KUALA LUMPUR: Private television channel Awesome TV claims that its controversial Berita 757 report on civil servants was manipulated by certain parties.
In a statement issued yesterday, it said that it had no other interest except to deliver transparent and sincere news for the country.
Awesome TV said its report, which stated that observers suggested that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim evaluate and restructure the number of civil servants, was made following a report titled "Reducing government opex warrants a look into emoluments" by The Edge Markets news portal on theedgemarkets.com on Feb 15.
Its report suggested that the number of civil servants should be reduced from 1.6 million to 800,000 because the total annual expenditure of civil servants reached a high value of RM114.9 billion.
"However, some social media practitioners have manipulated the Berita 757 report, which also received the attention of Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil, who issued a statement that Berita 757 had made a false and slanderous report which supposedly said the government will reduce the number of civil servants.
"Thus, Awesome TV's Berita 757 met with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today (yesterday) to explain the issue that we believe has been misinterpreted and that wrong advice was given to the minister.
"The situation became complicated when the minister was influenced by irresponsible social media practitioners who manipulated the news."
It added that Umno supreme council member Datuk Lokman Adam had issued a false statement associating Awesome TV with Astro and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed.
"We strongly reject Lokman's statement, which tried to link the news with racial sentiment. This is a provocation," it said.
Earlier today, MCMC said Awesome TV will be investigated under Section 206 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (AKM 1998) for failure to comply with the conditions of their licence.
