Medium Isn't Gonna Stop Hosting Sarawak Report Despite Being Blocked In Malaysia
Sarawak Report has been using Medium to reach the Malaysian public after being blocked by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) last year.
By John Lim — 27 Jan 2016, 04:23 PM
Medium has been blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) after whistleblower site Sarawak Report took to the blog-publishing platform to reach the Malaysian public
Founded in 2012, Medium is a blog-publishing platform that allows both professional and non-professional contributions to the platform. Many publications and online news portals are using Medium to reach a wider audience.
Sarawak Report, which was founded by British journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown was blocked last year, after reporting extensively on corruption allegations against Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The site then used Medium as its way of reaching the Malaysian public.
Sarawak Report has been especially vocal about Prime Minister Najib's allegation of pocketing money from the debt-ridden state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The site published its stories on the 1MBD scandal July last year and has since been blocked by Malaysian internet service providers (ISPs).
In a blog post titled "The post stays up", Medium said it was blocked by some Malaysian internet service providers (ISP), including Telekom Malaysia after it refused to give in to the MCMC's request to remove an article by Sarawak Report
Last Wednesday, January 20, we received an email from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission asking us to remove a post that had been published on Medium by the Sarawak Report two days earlier — “Najib Negotiates His Exit BUT He Wants Safe Passage AND All The Money! EXCLUSIVE DISCLOSURE.”
medium.com
In response, Medium asked MCMC to provide proof that the post by Sarawak Report was untrue. They didn't receive a response - then the blocking happened.
Unshaken and unfazed, Medium said it will never remove the post unless it's an order by the court.
Medium’s in no position to evaluate the truth of the Sarawak Report’s Medium post. We’ve received no evidence that the post violates any of our Rules, or any law. We stand by investigative journalists who publish on Medium. Until we receive an order from a court of competent jurisdiction, the post stays up.
medium.com
The block was uneven however, with some Medium users stating that they have no problems accessing the site
