Media Statement by Liew Chin Tong in Penang on
Wednesday, 19th November 2008:
Is RTM halving airtime for
Mandarin news?
I call on Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek,
Minister of Information, to clarify whether airtime for Mandarin news
would be halved in RTM’s “rebranding exercise”?
Yesterday, Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek confirmed in Parliament while
answering oral question that RTM is undergoing a rebranding exercise
which will be revealed on 1st January 2009.
I have received credible information, subject to clarification by the
Minister, that the weekly airtime of Mandarin news and information will
be reduced from the current 8 hours and 25 minutes to 4 and half hour
from 1st January.
Currently, Mandarin news and information is broadcasted in three slots
daily at 12 noon for half an hour (Mandarin Tengahari), a five-minute
Galeri Perdana Mandarin at 7.55p.m., and Warta Mandarin at 8p.m. for
half an hour.
Talkshow programme “What Say You” was aired on Sunday evening for an
hour until it was axed three weeks ago.
It was rumoured that the rebranding exercise will reschedule evening
Mandarin news from the 8p.m. prime time slot to 11p.m., and the mid-day
news and Galeri Perdana Mandarin ceases to exist.
It is the obligation of the Information Minister to clarify on this
matter.
* Liew Chin Tong, DAP International Secretary & MP for
Bukit Bendera
http://dapmalaysia.org