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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Mainstream Media vs New Media

新媒体真的颠覆了我国的主流媒体的角色吗?

主流或非主流,所有媒体都应该对它们的报道负责;不管是主流媒体或新媒体,也都应该享有同等的媒体自由。当我们指责主流媒体处理新闻态度不公,倾向或偏袒政府之际,我们也不能以为新媒体所传递的讯息都是事实,当中,或有虚构或误导性的讯息。不过,无可否认新媒体是人们传达己见的最大管道。

我对媒体的看法是,要仔细了解深入解读所有媒体的报道,不能选择性接收片面的讯息,这样才能有效判断和监督各媒体的言论。国阵最大的错误之一是忽略了新媒体的舆论,对于不属实的报道也不加以驳斥,是因为国阵一厢情愿地以为,人民也和国阵一样,不会接触新媒体吗?

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Should we fully trust new media and desert mainstream media?

There are a lot of misleading statements and falsehood in the new media. Of course, it is an avenue for the people to express themselves. We should read between the lines as what has been expressed in all media.

One of the biggest failures of BN is that it is not countering what they’ve said in new media. BN think people don’t read the new media?

19 comments:

prachai said...

Of course my dear Dr. Until today I don't see the "mainstream" media giving fair coverage. It is still bent on spewing mindless propaganda and nothing else. Latest development? Check this out, the Makkal Osai has been banned for the sin of giving too much coverage to opposition. Man you guys never learn.

Give my the new media anytime. I can do my own thinking and it is just silly to think that people will just accept whatever the new media publishes. But one thing for sure: the odds for reading something smarter is definitely much higher in the new media than the "mainstream" media.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dr,

No, there should be no "deserting" of any media of any kind. But to say that there is a lot of falsehood being spread through the electronic media is not very true. In one sense, this blog of yours is also the electronic media. We all take in good faith what is being expressed, and I believe that most of us know to tell the difference between mere opinions from news..

And as you said: 主流或非主流,所有媒体都应该对它们的报道负责;不管是主流媒体或新媒体,也都应该享有同等的媒体自由。(key words being responsibility, and equal freedom). Good point.

Michelle

KIMHO8 said...

老話從提,何苦哪!

dragonfly said...

People only sought information on matters like tourism on the Internet and from blogs" - Zam
With dinosaur like this one, how do you expect us to trust MSM. The new Min-of-Info is no better. Even Makkal Ossai tried to be impartial, look what it got in return. It will take another demolition and change in gov. after GE-13. For now, we hope BN will never change their stance.

ipohboy said...

In Malaysia, malay read malay newspaper and chinese read chinese newspaper. The same issue may be reported in different way, just to attract different races attention. Hence, this may create misunderstanding among different races in our societies.

So far, i think the new media for example, Malaysiakini provides multi language version. And I think malay, chinese or indian will get the same idea after reading the news. This may help different races get to know each other better. Probably the mainstream media may follow this approach.

I remembered when Ka Ting announced a few chinese primary schools will be built, only the chinese media were invited to this press conference. Why not we should let malay know this announcement also? Will it harm?

thquah said...

My family have deserted the main stream media long time ago.Why??
Too much spin from the spin doctors.They always painted a beautiful picture for BN and not fair in reporting.
As for the new media I read between the lines.
Sometimes the news can be true if you stick to the more reliable blogs.
Some with inside info/news that the mainstream media dare not print.
BN is wrong if they said people don't read the new media. My whole family is well info on the new media that makes us 5 votes in the giving.

Pearls said...

In today's world, nobody actually trust anything completely. What more media, may it be electronic or print! I should say that this is because we have evolved tremendously via education and simple lessons in life which has taught us to question what we see or read or being told. We sometimes even question our own feelings! So, we dont take what is being dished out to us just because "The great said so"

As for misleading statements or falsehood, well, I think nobody can grab that award from our print media. Not only do our print media lie in abundance but also in such superb skill that it will put Lucifer to shame, our print media is also excellent in spinning something out of nothing and most of the time, it creates long term tension between humans! Now, that is not lying.. that is pure EVIL! So, if electronic media is deemed as misleading, what does that make print media? Worse than Lucifer!?

