By Ravichandran D.J Paul and Norshazlina Nor'Azman
The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) will be celebrating its golden anniversary on May 20 and to mark the occasion, it will release a series of articles on its early days and achievements. This first article on the humble beginnings of Bernama tells how a small dedicated group of journalists and others helped to lay the foundation of the news agency.
“Balloons and peace doves were released in Kuala Lumpur this morning to mark the inauguration of Bernama’s news service”; read the opening paragraph of the very first news flash released by the Malaysian National News Agency on May 20, 1968 after the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting Senu Abdul Rahman inaugurated the agency’s news service.
That same day, Bernama’s first-ever report was splashed on the front page of the Malay Mail, just 90 minutes after the end of the opening ceremony. Bernama was set up under an Act of Parliament in 1967 and started operating on May 20, 1968, as a not-for-profit wire news service provider.
The agency has come a long way since its humble beginnings half a century ago when it started out at a bungalow at Circular Road (now Jalan Tun Razak), with a lean team of 15 pioneering administrative staff and journalists who worked on typewriters and teleprinters to churn out and transmit news stories.
Based on UNESCO’s report prepared with the help of Donald James Dallas of Reuters, the news agency was setup based on the Reuters model with Dallas serving as Bernama’s advisor in the early years.
Under Phase One of its operations (1968-1969), Bernama confined its news coverage to Kuala Lumpur; the next two years, under the second and third phases, saw the agency spreading its wings nationwide, including Sabah and Sarawak. Bernama enabled news sharing and provided a lifeline to many of the smaller newspapers, including the vernacular press and Sabah and Sarawak dailies.
In its 50 years of existence, the news agency survived the test of time, including the changes that swept across the media landscape with the advent of the Internet and new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platforms.
Bernama still remains a dependable and relevant news source. From a handful of journalists, its editorial team has now swelled to more than 350 people and it also has a host of news platforms - portal, radio, TV and social media - to reach out to both its audience and subscribers.
THE PIONEERS WHO LAID THE FOUNDATION
Not surprisingly, the pioneers who took care of the agency’s operations had to start from scratch, with most of the journalists being greenhorns who would later rise through the ranks and etch their names in the media world.
Among the pioneers was Musa Scully, who was recruited as a reporter in May 1968. Now aged 75 and still very much part of the institution - he is director of NAM News Network (NNN), the Non-Aligned Movement portal managed by Bernama. Musa said it was Chang Yen Fooi, who had asked him if he was keen to join the new organisation. Chang of the Straits Times had joined the organisation earlier in the year.
Musa, who had embarked on his journalism career at The Straits Times, took up the offer and he still has fond memories of the day Bernama was inaugurated – and he was also the one who had held the cage with the doves before they were released by the minister.
 |
| Musa Scully (FotoBERNAMA) |
The first person to be appointed was Bernama’s Secretary was Mohd Yusof Bador and the second person was an office helper K.Selvaraj, also known as Rajoo. Tuan Syed Zainal Abidin Hussein was the General Manager. Abdul Wahab Abdul Majid (later Datuk) was entrusted with the Malay news section while Chang, who was also the one who wrote Bernama’s first news flash, handled the English section.
Four or five months after Bernama started its operations, Musa was promoted to chief reporter, thus becoming the first person to hold that post in the agency.
A DAUNTING START
Recalling the early days, Musa said it was no easy start for Bernama as the media players in the country then, both in the public and private sectors, were averse to the whole idea of having a national news agency.
L.C Hoffman (later Tan Sri), who was Straits Times Group editor-in-chief then, had felt that the news coverage provided by the existing media outlets was adequate and he saw no reason why a news agency should be set up to compete with them.
Even RTM and the Information Department thought that the news agency would duplicate their role as an information provider. “We also had to compete with international news agencies such as Reuters, AFP (Agence France-Presse), AP (Associated Press) and the defunct UPI (United Press International)” said Musa.
