Editor’s Note – June 2020


[Editor’s Note]
Restaurants Open for Dine-In in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor 
(June and July 2020)
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As we enter the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) phase in Malaysia, restaurants are allowed to have customers dine-in once again. I’ve compiled a list of some of the restaurants and hotels such as PRIME at Le Meridien, Iketeru at Hilton Kuala Lumpur, DC Restaurant, Bref by Darren Chin, and more that you can visit to dine-in in June and July 2020.
Head over here to read the feature: https://timchew.net/2020/05/15/hotels-and-restaurants-in-kuala-lumpur-and-selangor-to-visit-in-may-june-and-july-2020/
 

 
Credible Journalism

 
During the Movement Control Order (MCO), and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Malaysia due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I had some time to catch up on a HBO original series called “The Newsroom” that I watched but did not manage to complete a couple of years ago.
The Newsroom is a 3-season series that requires a huge amount of attention to the dialogue, which is often witty and littered with dry humour, as well as intellectual discourse, among the romance and drama, set against a backdrop of real life local (USA) and global events such as the US presidential race, Occupy Wall Street movement, Boston marathon bombing, assassination of the US ambassador in Benghazi, and more.
Coming from a traditional media background myself (I used to work in Mediacorp, MEASAT aka Astro, and for a couple of publishers), the series resonated with me, evoking memories of my time in traditional media. Although the series itself was set in USA and covered many real-life topics mostly in the states from 2011 to 2013, I was able to appreciate it as I often tune in to CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera or other news networks daily over breakfast.
The central theme of the series was integrity and credibility in journalism, something of which the cast of the fictional media company struggled with in their quest to produce a nightly news hour that delivers the real facts to the audience. Details had to be fact-checked and vetted thoroughly before being aired, something which is integral in responsible journalism.
Fast forward to today, and sadly the world has become inundated with fake news, spread by unscrupulous parties bent on personal gain/ profit whether for economical or political purposes. Right here in Malaysia, fake news is rife and used to spread racial and religious hatred for political purposes in a manner that is both divisive and inherently dangerous as it can ignite something more serious like racial riots.
It’s really sad to see a multi-racial country like Malaysia, which practised togetherness and acceptance for decades since independence, descend into a cesspool of intolerance and blatant racism, where the population is unable to discern right from wrong, unable to apply their moral compass as they are blinded by racial/ religious hatred against other citizens who are of different ethnicity/ creed.
I for one, will continue to speak our against abuse of power, corruption, extremism, racism and religious intolerance, and I hope that you will join me. It’s time to stand up together against the forces of evil plaguing our beloved nation.
Remember – evil wins when good men do nothing.
 

 
[Updated – 25 June 2020]
Recently, a Reddit user exposed the unethical practises of Malaysian trash tabloid site World of Buzz, detailing the company’s unethical practices such as plagarism, abuse of their own staff members and more.
Read the original story here: https://www.reddit.com/r/malaysia/comments/hcntgu/spilling_the_tea_on_a_malaysian_news_site/
In response, the founders of World of Buzz came up with a video that totally skirted the allegations, sprinkled with some crocodile tears that really looks like a desperate attempt to gain some pity. Sincere or insincere, I will let you be the judge.
 

 
We at timchew.net and MHB Digital would like to remind all our friends and readers to always consume media that is credible and trustworthy, avoiding tabloid trash sites like World of Buzz, The Coverage, etc. etc. which either blatantly plagiarise the work of real journalists, copy paste from social media postings, or just come up with entirely fake but sensational news just to get eyeballs to their site (in the hopes that readers will click the display advertising banners).
Please be a responsible consumer of media and remember. If you’re unsure of the authenticity of the article, please DO NOT SHARE IT. You may be spreading fake news.