DEWAN NEGARA PASSES BERNAMA (AMENDMENT) BILL

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- The Dewan Negara today passed the BERNAMA (Amendment) Bill 2024 which aims, among others, to make the media industry more inclusive.

The Bill, tabled by Deputy Communications Minister Teo Nie Ching, was passed with a majority voice vote after being debated by eight senators.

When winding up the debate, Teo said the main objective of the amendment was to replace the term “proprietors of newspapers” with “media organisations” which aims to realise the government's desire to unify all media under one specific definition, namely media organisation.

“In fact, through this new theme, the government intends to unify all media so that they can jointly assist the government in disseminating information to the people,” she said.

The bill to amend the BERNAMA Act 1967 (Act 780) was the first to be made since the Act was enacted in 1967.

The bill seeks to amend Section 2 of the principal Act by inserting the following definition of media organisation as “any entity carrying on the activity of dissemination of news or news material through newspapers, publications, radio, television, or any other forms of mass communication, including electronic or digital platforms”.

Teo stated that through the Bill, media organisation owners from any platform would also be eligible for consideration as Bernama Board of Governors members, provided that they are subscribers to the national news agency.

She said that previously, the Bernama Board of Governors only involved owners of media organisations.

"I'll give an example: media organisations like Oriental Daily, Sin Chew Daily, and China Press…had stopped printing newspapers and transitioned to digital media.

"Additionally, under the previous definition before the amendment, Malaysiakini—despite being a Bernama subscriber—was also not eligible to be part of Bernama Board of Governors.

"For Tamil-language media, there is now Vanakkam Malaysia, which has a large following online. However, without this amendment being brought to this august house, they would not be eligible to sit on Bernama Board of Governors, even if they are Bernama subscribers. That is why we are pushing for this bill to be passed," she said.

In her winding-up speech, Teo acknowledged that the Bill was not a silver bullet for resolving arising issues, including fake news. She emphasised that the government, including the Communications Ministry, is undertaking various efforts to curb the problem.

She said the ministry, through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), introduced the artificial intelligence fact-check assistant or AIFA on Jan 28 to help the public quickly and easily verify information.

"Since its launch until Feb 23, the AIFA chatbot has processed 57,782 messages, averaging 2,140 messages per day. Additionally, there is the MyCheck Malaysia portal under Bernama, while under the MCMC, there is the Sebenarnya.my portal, both serving as fact-check platforms.

"We acknowledge that tackling fake news is a complex challenge for the government. However, various initiatives have already been implemented, and we welcome suggestions on how we can further improve efforts to address this issue," she said.

Regarding efforts to enhance Bernama's performance on the international stage, Teo said that the news agency has established collaborations with international news agencies such as Anadolu and China Media Group that help Bernama stay updated on the latest global industry practices, ensuring its relevance and competitiveness.

According to Teo, Bernama has long operated globally, establishing correspondent bureaus in Jakarta, Indonesia; Manila, the Philippines; Bangkok, Thailand; and Singapore as early as the 1970s.

Besides that, she said the news agency is a member of several international news agencies, including the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), which comprises 41 news agencies from 33 countries.

"Bernama also has dedicated news segments for the Chinese and Tamil communities, with a Mandarin News Desk and broadcasts of Mandarin News and Tamil News on Bernama TV.

"We want to ensure that Bernama can disseminate accurate information to all segments of society in Malaysia," she added.

Act 780 was enacted to establish and incorporate Bernama specifically as the national news agency to disseminate news throughout the country.

Since its establishment, Bernama has been playing an important role in ensuring the dissemination of information and news reporting on government policies is implemented effectively, in addition to being the main source of reference for local and international media organisations.

-- BERNAMA