SHAH ALAM, 16 Apr: The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, stressed that he did not interfere with the editorial affairs of the Selangor Government’s official newspaper, Selangor Kini.
He informed the Selangor State Assembly (DNS), the management of the Selangor Kini editorial is in line with the State Government’s principles of always upholding freedom of press.
He said that the State Government is also ready to set out an ‘indicator’ to show the breakdown of news issued by the newspaper.
“In terms of work, I do not interfere with the editorial affairs because we believe in the freedom of press policy.
“But I will have a discussion with the members of the board of directors to recommend the provision of data on how much news on the Chief Minister is issued and present it,” he said.
He said this in response to a supplementary question from the Seri Muda Assemblyman, Shuhaimi Shafie, about allegations that there are policies that are selective in the selection of news by ignoring ‘critical’ news.
Elaborating, Abdul Khalid, who is also the Assemblyman for Port Klang, said that he will put forward a recommendation to the management of Selangor Kini to create a special space to allow each representative to appear in the newspaper.
Meanwhile, answering another question, he said that he will order the arrears cost to be accompanied with the arrears cost of the Selangor Kini newspaper distribution.
“I will ask to settle the arrears in terms of available provisions, so we must impose this cost for the delay as a form of discipline.
“We want good distribution services, but do not pay. This procedure must be changed,” he said.
Earlier, the Assemblywoman for Taman Medan, Haniza Talha, issued a complaint regarding the Selangor Kini distribution cost payment at the constituency Service Centre, which has been outstanding for a few months.
Previously, Abdul Khalid informed that the fee of RM0.10 is given for each issue of the official newspaper, which is usually placed at mosques and constituency Service Centres.
