lot of different things.
4. Have you ever covered a story that you felt strongly against? If so, what did you do? If you refused, what was the consequence?
The assignments that I have trouble doing is when it involves someone who passed away, like in accidents. There was once a boy dropped into a swimming pool and drowned. I had to go to the mortuary to get information from the family members. But due to cases like this, the family members would be very sad and sensitive. It was difficult to do, but I was asked to do it. There's also the pressure because other journalists are asked to do the same thing. They might be able to get information that you failed to get, and your editor might be upset. So I have to look to other people for information such as friends of the family. At the end I told my editor that they just don't want to talk to us. There are consequences, like when the editor sees that other newspaper has more information, they would be furious and question me why I failed to get that information.
5. Are you scared of asking the wrong questions when it comes to sensitive questions like this?
Yes, there are times when other people would have interviewed the victim's mother already. And they would have cried a lot, explaining the whole situation between sobs. Then there might be other reporters who come late and ask the same thing. It's quite difficult if I see the mother. I have to be careful not to make her relive the moment again if possible. I have to use questions that aren't too demanding, I leave it open-ended. I try to sympathize with the family members, then only I'll proceed with the questions.
6. Do you believe that journalists are responsible chiefly to the public, the government, or their own personal interests when investigating and writing? Why?
They are first and foremost responsible to the public. Our profession means that we are being at the scene first hand, we obtain and verify the information and then present it to the public. We inform the public is because we want them to make decisions and take actions based on the information. Our responsibility is to provide clear and truthful information to them. I do not think that journalists are responsible to the government at all, because the government needs to have somebody to look over them to make sure that they do not step over the boundaries and abuse their power. Journalists are also not responsible to their personal interest. We are taught how to give fair coverage and not to include our interest when we are writing the story.
7. What do you think is the most important job of journalists and the press in general?
Giving truthful, and fair information to the public. Once the public has this information, they will decide who they want to vote for, what kind of issues they want to follow or resolve, or protest. So this is the most important job of the journalist - to inform.
8. Do you think that there is information that is too dangerous to print? Why or why not? 9.43
With information, it does come with certain consequences and cost. Certain information are hidden, and there are also sensitive information like our country's defence, economics and such. Especially information that could bring harm to the person who brings it to us. May cause them to be exposed to danger. We have to be very careful on how we present the information.
9. What risks do journalists take in revealing a story? Are those risks worth it? Why or why not?
Becoming a journalist is a very risky job, because we are dealing with information. Some of them could be hidden by a certain group of people who wants it hidden, because it might bring harm to their own interest. We could face risk of offending this group of people. They could sue the journalist. When it comes to certain governments when they do not want the public to know about abuse of funds, they might charge them in court or imprison them without a trial. Journalists in war-torn countries may face death threats because people might not want them to expose certain things about the government or those in power. Whether are these risks worth it, it is up to the journalists themselves to determine. If the information is given out and could bring good to people and improve the welfare of the people, then I feel that it is worth it.
10. What do you think of the current state of press freedom in Malaysia?
The current state of press freedom is not really opened. Freedom is actually limited. You have the freedom to write and print, but you do not have the freedom from the consequences that follow after. I would say this because of mainstream media being owned by certain type of people. The good thing is that now there is alternative news portal such as Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider. They are giving alternative views that a lot people would want to read. I believe that there is a fair coverage and balanced view. There are two problems though. Number one, alternate news portals might have their own interests. Number two, they actually operate within the country, they could be subjected to other laws or other forms of oppression such as the Sedition Act, or the government might charge them in court. That might not give them the freedom to write whatever they want. But I think that we are slowly working towards a freer press.
11. What are the things that you disagree about current journalism practices in Malaysia that you wish you can change?
I think that the focus on current journalism practices are on how to cover news and an event, but we don't have an emphasis on investigative journalism. It is not easy to do because the journalists might take a long time to garner research and data, to get interviews and sources, then only they can get a scoop on what is happening. That is a problem because if we don't have sufficient investigative reporting, we may end up following the status quo - not being able to question what is happening to the taxpayer's money. I do hope journalism schools in Malaysia could offer training for investigative reporting.
12. The news media is undergoing drastic changes because of the opportunities for independent journalism on blogs. And many people nowadays prefer to read news online instead of newspapers. What do you think of this? Will it change journalism for the better or for the worse?
I think that with the increase of technology, of course things will change. This phenomena has changed the way public consumes news. And it also has changed journalism. I do hope that it will change for the better, because journalists have to learn to adapt. We are not only learning how to write news in a linear format, but we are now given training in how to edit news videos, and how we could use Twitter for news, and use other social media avenues to inform the people. I think this is a good thing because this enhances the role of the journalist. Now that there's so much information everywhere, you can even get information from Facebook. But how do you sift through all this information? And how do you know if this information is truthful, valid and important? This is where journalists come in to sift through the information, pick up salient points, find the link between information and the wider context of the society, and present it in the best possible manner to the public. Once they receive the information, they can then make much more informed decisions. They would then be able to become a much more knowledgeable decisions.
13. Independent journalists, since they are not trained to be a journalist, they might not be trained on the ethics of writing and reporting. Sometimes they may not verify the information properly for public consumption. What do you think about that?
The Internet has now given the public access to journalism. Anyone can just take a video and edit it, upload it to Facebook, and do the things that 10-20 years ago we need people on site to do it. But with all information, the public needs to take it with a grain of salt, especially when they read it from blogs. There are trainings provided for citizen journalism, and I feel that people who are interested in citizen journalism should take up this training to understand the laws and ethics of reporting, and how to verify their sources to make sure whatever they present on their blogs are valid. If they don't go through training, I feel that public should have the common sense to question whatever they are reading.
