KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — The Malaysian Media Council Bill scheduled to be drafted next year will address, among others, issues related to advertising revenue for media organisations.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said addressing this issue was crucial as, currently, advertising revenue is only paid to social media platform providers and not to media organisations.
“I think we need to have a balance so that there are some returns for media companies. This is still under discussion, and I believe all parties can be brought to the negotiation table so that a conducive atmosphere can be created.
“We can apply the same approach in managing issues related to the 5G implementation before, where I managed to invite all telecommunication companies to sit and discuss, and ultimately, everyone agreed. So we can use the same method to address this issue of advertising revenue.”
He told reporters this after delivering a keynote address at the launch of a seminar on ‘Transcending Disinformation: Towards Responsible Media Consumption’ organised by the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) here today.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said he would meet with the management of the Community Communications Department (J-KOM) today to discuss the appointment of its new director-general soonest possible.
Fahmi said he would find out whether a new director-general had been named while the agency was under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department, since it has now been placed under the Communications Ministry.
“Prior to this, the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) mentioned that a replacement had been identified, but whether it has taken effect or not, will be confirmed in today’s meeting. There’s no deadline, but this appointment will be made as soon as possible because it’s important. Please give me a little time,” he said.
Asked whether the new J-KOM director-general would be from among civil servants or an external appointment, Fahmi said it would be discussed in today’s meeting.
On Nov 15, Datuk Dr Mohammad Agus Yusoff confirmed that he had submitted his notice of resignation as J-KOM director-general to the prime minister, just nine months after being appointed to the post on Feb 2.
Earlier in his keynote address, Fahmi said that advertising expenditure is one of the biggest and most serious challenges faced by local media, where it estimated that media owners lose about RM2 billion from a total of RM4.5 billion of annual advertising expenditure to the top three social media giants namely Meta, Google and TikTok.
He also hoped that platform providers would conduct more engagement sessions with media organisations to help them use social media platforms more effectively and efficiently.
