KUCHING, MALAYSIA: Politicians who turn bloggers will not be able to attract readers if they disallow negative comments on their postings, said Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir.

She said they would lose their credibility if they took off the negative comments.

"As long as you allow other views to come in, that will enhance the whole value of your blog," she said.

Marina, a blogger and long-time columnist of The Star, was speaking on "Challenges posed by alternative media to mainstream media" at the event organised by Angkatan Zaman Mansang and the See Hua group, which owns several newspapers.

Marina said she published 99.5% of comments from readers on her blog and that she only threw out comments that were advertising in nature or unrelated to her postings.

She said that as blogging was an interactive forum it would not work if politicians just wanted to put their speeches on their blogs.

"There is a tendency to believe everything on the blogs. Certainly, this is a displaced notion," she said.

She said readers repeatedly visited a certain blog because of its credibility and new insights into issues.

Marina said there were only four or five social-political bloggers in the country that the authorities were worried about because they had many readers.

Marina did not think that alternative media would threaten the survival of mainstream media, but added that: "The survival of mainstream media will depend on their quality and contents because readers are becoming more demanding and discerning."