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Scepticism over Malaysian PM's reform announcement
ABC Radio Australia - September 19, 2011
Some in Malaysia's mainstream media industry have praised Prime Minister Najib Razak's proposed removal of annual licensing for newspapers as heralding a "dawn of a new era".
But analysts remain sceptical about ushering in greater media freedoms, short of wholesale changes in the ownership of newspapers and television networks.
Reporter: Kean Wong
Speakers: Zaharom Nain, Nottingham University in Malaysia; Hata Wahari, former head of Malaysia's National Union of Journalists; Jahabar Sadiq, editor of Malaysian Insider
Wong: At a time when Malaysia's mainstream media companies are struggling with double-digit percentage falls in audience and circulation figures, prime minister Najib's proposed liberalisation of media licensing laws has been warmly welcomed.
While licensed newspapers, television and radio are a billion-dollar business in middle-class Malaysia, the mainstream news media hasn't been able to compete with the free-wheeling, uncensored online world of feisty news and commentary sites, which have captured huge swathes of the urban audiences advertisers – and the government – are clamouring for.
It's a political problem for Mr Najib's ruling UMNO party, as the mainstream media's government-influenced news coverage loses credibility on the eve of what many expect will be keenly fought elections expected in the next few months.
For media professor Zaharom Nain of Nottingham University in Malaysia, the prime minister's moves to relax political and media laws won't easily fix the mainstream media's credibility problem:
Nain: "Apart from those licensing laws, what we must understand in the Malaysian context is the commercial control over the media by political parties which are aligned to the government of the day. Large conglomerates such as Media Prima, which is definitely linked to UMNO, control all the free-to-air television stations, for example.
"When you have that type of political control, at the end of the day it will lead to this media not being able to move. So the credibility of the mainstream media has just taken a dive."
Wong: Fighting this culture of media censorship has been Hata Wahari, until recently the National Union of Journalists chief and a senior journalist at the UMNO-controlled Utusan Malaysia newspaper. Hata says his recent sacking from the paper highlights the problem of political ownership, especially after Mr Najib became prime minister in 2009:
Hata: "For us, liberalisation in media includes the ownership, the independence of media. The problem in Utusan is when UMNO takes over the management, all the editorial departments, that started in 1961. But in 2009 it became worse, it became more like a propaganda tool, no longer a voice of the people."
Wong: But the ownership and political constraints faced by licensed newspapers and broadcasters have made the uncensored online world of news services such as the Malaysian Insider hugely popular, says editor Jahabar Sadiq.
With a quarter of his audiences using mobile phones for news and broadband services covering nearly 70 percent of Malaysian internet users, the mainstream media may lose its traditional influence over voters in the coming elections.
Sadiq: And they stick to the official line. More and more people are pissed off, disgusted with their way of reporting that they've stopped buying the newspapers, stopped going to their websites and just stick to the alternative media.
The huge leap of faith people have in online media is most of us are not owned by any parties aligned to the government. Most of us allow comments, we have feedback and interaction, which is crucial in the 21st century.
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