妇女组文告 Extract of press release [17] -- 促请政府重新检讨减少华语新闻时间的决定

(12/12/2008)
促请政府重新检讨减少华语新闻时间的决定!

马华妇女组不满新闻部将缩短华语新闻播报时间及取消《午间新闻》和《前线视窗》的决定，认为这个决定无论是从经济效益、人民需求或政府传达讯息的角度来看都是难以让人接受的。

据了解，第二电视台的《八点前线》收视率高达40万至50万人，相等于或甚至在一些时候更高于其它电视台的晚间新闻；而在第二电视的所有语文新闻中，《八点前线》的收视率也是最高的。此外，即便是中午12时的《午间新闻》，收视率也在15万到20万之间，比每小时播放的国语新闻的收视率还要高。由此可见，国营电视台的华语新闻广受华裔观众支持，相信拥有可观的广告收益，从华裔人民的需求以及经济学的角度来看，政府不仅不应缩减其播出时间，反而应该注入更多资源，提升节目素质。－全国妇女组主席拿汀巴杜卡周美芬

Mandarin news airtime should be extended not reduced

Wanita MCA chairman Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun today calls on the Information Minister YB Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek to reconsider the Ministry’s decision to reduce the airtime for Mandarin News on RTM. She says the Ministry should not only maintain the existing daily 1 hour airtime for the Mandarin news on RTM, but extend it. Comparing the viewership of the various TV news programmes, Chew Mei Fun points out that, “the 12:00 noon Mandarin news has a viewership of 150,000 to 200,000 which is relatively higher that the hourly news viewership which stands as between 100,000 to 120,000. The 8pm Mandarin news has even a bigger audience of 400,000 to 500,000. This indicates that RTM’s Mandarin news competes on par with the Mandarin news programme aired by 8TV if not better.
– Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun