Ok its probably not such a big deal, but I'll talk about it anyway.
So I've been involved in this short internship (6 days!) with Malaysiakini - its basically an extension of the citizen journalism training programme I did with them last year. We tagged along with a Malaysiakini journalist for an assignment, which was to cover a press conference by DAP Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang at the DAP headquarters in Petaling Jaya. We (the citizen journalists, or CJ for short) were told to ask him what he thought about citizen journalism and the power of the new media in Malaysia.
After he spoke at length about the spiralling billion-ringgit PKFZ scandal (check out a video of the press conference here), I asked him whether he knew anything about citizen journalism. The day before, our Minister Information, Communications, and Culture Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim was asked the same question, and he couldn't answer it! He knew nothing of citizen journalism it seems, I hope we enlightened him.
I don't think Mr Lim knew that much about citizen journalism either, but he gave this very smart answer: "I was a journalist myself (laughs)... we welcome the new media where anyone can become a journalist... everybody is a journalist, everybody is a reporter, and I think it is most shameful that the Minister in charge of communications knows nothing about it." You gotta hand it to the man, he sure knows how to take advantage of a situation and turn it into a government critique!
And the best part is, my interview was recorded! Unfortunately, I wasn't in the frame, and my voice was barely audible *sighs* But if you pay attention you can hear my voice at 3.35. He asked me if I was a citizen journalist and I said "yes."
Ciao for now ;)
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