KUALA LUMPUR: The popularity enjoyed by the alternative media is not a green light for writers to act with impunity, the deputy prime minister said.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak, during a question and answer session at the Asia Media Summit in Nikko Hotel here yesterday, said while the government was open to criticism, there were limits to what could be expressed.

He was answering a question by a conference delegate as to whether the prosecution of blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin contradicted the government's claims of allowing freedom of speech.

"He is allowed to criticise the government very robustly. But when he made some very serious and baseless allegations, the attorney-general decided to act.

"There is a line that you cannot cross," said Najib, adding that Raja Petra was jailed because he refused to post bail. "He changed his mind about being in prison after a couple of days and posted bail."

On the media as a whole, Najib said the wider interests of society could not be compromised in the tussle for better ratings.

"For example, the print media, when clamouring for readership, exploits certain issues and exaggerates them. This is detrimental and injurious to national unity, which is why we have laws to take action against those who cross the line.

Also attending the conference which had some 536 delegates from 66 countries were Deputy Information Minister Datuk Tan Lian Hoe and Institute of Strategic and International Studies chairman and CEO Datuk Seri Jawhar Hassan.

He conceded that the Barisan Nasional's poor presence on the Internet cost it support in the last elections and said there was a need to engage the new media.

"This was one of the factors that led to us having a worse than expected performance. But we live and learn. Being silent is not an option anymore and we have to address the issues raised."

Najib, who earlier delivered the summit's keynote address on behalf of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said the medium and the message of the mass media had expanded so much that it could no longer be held as an absolute good.

He urged journalists not to be too taken in by the "bells and whistles of technology", but to hold to established virtues of accuracy, intelligence, fairness and grit as these formed the competitive advantage of the traditional press in the "anarchic environment of the new age".

"The right to freedom of speech and expression cannot be used as a pretext or excuse to violate and abuse the reputation and dignity of a people, to slander and libel or to defame religions or religious symbols.

"If this were the case, there would be no laws of defamation or libel and laws against those who incite racial or ethnic violence."

Najib said Malaysia's laws were not curbs on freedom, but essential for the healthy functioning of society.

"It may cost us a few points on the World Press Freedom Index, which is based on specific assumptions and premises, but our security and the wellbeing of our society takes precedence."