RTM continues to play essential role in disseminating national agendas - Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian Broadcasting Department (RTM) will continue to play an important role in disseminating national agenda to the people using fresh and new approaches despite facing various challenges, said Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

He said that currently, RTM, which has six TV channels and 34 radio stations, is also facing the challenge of the evolution of the current media landscape, especially the use of social media as well as changing patterns and tastes of listeners and viewers.

"I believe in RTM director-general Suhaimi Sulaiman, with his experience and the support of the team at RTM, we will see a positive change where we can cater to target groups especially young people.

"We take this opportunity to find new content (and) new formats to get more viewers among young people," he told reporters after appearing as a guest on TRAXXfm as well as Selamat Pagi Malaysia programme in conjunction with RTM's 77th anniversary celebration here today.

On the issue of media literacy among viewers and social media users, Fahmi said the media also played a role in educating users to verify information or announcement.

"I can see channels like Berita RTM, TV1 and TV2 as well as radio (stations) under RTM playing an important role so that the people can differentiate between facts and allegations, which is very important.

"I also see that we need to have a process of engagement with media practitioners to ensure that journalistic ethics are improved.

"This is because media literacy depends on journalists who understand, are eloquent and ready not to compromise just to attract readers by posting sensational headlines, this is important to avoid slander from spreading widely," he said.

He added that the country would be able to move forward if the government, media practitioners, viewers and social media users were more responsible in their respective roles in safeguarding the public interest, peace and obeying the laws of the country.

On the proposed amendments of several acts under the ministry, Fahmi said he hoped that some of the acts would be tabled, debated and approved in Parliament before the end of this year since the matter is still under engagement process.

Also present were Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching, Communications and Digital Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek, Suhaimi and Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) chief executive officer Roslan Ariffin.

In conjunction with the anniversary celebration, RTM also launched two main plans centered around the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan and the RTM Transformation Plan 2021-2023 involving four main pillars including radio, television, new media and engineering.

This is to ensure that the dissemination of information is always at an optimal level and is accepted by the people as a whole. - BERNAMA