IPOH: The Sultan of Perak has urged government media to serve as a yardstick by putting news ethics into practice with fair and authentic reporting.

He said the public interest must be given importance, and cautioned that “news processing that is too biased or counter-productive” would only separate the people from the government.

Sultan Nazrin Shah’s remarks were made at the opening of a broadcasting complex here. The complex, in Jalan Raja Musa Mahadi here, is named after him and houses the offices of the Information and Broadcasting departments.

He said the official media were an important mechanism to strengthen democracy, making ethical and wise news reporting a necessity.

“Public interest should be prioritised at all times and more importantly, the credibility and integrity of the national institution must never be compromised because of short-term interests,” he was quoted as saying.

“Lopsided news reporting, disseminating stories that do not bring about any good but are instead counter-productive – if continuously adopted by the country’s official media institutions, will lead to a gap between the people and the Government.”

He quoted author Timothy Tyson as saying “If there is to be reconciliation, first there must be truth”.

“Hence, reporting based on the principles of truth, fairness, accuracy and validity are the determinant of any media institution that is righteous and credible,” he said.