Maldives Media Council (MMC) had made a request at the parliament to increase their budget so they can develop the software required to regulate the online media in the country.

Speaking at the Budget Committee last night, Secretary General of the MMC, Dr. Ibrahim Sameer said that the budget of MVR 5.1 million currently allocated for MMC is not an appropriate budget.

He said that it is not enough to run journalism training, hire new staff and pay them under the new Minimum Wage Act and that insufficient to the efforts needed to be made to regulate the media.

Dr. Sameer requested that another 2.5 million be added to the current proposed budget for 2022.

He said that under the new Minimum Wage Act, MVR 397,997 will be spent on salary for the new employees that would be selected. And due to the structure of the MMC, MVR 450,463 is needed to develop the "mechanism" to regulate the media. Dr. Sameer said that another 300,000 is required to train journalists and 1.4 million for the trips in to the atolls.

Questioning the members of the MMC at the Committee, MP for Mid-Maafannu constituency, Ibrahim Rasheed (Bondey) asked the MMC to describe their work and asked of if having members of various media stations on the MMC creates a conflict of interest. The MP further asked if anything is being done to stop media outlets from inciting the public.

In response, the President of MMC, Shahuban Fahumee said that inciting reports from media outlets get reported to the Council and those cases have been investigated on the past. And Members will avoid being involved in cases that creates a conflict of interest. And they cannot be regulated due to the lack of budget.

The MP for Dhaandhoo constituency, Yauqoob Abdulla said that without budget and training, what the journalists do not know how to do is tell the truth but they can make "negative" news articles. In response, the MMC President said that such cases will drop significantly when the media is regulated.