Politics and the media in cyberspace- The Malaysian Insider
January 17, 2012 — Why is it that when Sakmongkol AK 47 leaves Umno for the DAP, it seems completely natural to the blogosphere, but when RPK turns on Anwar, there are howls of protest? Why is it that there is widespread jubilation in cyberspace when 100,000 people like a Facebook protest against a government-backed megatower, but complete silence when only 5,000 people out of a promised 100,000 show up for the conclusion of Sodomy II?
In the case of Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, what made his blog one of the more popular ones was the fact that an Umno member and ex-assemblyman was able to criticise the various shortcomings of his own party with no real pushback. Contrast that with the case of Raja Petra Kamarudin, whose recent diatribe against the opposition has probably condemned him to a worse exile than the one he is currently living in, and even more probably, a drastic fall in readership of his largely pro-opposition Malaysia Today website.
Even though the acquittal of Anwar Ibrahim and the conviction of Khir Toyo are both to the liking of opposition supporters, neither is seen by them as signs of a reforming judiciary reclaiming its independence. But the fact of the MACC taking over the investigation of the NFC scandal is treated with scepticism and assumptions that the file will surely be tagged with a NFA (No Further Action) and the alleged wrongdoers let off.
It would be no exaggeration to say that if the mainstream media demonstrates a distinct pro-government bias, the online news media does the same, in reverse. Most of the mainstream media, being owned by BN proxies, has no real choice in the matter. But today the so-called independent online news media is increasingly oppositional in its slant.
This is probably in response to their realisation that most of their audience is actually only interested in the misdeeds of the ruling coalition rather than a balanced take on current issues. Being profit oriented, obviously they will give what their readers want. The casualty in all of this is objectivity and fairness in political news analysis. Why is it that there does not seem to be any space for what is presumably the 40 percent of non-aligned voters in either medium?
The answer to all of this probably lies in the long history of denial of free access to and dissemination of information prejudicial of the ruling coalition to the news media. When this long pent-up latent demand got an outlet in the form of alternative online news media, it attracted a large number of ordinary Malaysians curious to learn about the negatives of the hitherto untouchable powers-that-be.
Over the years though, it could be predicted that a space in the centre would appear, distinct from the fanatical pro- and anti-government media outlets, for the ordinary Malaysian interested in a politically neutral analytical take on current political events.
But judging from the comments on various news articles and commentaries online, political cyberspace today is overwhelmingly dominated by hardline rabid opposition supporters who jeer at every misstep of the government and cheer at every success of the opposition, but are not interested in anything that might talk about the reverse. Even-handed analysis is also routinely cherry picked to suit their version of the truth.
In all mature democracies, the heart of news consumption, mainstream or online, is dominated by titles that are perceived to be credible in their reporting and analysis, backed by journalistic principles of objectivity, fairness and a passionate appetite for the truth alone.
As Malaysian democracy matures with the help of greater press freedom, this is likely to be the most contested space in the news business. Counterintuitively though as editorials in portals like The Malaysian Insider become more overtly anti-BN, it is the mainstream media that is taking small steps to provide more balanced coverage with The Sun leading the way.
The long-term winners will be those that talk to the ideology-free, impartial majority. When public opinion is shaped on the basis of news reporting and analysis that is heavy on content and light on rhetoric and bias, the Malaysian news media would have truly arrived.
In the case of Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, what made his blog one of the more popular ones was the fact that an Umno member and ex-assemblyman was able to criticise the various shortcomings of his own party with no real pushback. Contrast that with the case of Raja Petra Kamarudin, whose recent diatribe against the opposition has probably condemned him to a worse exile than the one he is currently living in, and even more probably, a drastic fall in readership of his largely pro-opposition Malaysia Today website.
Even though the acquittal of Anwar Ibrahim and the conviction of Khir Toyo are both to the liking of opposition supporters, neither is seen by them as signs of a reforming judiciary reclaiming its independence. But the fact of the MACC taking over the investigation of the NFC scandal is treated with scepticism and assumptions that the file will surely be tagged with a NFA (No Further Action) and the alleged wrongdoers let off.
It would be no exaggeration to say that if the mainstream media demonstrates a distinct pro-government bias, the online news media does the same, in reverse. Most of the mainstream media, being owned by BN proxies, has no real choice in the matter. But today the so-called independent online news media is increasingly oppositional in its slant.
This is probably in response to their realisation that most of their audience is actually only interested in the misdeeds of the ruling coalition rather than a balanced take on current issues. Being profit oriented, obviously they will give what their readers want. The casualty in all of this is objectivity and fairness in political news analysis. Why is it that there does not seem to be any space for what is presumably the 40 percent of non-aligned voters in either medium?
The answer to all of this probably lies in the long history of denial of free access to and dissemination of information prejudicial of the ruling coalition to the news media. When this long pent-up latent demand got an outlet in the form of alternative online news media, it attracted a large number of ordinary Malaysians curious to learn about the negatives of the hitherto untouchable powers-that-be.
Over the years though, it could be predicted that a space in the centre would appear, distinct from the fanatical pro- and anti-government media outlets, for the ordinary Malaysian interested in a politically neutral analytical take on current political events.
But judging from the comments on various news articles and commentaries online, political cyberspace today is overwhelmingly dominated by hardline rabid opposition supporters who jeer at every misstep of the government and cheer at every success of the opposition, but are not interested in anything that might talk about the reverse. Even-handed analysis is also routinely cherry picked to suit their version of the truth.
In all mature democracies, the heart of news consumption, mainstream or online, is dominated by titles that are perceived to be credible in their reporting and analysis, backed by journalistic principles of objectivity, fairness and a passionate appetite for the truth alone.
As Malaysian democracy matures with the help of greater press freedom, this is likely to be the most contested space in the news business. Counterintuitively though as editorials in portals like The Malaysian Insider become more overtly anti-BN, it is the mainstream media that is taking small steps to provide more balanced coverage with The Sun leading the way.
The long-term winners will be those that talk to the ideology-free, impartial majority. When public opinion is shaped on the basis of news reporting and analysis that is heavy on content and light on rhetoric and bias, the Malaysian news media would have truly arrived.
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