The biggest failure of BN is their ignorance! Plain.. simple... They were too cocoon in their comfortable high chair to even bother to tip themselves back a bit to have a peep at what the hell is going on outside. Being someone in position, they were not n the groove at all. BN was and still is ignorant to think that everything can be resolved by censorship and cracking the whip! Just pay attention to what our new Information Minister has said this week. HOW MORONIC is that?

So, again, to sum it all, may it be print or electronic media, if the content of the news is crap, it will definitely be flamed! Just have a look at what happened to CM of Melaka in his blog. Flamed till he turn to dust!

Unknown said...

If our government is competent and responsible,who the hell is so free to condemn the administration when they are happy with the government.It's only when our government has gone astray then only independent media will expose the wrong doing since you people are scared to voice up.Government controlled media are telling lies and they expect us to behave like component parties of BN,ie just accept it! We are so happy BN is denied the 2/3 majority and a vote for MCA and Gerakan is to help BN to achieve 2/3 majority in parliament at our expense.That's no way we will support MCA !

Ah Chin said...

There is a joke that goes as follows:

The master of a dog wanted it to shit on a sheet of paper from the NST but the dog refused. He then offered papar from The Star, then Utusan, then Nanyang, but all to no avail. Finally he gave the dog a sheet of paper without any print on it, and pronto, the dog got its works done. When asked why, the dog simply replied that all the paper from the MSM was already full of shit and it didn't want to add more of it to the paper.

Like it or not, the MSM have to accept the fact that most readers nowadays have the same perception as the dog. News in the MSM is mostly skewed to pander to the interests of the controlling stakeholders, mostly the political parties.

People turn to the new media because they are not controlled by any vested party and the perception on them is that their reporting is fair and unskewed. On top of that, readers are given the avenue to comment on the news and hence find the new media more interesting and stimulating.

If the MSM don't change to cater to the chaging needs of readers, they will become irrelevant very soon.

LohSH said...

Traditionally, the mainstream media have been the privileged property of the powerful organizations and people, especially the politicians in power. They are endowed with this privilege because they decide on the annual renewal of media’s publication license or they are the owners.

The mainstream media report mainly on what these people do and say and like to read, and become their channel of propaganda or connecting with the people. Some people can write to express their viewpoints to such media, but it is not a convenient way for most of the common people. Moreover, viewpoints or counterpoints on controversial issues are hardly acceptable.

Over time, the information flow becomes one-way top-down traffic. The powerful politicians are pretty happy with such a situation. It makes them happy and believe that what they say is always true and listened to, as they hardly hear or read what people oppose or disagree. The people hardly speak back with any strong or harsh words through such media.

It is this cozy position that makes them complacent and at times arrogant. When harsh and strong opinions against them begin to circulate in the electronic media, they attack the electronic media and defend themselves comfortably through their media, dismissing them as irrelevant and not trustworthy remarks passed around by a small bunch of irresponsible people.

It does not occur to them that they actually are internet illiterate and ignorant of the power of new technological development.

Ignorance and illiteracy in whatever form are dangerous. These complacent and arrogant people become the naked king with the most beautiful dress.

One example is the embarrassment encountered by Muhammad Taib when he lodges a police report against Raja Petra, alleging him for contempt of Sultan, Islam and Malay in his postings in Malaysia Today.

Muhammad Taib exposes his ignorance of the Net and Cyber World for which he pays a very heavy price. One can safely say that he is then taken to task by the people in the cyber world and torn to pieces by Raja Petra. He is totally unprepared for the backlash, for which he has no answer, as he has been too complacent with the mainstream media, almighty and unchallenged all along in his political life. To his horror, he suddenly finds out that the common people can speak back, take him to task, which can never happen in the mainstream media.

