DIFFICULTIES FACED BY REPORTERS IN BLOGGING

A blog is defined as a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. For reporters, blogging is one of the communication tools to disseminate information.

The question is whether reporters are free to post whatever articles they have. I believe the whole issue boils down to press freedom. This shows the difficulties bloggers are facing in countries where the situation of press freedom is critical.

In Malaysia, although its Constitution recognizes several rights including freedom of speech or expression and the government does not censor the Internet, the bloggers are still subject to other related laws, and these include the Official Secret Act (OSA), the Internal Security Act, Sedition Act and Defamation Act.

For example, even if a reporter has access to some government documents that can be labelled as ‘State Secret’, he or she cannot divulge the information on his or her website because under the OSA, state secret documents are not eligible for release to the public. In other words, there is a limit to reporter's right to freedom of expression.

The same thing with the Internal Security Act which allows detention without trial. In the past, a number of reporters or journalists have been arrested under this law, and the law also applies to bloggers.

In December 2006, Deputy Science and Technology Minister Kong Cho Ha was quoted by the AFP as saying that Malaysia might introduce tough Internet laws to control bloggers and prevent them from spreading "disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies" on their websites.
Kong cited the posting of a photo on an opposition politician's website in November (2006) of a Muslim male and Muslim female lawmaker, reportedly showing the man in a bathrobe with the woman lying on his chest, in what appeared to be a hotel room that sparked a political scandal.

Obviously, this underlined the many challenges confronting bloggers in Malaysia. In my view, although reporters do enjoy the so called "press freedom" in blogging, this right comes with responsibility -- to give equal respect to the rights of others, state and the nation.