MELAKA: Candidates contesting in the Melaka election have been advised to respect and appreciate the presence of media practitioners throughout the campaign period, said Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil.
He said media practitioners should lodge police reports promptly if they encountered any uncomfortable situations while carrying out their duties.
Fahmi also encouraged media practitioners to lodge complaints with the Malaysian Media Council if their content was plagiarised or used without permission.
“We do not want any party stealing information or content from a media organisation without giving credit or acknowledging the source.
“If anything of this nature occurs, I hope members of the media affected will report it to the Malaysian Media Council,” he told reporters after visiting the Communications Ministry’s media centre at a hotel in Ayer Keroh here today.
Also present were Communications Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abdul Halim Hamzah and Information Department director-general Erwin Khairul Ahmad.
The Melaka election officially began yesterday with the nomination of candidates. Early voting is scheduled for Nov 10, while polling will take place on Nov 14, following the dissolution of the state legislative assembly effective Sept 23.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said that apart from the main media centre in Ayer Keroh, 39 National Information Dissemination Centres across Melaka had also been designated as media centres to facilitate media practitioners in carrying out their duties.
He said the centres could also serve as rest areas for media practitioners between assignments before they proceed to their next locations.
“We have also set up a Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) complaints counter for media colleagues who encounter internet connectivity problems while on duty. I also encourage them to download the MCMC Nexus application.
“This way, if there are any locations in Melaka that are ‘blind spots’, we hope our media colleagues can help bring them to our attention through the MCMC Nexus application,” he said.