Bernama journalists bag awards...

Bernama journalist Melati Mohd Ariff won the prestigious Kajai Award at the MPI-Petronas Malaysian Journalism Awards presentation here tonight for her three-part articles on rising temperatures in Cameron Highlands.
Another Bernama journalist, Rohana Mustaffa emerged the winner in the Best Features category for her article entitled 'Kampung Baru-Antara Dua Darjat'.
The case study of the rising temperatures in Cameron Highlands, which was entitled 'Mencari Dingin Udara di Cameron Highlands' raised Melati's profile to emerge the winner in the Kajai Award category.
A thorough investigation supported by environmental experts had the judges bowled over, making Melati richer by RM30,000 and a 100-gramme gold medal worth RM12,900, the prizes for the winner of the Kajai Award.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin presented the prizes to the winners of the various categories up for grabs.
The last time a Bernama journalist won the Kajai Award was in the 1980s when Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar's work on the Memali incident was adjudged the winner.
Melati said she did not expect to win the Kajai Award and was only hoping to be honoured in the environmental category, in which she was also nominated.
"This is my biggest achievement since I entered the journalism field in 1979. I am very grateful (to receive the Kajai Award)," she said.
On where she got the idea to do the case study, Melati said it came about because of her disappointment that the hill resort was not as cool as it used to be.
"I love to go to Cameron Highlands...I like to go there because of its cool crisp air but became very disappointed to see indiscriminate development taking place which altered the cool atmosphere.
"From there, I felt challenged to find out what were the real reasons for the change and kept in touch with several people up in Cameron Highlands for additional information," she said.
As a journalist, she was fortunate to be able raise issues of interest to the people and hoped that her work would open the eyes of the parties responsible to look after Cameron Highlands so that its pristine beauty is preserved.
The feature on problems associated with Kampung Baru by Rohana detailed the situation in Kampung Baru in the context of development surrounding it, the grievances of its residents and uncertain future the Malay village, which lies in the centre of the federal capital.
The win enable Rohana to take home RM15,000.
Thankful for the success, Rohana described the win as very meaningful because it was her first award after not having written features for some 15 years.
"Before taking up duties at Bernama's Features Desk, I had been with the Bahasa Malaysia sub-editors desk and this is the first time I am winning an award after almost 15 years," said Rohana, who is the editor of the Features Desk.
Asked how she got the idea to come up with the article, Rohana said the issue was something close to her heart.
"The issue of Kampung Baru is an issue of the Malays which is dear to me. Although it is an old issue, there has yet to be any resolution," she said.

(Bernama)

Close friends in development...

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin hopes Malaysian media practitioners would use their profession for the good of the nation.
He said this was because the media had great influence on the thinking of the people especially with the current development and sophistication of the media infrastructure and technology.
"If your media can mould the opinion of 100 people, it is already a great achievement, what more if it can influence millions of people each hour and day.
"So, use your profession for the good of our nation and social harmony," he said at the Malaysian Press Night 2010, organised by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) and Petronas in Kuala Lumpur tonight.
Muhyiddin said the Malaysian values and identity must be based on the ways the Malaysian media functioned.
Thus, the media should play a role in forming the public perception and how the world perceived Malaysia to be besides minimising hatred, disputes and prejudices.
"Maximise substantiated debates, dialogues and harmony. Minimise arrogant media, insensitivity, inaccuracy, excessive bias and unethical sensationalism.
Help the government to maximise what is good for our country," he said.
Muhyiddin also hoped that the media fraternity would continue to be trustworthy in conveying information to their respective audiences by reporting only actual news and putting aside personal views and not to add 'flavour' merely to make the news more 'juicy'.
He said this was important because he had himself become the 'victim' of circumstances when the report on his statement was misinterpreted to the extent that it had caused confusion.
Besides being the eyes and ears of society in the context of politics and government, he said journalists also had to act as the eyes and ears of the administrators and leaders.
Journalists should also assist the centre of power to understand the public perception on a particular issue, with the primary intention of improving the quality of life of the people, quality of administration and enhance democracy.
"My stand is that there is no democracy without the media. The fact that the media is enjoying such a healthy growth in Malaysia shows the strong democratic values in the country.
"I'm not asking you to praise or favour the government or to hide the truth. I'm just hoping that we -- the government and media -- can become close friends in development to ensure Malaysia's prosperity," he said.
Muhyiddin said that as far as the government was concerned, journalists and the media were their partners in national development.
"The government needs the media to enable its messages, political and socio-economic programmes to be accepted effectively by the public and successfully implemented for the sake of the country's development," he said.
However, the cordial relationship between the government and the media should not erode the credibility of either party.
(Bernama)