Saturday, June 15, 2013

Putting words into the Prime Minister's mouth

Updated: By the way, asks Life of Annie, Who are the PM's speech writers?

The Blooper: The report quoting Najib was
picked up by the Singapore media and the rest of the world
With friends like these ... No thanks to some sloppy journalism, Najib Razak has been quoted to have said something he never did. Something so despicable that nearly the entire Malaysian blogosphere and social media berated him. 
The PM's Department issued a statement the very next day to set the record straight.

The clarification: Najib never said it

Alas, someone must have decided to downplay the mistake by not making such a big deal out of the clarification. A single column in a former broadsheet, even on Page 3, is easily overlooked. 
What a single column looks like

So how do you bungle so badly when it involves the Prime Minister himself? I think I know what happened. The following would have been the likely sequence of things: 
1. The PM's Office releases Najib's speech to be delivered late that night in advance to the media. There's a "CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY" note attached to each copy of the speech in case the PM decides to make changes or not to read the speech at all, which happens all the time. The idea of issuing the speech in advance is to enable the newspapers to meet the deadline, usually around midnight. 
(Even if there isn't a "Check Against Delivery" or "Embargo" notice, the editor would have reminded the reporter covering the event that night to make sure to check against delivery. Even without such a reminder, every reporter covering the PM should be senior enough to know it as basic, a standard operating procedure). 
2. The senior reporter processes the speech into a news article at the office before going to the event that night, where the PM is to deliver the speech 
3. Najib delivers the speech. However, after vetting the copy earlier, he has decided to skip the paragraph(s) about compelling bloggers to reveal their IDs. Obviously, he does not agree (with his speechwriter) that it is a good idea at all.  
4. Reporter fails to check against delivery 
5. Newspaper publishes the story 
6. All hell breaks loose the next day 
7. PM Department issues clarification 
8. Editor(s) decides to "bury" the clarification in a single-column. 
I say, with editors and journalists like these, the PM does not need Malaysiakini or Malaysian Chronicle to do him in! 

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:00 pm

    I dah beberapa kali tegur, masaalah tak fasih Bahasa hence all the misunderstandings.

    Look at Apek Tanjung; LUNTUR, LENTUR.. LUNTUH.. RUNTUH.. yang mana satu Apek oooi?

    Remember Teresa with her "boys' eggs" LIVE interview for all to hear pulak dah tu!

    These are the qualities of their leaders, agaknya baca Utusan lintang pukang trying to understand each sentence..


    Tip fasih Bahasa Malaysia;

    Kadang-kadang Eli suka sengih...

    please please don't say

    Kangkang Eli suka sengih!

    PERWIRA



    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3:47 pm

    Rocky
    No wonder lah the article was taken off the website tapi masih boleh baca kat print dan digital version!
    Baguslah, menang besar kat MPI Awards tapi speech PM malam tu boleh salah!
    Cukup dengan correction saja ka?

    Karma

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4:43 pm

    Speech writer bodoh yang mana satu, Dato ni?

    Mana dia dapat ide nak buat kerja bodoh ni?

    Pegawai media PM ke?

    Mesti yang bebal jenis sekolah melayu dan pernah kerja suratkhabar melayu.

    As per his firing of his political secretaries, PM should replace all his media people.

    Get a new and smaller set. Zaman Dr Mahathir cuma tiga orang saja. Takde fumble fumble macam ni ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. A case of more than one way to skin the PM Rocky, there is nothing much that one can do if a newspaper decides to be dangerously naughty and unconcerned!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous5:45 pm

    Trying to make the Establishment Media Looking Back so you can weasel back a Position Rocky?

    Sorry Mate..You've burned your Bridges. After the Malay Mail Failure they are not going to give you another chance!

    All you can do is Take Pot Shots and Grit your Teeth with Envy!



    IKnowYou

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous9:33 pm

    Amboi, takutnya kita semua Datuk, ingat you cakap pasal Utusan tu

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11:44 pm

    Ayamkokokharihari said do Ah Gib Gor got balls to FIRED the speech writer and write himself in future? Nahh.. he cant even fired Ah Gib Gor from himself.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12:06 am

    what lah bro

    all the editors were at the dinner.. unfortunately they were not interested in pm's speech... they were interested in gossiping... i believe on the person delivering the speeech..

    if they were, such mistake would not hv occurd

    so there you are.. even the editors missed it... what we got are half past six editors who go round as if they the greatest editors the country ever seen

    if you want their names... u can list it rocky... it will rock

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:08 am



    Sack the PM media team

    ReplyDelete
  10. charleskiwi7:26 am

    Putting things right is a rightful thing to do what about the promise Najib made before the GE that he will build one million affordable houses if and when he was re-elected. What has he done about that promise to date ? It takes a lot of money and a lot of land to do that, and above all a lot of time to have them built. Shouldn't he be acting on the promise just to show he is sincere about his promise ? Also most important of it all to ensure the contractor given the task to build them is not the same one who build the second Penang bridge ! Please remember I will be keeping track of this promise !

    ReplyDelete
  11. In my posting, "Najib Listening . . .", I suggested PM sack his whole press team including NCT and only rehire the relevant ones.

    Too many freeloaders and old school.

    If not for their diamkan and playdown mindset, Rosmah's public perception would have been contained long ago.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:50 pm

    Alamak Dato Rocks!

    Cakap macam nie salah, tulis macam tu pun salah?

    Senang cite, the solution is;

    Kasi buang! SACK! itu PM Najib,kuncu2nya dan pemikiran LIBERAL nya

    and that include you oso Dato! throw away YOUR liberal thinking! (since 95% of the chinese community vote DAP!)

    p.s

    40% tamil indian vote BN ok lah macha, we still can accept, that what tolerance and respect are all about. we still power,political sharing with the chinese even though during prev. election (since merdeka)they ONLY give up to 40% vote to BN.

    BUT 90-95% CHINESE VOTE TO DAP? YOU GO ON THE STREET EVERY FACE OF THE CHINESE IS A DAP!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous1:24 pm

    PM should get rid of Rusdi Mustapha. I bet Barking Magpie would agree that he is an @ssh@l&.

    ReplyDelete
  14. lionel3:05 pm

    IKnowYou said "Trying to make the Establishment Media Looking Back so you can weasel back a Position Rocky?
    Sorry Mate..You've burned your Bridges. After the Malay Mail Failure they are not going to give you another chance!
    All you can do is Take Pot Shots and Grit your Teeth with Envy!"

    Hello,moron. You don;t know Rocky. He may know you but i bet my bottom dollar you must be a shorty -- possibly only 5 foot 4 -- really scared as hell of Rocky.

    Rocky tryng to weasel his way to...? you are one bad jealous ass not to mention one who is quivering in his underpants..

    Of course you know Rocky doesnt do weaseling. whoops...youi know but must tell lies some more or you dont know and simply babble your mouth like a puki ayam.

    what he is posting is nothing, moron.
    He is beuing nice becaus ehe has promised to be nice to NST aft6er the settlement of the legal suit that NST (courtesy Kalimachai) against him.


    So if you BERANI and have BALLS, you go tell it to Rocky to his face. Takut kan?

    You must be one of those NST machais...
    or ex-NST machais.

    Malay Mail? When did Rocky fail in Malay Mail?

    Not only do you NOT have balls..yep yep...you are a balless moron.
    /





    5:45 pm

    ReplyDelete