Television interviews with public citizens are generally regarded as neutral and unbiased. However, one Astro Arena reporter is getting a lot of heat on social media for allegedly forcing his interviewee to answer in a specific way.
The interview was with a female football fan during the 2024 Merdeka Tournament at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. During the interview, the reporter, Zulhelmi Zainal Azam, asked the fan what she thought of the ongoing Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) boycott. For those unaware, many football fans have boycotted the event to protest against the FAM over various ongoing issues. In response to the question, the fan answered, ”The boycott is an issue outside of the field, so we keep it professional and show up to support our Harimau Malaya (national football team).”
The answer received some criticism from netizens, who believed the fan was ignorant about the boycott. However, following the backlash, the interviewee, Masmera Azhar, revealed that she merely answered the question the way the reporter had asked. Masmera explained that she gave such an answer because it was specified by the reporter, suggesting the answer was scripted. She also admitted that she wasn’t aware of the current events but apologised for her mistake, asking the public not to condemn her.
Following her revelation, netizens began criticising Zulhelmi, claiming he had scripted a fan’s answer to evoke a debate amongst football fans, which unfortunately also caused the fan to receive hate online. In response, the Astro Arena correspondent denied faking the interview, saying that he had only provided the question and not the answer. However, netizens still sided with Masmera, arguing that she had no reason to lie about the situation.
Unfortunately, Zulhelmi’s attempts to clear his name were met with even more backlash, especially after he posted another interview Masmera did with a different media. Many saw this as an attempt to throw the young fan under the bus to save face. They also slammed the reporter for his lack of professionalism, saying he shouldn’t have tried to start a smear campaign against the fan, even if he didn’t do anything wrong.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Astro Arena and its reporters received flak from the public for “unprofessional reporting”. It’s possible that the public already has a negative view of them because of their past – but what are your thoughts on this?
Watch the original interview here:
Sources: Instagram, Twitter (1)(2)(3)
