News Should Be More Than Words on A Page

I often find it frustrating to read the news, especially when I feel that there is a lean towards sensationalist journalism than actual investigative reporting. It is disheartening enough to realize the news is full of doom and gloom, from the subject of rape to the decapitation of young children, and most reporting seems to be a mere glossary of the events come by. 

It was particularly jarring to read the headlines of the papers today, which proclaimed ‘Naked Doctor Found Dead in Hospital Alor Gajah’. 

Now, there is news, and there is news, and there is a way to report news. 

The language of the reporting, which was plastered in both Malay and English newspapers is particularly disrespectful. We are not so far removed from death that we ignore the fact it is an actual process that has happened to an actual human being, and thus still deserves some measure of respect. And to a government doctor, a profession that traditionally implies a certain generalization of character which has chosen to serve other humans in need. 

Was it absolutely essential to emphasize how this poor individual was found naked, in the toilet? 

Was it essential to conjure up that image of this person, immortalized in death in the news, in a less than dignified state? 

Do these reporters even realize that this was an individual, whose family was probably in shock over the news, and to hear the death of their son announced in such a way while they were still grieving, is a slap in the face? 

This was an individual who had chosen the sacrifice of time in the field of healing, one who had been on night duty attending to these patients the night that he passed away instead of being with his loved ones as so many of us had the privilege of that very same night. 

The basic tenet of humanity, to even allow this individual a passing of life with some respect seems to have been lost in the dredges of what is considered news, and what editors expect will sell newspapers. 

I think it is time that we remember that the news reports real-life stories, of real people, not just words on a page with no link to those that they are writing about. 

I support the protest made by Dr Jim Loi, President of MPCAM (Medical Practitioner’s Coalition Association of Malaysia) requesting a public apology for the distasteful article that had been published and is now doing rounds on the Internet. 

**Edit: It was later reported that the doctor involved was suffering from a chronic illness of sorts and there was no suspicious circumstance regarding his death.