KUALA LUMPUR: Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil says he has no issue with Berita Harian's report on the expected increase in overnight policy rate (OPR).
Nevertheless, he maintained his stance on the article's alleged misleading headline posted on Facebook, which he said was unfair to Bank Negara and the government.
Fahmi said he had met with Media Prima's top management and BH group editor Datuk Ahmad Zaini Kamaruzzaman after Friday prayers today to discuss the matter.
Fahmi had earlier criticised the headline given to the article which was posted by BH on FB, saying that it was "slander".
He claimed the headline had insinuated that both government and Bank Negara had agreed to increase the OPR.
"(The meeting was held) following an FB posting by BH on the (expected) OPR hike, which has caused confusion and later widespread slander. Actually, the article merely quoted the opinion of an analyst and I have no problem with it.
"However, the FB posting (on the news item's headline) is entirely different, illustrating as if the Bank Negara or the government has made a decision (on hiking the OPR)
"That is not true and unfair to both Bank Negara and the government," Fahmi said in a series of tweets today.
Fahmi said BH's management understood his sentiment on the matter and had agreed to rectify the FB posting.
"I would like to thank the (BH) management for its cooperation. (During the meeting) we also discussed on issues related to media freedom, journalistic ethics and economic challenges faced by the industry.
"I will always respect and defend media freedom and rights. But a reprimand must be made if a misunderstanding which causes slander takes place, such as headline which strays away from an article's original content."