Subject: Letter 2 Chairman of Utusan
Tan Sri Mohamed Hashim Ahmad Makaruddin
Chairman
Kumpulan Utusan
Dear Tan Sri
July 27th, 2009 marked the darkest day in Malaysian journalistic
history yet. The story in Kosmo! entitled "Takdir Yasmin" was
despicable, vile and cruel.
Yasmin's family was grieving and at their most vulnerable. Yet your
editor saw fit to run a story that showed utter disregard for the late
Malaysian filmmaker, her family and the many Malaysians who still
mourn her.
You ran this story on the front page, indicating how important you
thought it was. The sub-headline said: "Mati sebagai wanita, diratapi
peminat pelbagai kaum". With this, you were trying to build suspense.
Finally, the front-page copy ended with "Namanya ketika itu ialah
Zulkifli Ahmad", suggesting that Yasmin had duped everyone and had
attempted to hide who she really was.
Your editor did this less than 24 hours after she was buried at a time
when her family was still reeling from the shock of her death. Her
mother is especially frail - she needed to be warded herself when
first told about Yasmin's stroke.
Obviously, your editor has never encountered the loss of anyone dear,
or a vicious attack on loved ones.
Yes, you carried tributes both in this story and others. But all these
failed to mask the real intention of your paper and its editor, which
was to defame and destroy Yasmin's good name with salacious gossip.
If your only criterion is to sell newspapers, you achieved your goal.
But if your objective is to practice ethical journalistic conduct and
act with humanity, you have failed - miserably.
As working and former journalists, we understand that you need to sell
papers. However, as a media owner, you also have a responsibility to
practice basic decency. How much of your personal honour are you
willing to part with in order to increase your circulation?
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ReplyDeletei myself was so frustrated when i read the paper... most people doesn't know yasmin's history.. so what would they think after reading the article.. i was mad, speechless and sad.. of course most people will assume bad things about her.. why did they even mentioned about her history without the permission of her family.. and the real explanation wasn't even reveal on the article. the real story of her... i'm one big fan of yasmin support the boycott.. making bucks out of someone's grief.. how unhuman?
ReplyDeletepersonally, i admire yasmin for her talents and what she have done to touch everyone with her creations. and yes, the articles and gossips circulating in the internet came as a shock to me, but then she's still a great director regardless of the gossip, aimed to defame her. To me, it doesn't change how i think of her. I just feel sorry that there'd be such people who has the heart to exploit such an issue just to what, sell papers?
ReplyDeleteBeing Yasmin, she has long been in the middle of various controversies. Why? Because she challenges people to think differently. To approach things at a different angle. And she challeges people to come out of their comfort zone.
And i suppose those controversy initiators won't stop until they ran out of mileage to get the gossip interesting. I suppose they took delight in the idea of making/seeing other people suffer.
To Yasmin's family, be brave and God Bless. Truth will prevail.