Learn from BBC and apologise, Ah Jib Gor urged

DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng has called for the prime minister to follow BBC’s example and apologise to the public for “embarrassing our country”.


“Najib Tun Razak (left) should direct his Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to apologise for paying RM84 million to to burnish the Najib administration’s image on global broadcast networks, just as the BBC is apologising...” said Lim.


He was responding in a statement today to BBC World News’ worldwide broadcast apologizing for having aired programmes whose editorial content had been compromised.

The UK broadcaster in their statement yesterday singled out Malaysia as one of the countries affected, where eight programmes aired were found to have been paid for by the Malaysian government.

UK daily The Independent reported yesterday that FBC Media had received £17 million (RM83 million) for ‘global strategic communications’ resulting in the said programmes.


Najib himself had in a written parliamentary reply to Batu MP Tian Chua last year confirmed the expenditure.


Lim called the episode a disgrace and an embarrassment to the nation.


“The Prime Minister's Office must therefore take full responsibility for this utterly disgraceful episode and follow in the footsteps of the BBC by apologising for embarrassing our country,” he said.

BBC apologises for airing paid PR pieces

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has apologised for airing sponsored current affairs programmes which includes eight that featured Malaysia.

In a statement posted on the BBC website yesterday, the broadcaster said the “small number” of programmes that were aired on BBC World News between Feb 2009 and July 2011, broke the internal rules aimed at protecting its editorial integrity.


“These rules ensure that programmes are free, and are seen to be free, from commercial or other outside pressures,” read the statement.


Although the nature of programmes unrelated to Malaysia were mentioned without much details, the BBC made it clear that eight programmes “appeared” to have a financial relationship with the Malaysian government.


“This meant there was a potential conflict of interest, though the BBC was not aware of it when the programmes were broadcast,” read the statement.


The statement made no direct mention of London-based PR firm FBC Media Ltd which produced the eight documentary programmes.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had admitted to Parliament that it had paid 19.6 million euros (RM80 million) to FBC Media between 2007 and 2010 to spruce up Malaysia’s image.

Among others, the documentaries painted a rosy picture of Malaysia's oil palm industry and treatment of indigenous peoples.

Yesterday, British daily The Independent, the newspaper that broke the scandal, reported that the BBC would be apologising to an estimated 74 million people globally over the matter.


The report said viewers from “Kuala Lumpur to Khartoum” will be able to watch the broadcast which is available to 295 million homes, 1.7 million hotel rooms, 81 cruise ships, 46 airlines and 35 mobile phone platforms, at four different time zones.


According to the BBC statement, the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee had identified various breaches in editorial guidelines due to the errant programmes.


“It agreed that given the serious nature of the breaches an on-air apology to the audience was appropriate,” read the statement.

BBC mohon maaf siarkan dokumentari tajaan M'sia

Perbadanan Penyiaran British (BBC) telah memohon maaf kerana menyiarkan program hal ehwal semasa yang ditaja, termasuk lapan yang memaparkan Malaysia.

Dalam satu kenyataan di laman web BBC semalam, badan itu berkata "sebilangan kecil" program-program yang disiarkan di BBC World News antara Feb 2009 dan Julai 2011, melanggar peraturan dalaman yang bertujuan melindungi integriti editorial.


"Peraturan ini memastikan program ini adalah berkecuali dan dilihat bebas dari pengaruh iklan atau tekanan sama ada dari dalam mahupun luar," kata kenyataan tersebut.


Walaupun program yang tidak berkaitan dengan Malaysia disebut tanpa mendedahkan butiran terperinci, BBC menyatakan dengan jelas bahawa lapan program yang disiarkan mempunyai “hubungan kewangan” dengan kerajaan Malaysia.

"Ini bermakna terdapat percanggahan kepentingan, walaupun BBC tidak menyedari perkara berkenaan ketika program itu disiarkan," kata kenyataan tersebut.

Ia juga langsung tidak menyebut mengenai firma perhubungan awam yang berpangkalan di London FBC Media Ltd yang menerbit atau menghasilkan lapan program dokumentari berkenaan.

Sebelum ini, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak mengakui di Parlimen bahawa kerajaan telah membayar 19.6 juta euro (RM80 juta) kepada FBC Media antara 2007 dan 2010 untuk meningkatkan imej Malaysia di mata dunia antarabangsa.


Antara lain, dokumentari yang diterbitkan memberikan gambaran yang positif mengenai industri kelapa sawit Malaysia dan layanan istimewa terhadap orang asli di negara ini.

source:malaysiakini

Malulah sikit Najib ooi...dah pakai duit rakyat untuk naikkan imej diri,kelentong pasal layanan istemewa terhadap orang asli,sedangkan hampa balun dan curi tanah milik mereka. Udahlah... 

cheers.