The Malaysiakini journalist who wrote the news report DPM unveils manifesto for top Umno job in which a manifesto from a ‘support group’ was said to have been issued by the deputy prime minister himself, has resigned to take responsibility for the error.
"It is my fault and I stand ready to take full responsibility and resign," Wong Choon Mei told Malaysiakini.
Wong, who joined Malaysiakini three months ago, has been a journalist for 10 years, with stints in The Edge, Reuters and Channel News Asia.
Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan said the news organisation was upset over the incident adding the report should not have been published.
"It was a serious misjudgement on her part and we accept her resignation," said Gan.
Wong conceded that she had not verified the contents of the ‘manifesto’ with Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s office. She had received it by e-mail on Sunday.
The report was uploaded late that night without going through the standard double-checking by a second editor. Wong was the editor on duty for that day
"We deeply regret the error," said Gan.
The Deputy Prime Minister's Office yesterday denied that Najib has issued the manifesto to back his bid for the Umno presidency.
‘Malaysiakini has apologised’
The following is the full statement issued by Najib’s office:
‘The internet news portal Malaysiakini yesterday (Oct 19) published an e-mail purportedly from a 'Najib Support Group' containing a so-called manifesto supposedly linked to Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Razak. Without any verification, Malaysiakini has deemed it appropriate to publish the false contents of this email.
'The Deputy Prime Minister's office would like to clarify that Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Razak has never issued any manifesto to back his bid for the Umno presidency.
'The Malaysiakini report is therefore patently false and misleading. Malaysiakini's decision to publish the story is extremely unethical as they had failed to verify the matter with the Deputy Prime Minister's Office prior to publication.
'The conduct of Malaysiakini is regrettable and unacceptable. Certainly, it is an unfortunate display of negligence and lack of professionalism in news reporting.
'It is important for Malaysiakini to investigate the origin of the malicious e-mail in order for it to clear its name and reputation.'
Malaysiakini has apologised to the deputy prime minister on this matter. Nevertheless, it is our hope that Malaysiakini and other news portals, regardless of their editorial policy, will conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner.
'This false story is the latest move in what is obviously a concerted effort by certain quarters to tarnish the image of the deputy prime minister. Indeed, of late, ever since the Umno transition plan was brought forward to March 2009, there has been a consistent and continuous effort by some websites to concoct and publish false and malicious reports aimed at discrediting the deputy prime minister.
'We hope the Malaysian public, in particular readers of these websites are able to distinguish truth from falsehood when reading the materials published.’ - malaysiakini.com
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