In an effort to curb media portals from sharing out fake and unconfirmed news, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry is considering having eligible media portals to register with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said that this is so that the news portals will be more responsible in reporting news, and enables the MCMC to determine the volume of visitors to the site. Certain, unspecified, criteria will be determined to gauge the eligibility of the news portal for registration with MCMC.
The web portal registration exercise is not new according to Datuk Seri Salleh, as many other countries also practice it, which includes Singapore. The Home Ministry and the Communications and Multimedia Ministry will be working together to ensure smooth and orderly implementation of the registration. The two ministries will also be meeting the operators and stake holders of the online media portals for feedback.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard of potential registration for online media. The idea was floated last year, and the MCMC has also been looking into a legal framework to deal with ‘fake news‘. We assume that registering online media is an extension of this work, but it’s difficult to say until more information is released.
The final say of the registration will be decided by the end of the year, according to the minister.
(Source: The Malay Mail Online )
