Media Council To Elect First Office Holders In Next 6 Months

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 Putrajaya is looking to quickly release funding for the council to operate, though it is also free to seek its own funds.
Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said the media council’s founding board will be the first team to hold the council’s election. (Bernama pic)BUKIT MERTAJAM: The Malaysian media council will hold an election within the next six months to elect its first council members, says communications minister Fahmi Fadzil
Fahmi said Putrajaya is looking at ways to quickly release government funding for the council to operate, though it is also free to seek its own funds.
He said the priority was to have the council manage its affairs on its own, adding that he will call up the founding board members for an update within the next two weeks.
“An election needs to be held to elect the head of the board and the members of the council.
“The founding board members have been informed and will lead in this process,” he said on the sidelines of the Komuniti Madani event at Yayasan Aman in Penanti here today.
The council is an independent body set up to uphold media freedom, enforce journalistic ethics, and handle public complaints about the press.
Twelve individuals have been appointed as its founding board members, comprising representatives from media companies, associations, practitioners and academics.
Separately, Fahmi said he would summon TikTok this week to explain the “Personal Knockout Battle” (“PK Battle”) challenge that has been trending on the social media platform.
It involves two users competing in real time to receive virtual gifts from viewers, which are then converted into rewards in cash.
Critics say the “PK Battle” trend has turned into a form of digital gambling, with concerns mounting over children misusing money, sometimes even their parents’ money, to buy these gifts in a bid to be popular.
Fahmi said the trend of children being engrossed in such challenges online was worrying and was also the basis for the government imposing an age restriction of 13 to use social media.
“They are too young to understand the impact of such trends,” he said. - FMT

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