However, the pioneering editors and reporters persevered and within five to six years, Bernama managed to establish itself as a key player in the Malaysian media landscape. On how the agency carved a niche for itself in the local media scene, Musa, who was Bernama’s longest serving news editor said: “Being an electronic media we had to be ahead (of the rest) when it came to speed. I always emphasised on accuracy, speed and exclusivity in the news that we put out.”
The reporters, besides covering daily assignments and cabinet meetings, were also constantly reminded to keep their nose to the grindstone to obtain exclusive stories so that the various dailies would pick up their articles and credit Bernama.
“At that stage, we depended on the print media, radio and television to carry our news items and exclusive reports and give credit to us,” he added.
FIRST ACID TEST FOR BERNAMA
The real recognition for Bernama came less than a year later when racial riots erupted on May 13, 1969. The bungalow which had served as the Bernama office then was located close to Kampung Baru, where the incident started. And, what was more, just a stone’s throw away from the office was the residence of former Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Harun Idris, who had mobilised his followers to counter the opposition party’s rally. Musa and nine others, including Chang, were holed up in the office for almost a week following the outbreak of violence and being close to ground zero, namely Kampung Baru and Chow Kit, Bernama had a vantage point in providing news coverage.
“We had curfew passes and I sent (reporter) Mervin Nambiar for the press conferences conducted by Patrick Keith of RTM at the Federal House on the developments relating to the tragedy. Mervin will later become AFP’s Asia-Pacific regional marketing and sales manager. The other reporters were dispatched to the police and army headquarters and the affected areas to report on the developments there.
“We churned out many stories that were picked up by our subscribers and international news agencies. We proved to them what we could do,” he said, adding that ever since then, its subscribers and other organisations viewed the news agency as an indispensable news outlet.
Bernama was on top of its game once again during the 1975 AIA building hostage crisis in Kuala Lumpur. Musa recalled how the late Ali Mamat, a crime reporter of distinction, helped to keep the office and the world informed on the events as they unfolded through his reporting and observations at the site.
In 1983, Bernama also played a crucial role in highlighting the financial scandal involving Bumiputera Malaysia Finance Ltd (BMF).
The news agency went on to add many more feathers to its cap, providing extensive coverage of events in the country as they unfolded, and it would continue doing so in the future.
SWITCHING TO CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
After nearly two decades of running Bernama’s newsroom as executive editor, Musa Scully was made senior marketing manager in 1987. “I then set up the Public Relations Wire (PR Wire) which is responsible for disseminating press releases from various companies to other media, and the Newslink that enabled Bernama news to be flashed over television screens in supermarkets, restaurants, or even pubs.
In 1990, he quit Bernama to work for public relations company Bostock Mohamad Communications Sdn Bhd. After he left the company, he returned to work for Bernama on and off, under a contract basis.
The first contract was in 1997 when he was appointed manager of the main press centre (MPC) at the 16th Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur (Sukom 98); and in 2001, he was appointed director of the main press centre at the 21st Sea Games.
“Bernama was highly praised by the international media for managing the MPC efficiently during Sukom 98 and credit also goes to Zainor Sulaiman, Bernama’s executive editor then, who was the overall head for the media operations for the event,” he said.
Musa, who has been attached to NNN since 2009, received the Tokoh Bernama award in May 2008 and also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Press Club (NPC) in July 2011.
 |
| Musa receiving the "National Press Club-Telekom Malaysia Lifetime Achievement Award" from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the NPC-Naza Awards Night 2011 on 4 July 2011 (fotoBERNAMA) |
“We can get back to the top of our game as long as we stick to delivering accurate and fast news like how we did when we first started, except that we now make use of the new platforms. This is also how Bernama can contribute in countering fake news, a rising new phenomenon where people with vested interest are deceiving the public through misinformation,” he added.
-- BERNAMA
No comments:
Post a Comment