What journalists can do to change things

COMMENT | In a parting shot to a journalist friend who had to rush for the Sydney train to work in one of Murdoch’s papers, I said: “Make the world a better place through your work, buddy.”

He replied in text: “Making the world a better place is not the aim of my work – nor can it be an acceptable aim of anyone... deluded by their own capabilities and self-importance. I must make a humbler proposition that I work because I want to keep my skills in good shape… and make a little money if I can as well.”

I hope some of us are not that cynical. That journalism was a career choice for some shows a conviction that through the written word, one can make a difference, no matter how small, to conditions in Malaysia...