October 6, 2012
Malaysiakini as good as the Public Domain
by Josh Hong@www.malaysiakini.com
Kudos to the Kuala Lumpur High Court, which postulated the judicial examination of Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd to quash the Home Ministry's decision to reject the application for the assent to begin the newspaper.
It has been the long time entrance as good as the online headlines portal which you am honoured to be associated with is eventually vindicated.I still recollect the days when you had Malaysiakini as homepage upon my desktop.
Some colleagues were rsther than uneasy; others were shocked. One of them asked me in the feeble voice: "The supervision says it is subversive. Is it really?" you replied by inviting her to read, though she usually incited away.
It is right away hard to imagine Malaysians once lived in the pervasive climate of fear as such which stifled the happiness of celebration of the mass headlines which truly mattered at the time. Mahathir Mohamad's iron grip upon the media was so absolute which to defy it would roughly entail martyrdom!
But you will never dont think about it was Malaysiakini which initial exposed the try by Sin Chew Jit Poh (now Sin Chew Daily) to airbrush the face of Anwar Ibrahim mysteriously from the organisation picture of BN leaders, giving the conceited Chinese daily the initial ambience of genuine competition, as good as the bad blood never goes away.
Malaysiakini was also quick in stating BN's loss of Terengganu upon the night 
of the 1999 general choosing whilst the mainsteam media were gripping the nation in the dark. A year as good as the half after in April 2001, you learned roughly now of the outrageous headlines of Hishamuddin Rais (whom you usually hung out with two nights before) as good as Tian Chua being incarcerated along with several others underneath the scandalous ISA, pleasantness of Malaysiakini again.
In the days prior to the Facebook-mania as good as the popularisation of other amicable network tools, to debunk the myth which Malaysia could not afford cross-ethnic headlines stating was the tall order. The actuality which Malaysiakini managed to set the trend as good as give Barisan Nasional Mahathir in sold the run for their money is no small feat.
Every communication technology impacts governance as good as domestic processes, as good as the Malaysian landscape is being vastly altered right away which the amicable media has gained the firm foothold in Malaysia's body politic.
In the Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, German reflective thinker Jrgen Habermas regards the multiplying of the coffeehouse culture in 18th century England as creating the open sphere which "mediates between multitude as good as state, in which the open organises itself as the bearer of open opinion".
In this open sphere, ordinary people would exchange report as good as opinions upon assorted issues, from the prospects of the system of administration shift down to the costs of the minister's private wedding. In short, it is the domain in the amicable life in which open opinions can be formed, as good as you in this generation have been truly advantageous to be able to witness the mushrooming of amicable media collection which presents the challenging plea to the omnipotent statute coalition.
For some-more than half the century, UMNO as good as the cohorts have been winning broadcast as good as imitation communications, whilst media ! tenure h as turn intensely concentrated, with the end outcome which usually the handful of people linked to the statute parties have been 'privileged' enough to cover the open perspective of the complete populace.
Breaking the monopoly
Too bad, which the emergence of the online media has damaged the corner usurped by the powers-that-be.
A Picture Doctored by BERNAMA
What is many heartening in the epoch-breaking phenomenon is which Netizens have been right away reception the proactive role in challenging as good as even opposed the mainstream media as good as politicians from both sides of the domestic divide with facts as good as argument. Just recently, Bernama was forced to admit the single of the cinema (above) depicting Najib Abdul Razak being swarmed by supporters in Pekan had been doctored.
And The Star, Chua Soi Lek's mouthpiece, was caught with the pants down when the single of the articles was plagiarised word for word from the foreign publication.
Three months ago, Sin Chew Daily was made to go through rounds of scorn as good as mockery after the reader found to his abhorrence which the editorials had been repeatedly plagiarized as good as reproduced from elsewhere.
Further behind in 2005, the little netizens rescued in the column by Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew's arguably many 'celebrated' columnist as good as the emissary editor-in-c! hief, re markably identical paragraphs which could have been 'inspired' by Farish Noor upon Malaysiakini, though though acknowledgement.
The plagiarised contents regard how Indonesian protesters had exempted Siti Nurhaliza from their rage against Malaysia, as good as how the Malaysian songbird had managed to overpass the opening between the two countries with her picture as the "nice, proper, well-dressed as good as well-mannered" girl.
The anticipating went mostly unnoticed as FB was nonetheless to make significant encroachment in to Malaysian society. Things would have been very different right away though Tay's credentials as the 'senior' as good as 'experienced' publisher has come underneath the many heated scrutiny by the Chinese-reading open in Malaysia, upon FB, no less. Again, reception an endowment as 'the Best Chinese Journalist' from Najib last month is usually another profession to Tay's 'achievements'.
Stringent test upon journalistic ethics
To be fair, this unethical practice is not peculiar to the partly-free nation 
like Malaysia. Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek and Jahann Hari of the UK's Independent were both concerned in plagiarism.
All this usually goes to show that, whilst the advent of new media technologies has been the blessing so far, it has also imposed the far some-more difficult test upon journalistic ethics which any critical as good as earnest player must endeavor to live up to.
While you would similar to to congratulate Malaysiakini on the ultimate victory, though it is not the time to be c! onventio nal nonetheless because, as you all know, the single swallow does not the summer make. The stream system of administration may still fight back, as seen in the relentless office of Suaram, Bersih as good as other amicable movements.
Furthermore, judging from the painful experience of the Oriental Daily, in which the youngest Chinese daily's distribution channel is blocked, the initial be concerned of Malaysiakini may not necessarily be the malicious BN government, though the bullying as good as conceited Sin Chew Daily should there be the Chinese imitation edition.
Read More @ SourceMore Barisan Nasional (BN) | Pakatan Rakyat (PR) | Sociopolitics Plus |
No comments:
Post a Comment