And no, we're not talking about your ex.
Unprofessional ethics
National news agency Bernama came under fire for sharing a video of a dentist/traveling vlogger on their social media platform.Bernama, under its BernamaTV Twitter account, shared the video by one Dr Dustin Pfundheller titled 'Top 15 Mistakes in Locked up in Malaysia’s Lockdown video by Al Jazeera'.
Top 15 Mistakes in Locked up in Malaysia’s Lockdown video by Al Jazeera
— BERNAMA TV ?? (@BernamaTV) July 15, 2020
Video: Dr Dustin Pfundhelle “Other Side Of The Truth”
1/7 pic.twitter.com/iuwEkmHenh
Previously, a video by Pfundheller commending Malaysia on the country's handling of COVID-19 pandemic was also widely shared on social media and he was even interviewed by channels like - you guessed it - Bernama.
Netizens weren't impressed
Since the video was shared, many have called Bernama out for sharing the views of someone who is neither an expert in the topic he spoke about, nor have any experience in proper journalism.A quick Google search shows that Dr Pfundheller is a dental surgeon who travels a lot and make videos in countries that he visits.
None of his roles indicates that he has the expertise to comment on journalism or a pandemic.
Netizens were quick to condemn the news agency for their oversight:
BERNAMA dah takda journalists/team sendiri ke untuk produce reports to refute allegations by Al Jazeera? National News Agency kot.
— Datuk Jahat Hensem (@datukhensem) July 15, 2020
Whats going on? Sad lah. https://t.co/U7lYflw1T6
Fighting 'fake news' with more fake news. Great job bernama ?♀️ pic.twitter.com/haouihmb3g
— APmonitoring (@PmonitoringA) July 15, 2020
Had to double check if this was a Bernama parody account, but surprise surprise, it wasn't.
— Helter Skelter (@Roshinee_M) July 15, 2020
A legitimate news agency is using a YouTube video...by a white man...who panders to Malaysian government....in place of actual journalism ?? https://t.co/gDAf93sVRJ
Seriously? That's cutting up the YouTube video into 7 parts, uploading them without attributing or linking it back to the original content producer.
— Norman Goh (@imnormgoh) July 15, 2020
Still, nothing is processed from the video as a story. It's copy and paste.
What's going on with Bernama? https://t.co/yeVaPfS3HB
Why is Bernama sharing this? Didn’t know Pfundhelle works for Bernama. https://t.co/j53gpiDiIx
— ????? ??????? (@ayshardzn) July 15, 2020
Ya Tuhan BERNAMA now sharing the Covid-19 perspective of an omputeh DENTAL SURGEON.
— Erna Mahyuni (@ernamh) July 15, 2020
We have our own public health experts.
Our own virologists.
BUT NO. MESTI NAK SHARE OMPUTEH PUNYA YOUTUBE.
First, there was the case of a Bernama newscaster mocking people on air, and now this. What is happening at the national news agency?
We hope they will come out with a statement soon.