His Was An Opinion Piece

Unfair Things have been said and attributed to NST GE, Syed Nadzri (pix left).
The author of an article Sycophantic Editors Ruin Trust remarked, 'A measure of how far detached from reality those who sit in the editorial suites of our mainstream papers can be gauged by the pre-election editorial of The New Straits Times where its Editor-in-Chief Syed Nadzri boldly predicted that Anwar would be defeated. Obviously Syed Nadzri was beginning to believe his own spin......Syed Nadzri is either a lousy observer of the public mood or he is more concerned with sucking up to his political superiors. In either case, he does not deserve to be the custodian of such a valuable and essential institution of modern society.

So, now the question is...who then deserves this position?
Lazarus Rokk, a veteran sports editor with NST, remarked in Rocky's Bru sometime back had this to comment...'While it may be fashionable to affect a disdain for the BN, I believe we should all stand by what is fair and against anything that's unfair, and not by the individual. The individual, as hardcore newsmen have oft been reminded, is incidental. If Syed's detractors know him as well as you and i do rocky, they will know too that if Syed is uncomfortable with writing something which is against his conscience, he will not write it, even if he is told to. But having said that there is nothing wrong with being loyal to the employers who pay our wages, if we cant subscribe to their beliefs and policies, then we leave'.

Another commenter in Rocky's Bru also had this to say of Syed Nadzri....
'Syed Nazri is among the last of the 'true-blood' journalists left in the New Straits Times today.
Whatever said and done, Syed is helping to keep the morale of the entire newsroom operations high, despite the many 'hound dogs' that roam the editorial floor.
Syed is no spin-doctor and although many seem to think that he is a pushover, the veteran journalist is not someone who follows the trend of the day.
If he does something then it must be the right things, otherwise he simply doesn't do it ... unlike the ''running dogs'' '.

I accept the opinion of the author Sycophantic Editors Ruin Trust. Right or wrong is a matter for those who 'consume' his thought. But when he wrote that 'The slow but sure decline of The New Straits Times was interrupted only briefly when Abdullah Ahmad, a former Ambassador to the UN and a Mahathir appointee, took the helm. He survived but only briefly under Abdullah Badawi. At least Abdullah Ahmad left in a blaze of glory, having had the courage to speak his mind publicly'.
Ha! what a laugh. One had to be in NST at that time to really understand the fallacy of what was just posted. And I'm not going into details to correct what was erred in that article on Syed N as well as A Ahmad.

Syed Nadzri is a man dedicated to his job. A person who is fair and an excellent journalist. He will never do anything to jeopardise the livelihood of the 3,000 odd employees under NSTP.

You see, sometimes we have to do what needs to be done. And we need not sell our souls to get the job done. There are several ways to skin the cat, so the saying goes.

Vanitha, a member of the National Press Club, commented in Rocky's Bru...'But WHY do bloggers look at journalists as THE enemy, condemning us for the decisions made by the media owners. Many do not realise that the minute a journalist shows any form of dissent, he / she is shown the door or cold-storaged. Which is why many of us fight the battle silently - through our work.

In our articles / commentaries, we say as much as we can and as objectively under the circumstances that we are in.
Yet, bloggers are constantly ridiculing and belittling us as though collectively we haven't done enough.

Where were the teachers, civil servants, lawyers, accountants, factory workers, etc, when journalists were demoted, cold-storaged or politely asked to leave for standing up for a story, or refusing to reveal a source, or when were we presented the memorandum after memorandum over the crippling media laws'.

Its not wrong to have an opinion but to impress upon others that only your opinion matters, than there is cause to be concerned.

And a point to ponder, Syed Nadzri didn't say Anwar WOULD lose...Syed wrote....Anwar COULD lose. and there is world of difference between those two words.

Note: Dr Bakri Musa's article on Sycophantic Editors Ruin Trust can read in Malaysiakini and here

See also shanghaifish's take on Syed Nadzri here