While the people in power have been enjoying the privilege of monopolizing the mainstream media for a long time, the common people finally find a convenient way or avenue in the electronic media to express their viewpoints, and more importantly counterpoints to what they disagree.

It is definitely true to say that a lot of information that flows in the internet is not true or accurate or questionable. But to discredit the electronic media based on this fact is equally biased. What makes us think or believe that what the mainstream media report is always true, trustworthy, comprehensive and not selective?

The people are now exposed to a wider range of information and opinions. It is up to them to decide on the reliability and accuracy of the information they receive or read, based on which they form their own opinions and make better informed decisions on current issues. But the same is also applicable to the politicians and people in power.

The electronic media become the playground of the common people, and politicians and people in power are free to join in as well.

On 3/8, the voters make their decision, an informed decision. The electronic media certainly plays an influencing part in the decision making.

It is entirely up to the political leaders who fail in the last election to believe that the voters are wrong in their decision because they have been misled by the electronic media. They can continue to stick fast to the mainstream media that they are familiar with. But the days of top to down information flow are definitely over.

Those people who have traditionally been the people in power and have chosen to expose themselves to the electronic media would by now have faced an unprecedented array of direct bombardment or shocking shouting back from the voters.

By now, they would be able to make a well informed decision as to whether such an exposure is worth all the positive and negative feedback which they will never be able to obtain by shaking hands with the voters during the 13-day campaign period.

Again, the decision to continue engaging and connecting to the common people through the electronic media is entirely theirs. But there is absolutely no doubt that the common people will continue to use the electronic media for information, expressing opinions and influencing the people around them.

If the politicians care to listen directly to the people, they can not do it effectively without the electronic media. They will only help to write themselves off by brushing aside the electronic media.

KIMHO8 said...

以主觀的態度活躍於部落格,簡直是浪費時間。 如果對新媒體非常質疑,別單單打打,真是牛皮燈籠,點也點不著。停止耍博客吧! 多做事,少說話。

W h Y MCA? BN ain't good at all.

Lysendar said...

Dear Dr. Chua,

I would say that new media give us another option to obtain "Inside News". I don't think we should desert the mainstream as there is a value for it. I do agreed that news spread from the new media cannot be fully trusted, however, the news from the mainstream also cannot be fully trusted as it has been controlled by certain people. On the other hand, all news spread from either mainstream media or new media should be under guarded. All the writers should bear the responsibility for the articles that they wrote, because what the readers want is the truth and nothing but the truth, but not the false information that might cause disaster tor the society. Moreover, the reporter from the mainstream media should be given more free hand to report news as long as it is the truth.

Unknown said...

I'm glad to see MCA standing up for Makkal Osai. However it has been all talk so far from MCA. It's time to back it up with action by leaving BN.

Sarjan low said...

New Media should treated as alternative media/info until it credibility been accepted by majority.

Its truth that we keen on reading the new media info but i believe it is more on balancing the Mainstream media info.

I believe new media will be best on its position as alternative media rather than mainstream media.

Sc9 said...

我同意您的说话。

我觉得,这些媒体机构,不管是平面或电子,本身都有自己的议程。
如果要当一位聪明的读者,我们应该从各种管道获得资讯,再自行分析。
媒体都是提供资讯与课题角度分析,但是我们都要客观看待与思考的。
有时候,马来西亚人还是欠缺了Questioning Cultural

myenvelope said...

The broadband penetration rate is merely 2.5%. You can guessed how many of us reads the internet medias. But hey, people has mouth and that's how news spread too. Usually heated news spread really fast, for example the "keris waving" and racist remarks. You can say only 2.5% read the news but over 90% of malaysian knew it, why?

None of us should fully trust any media, but a lot of the internet news were accompanied with videos. For example, the Lingam's case. Even if BN did counter some of the heated news, the replies from the BN politicians made them look stupid. That directly made the government look stupid as well.

The biggest failure of BN is they have the most racist leaders in there, and they made the stupidest replies to some of the issues. They also have the gutless leaders, that don't dare to counter the mistakes made by their peers. That made (1) that person look stupid (2) the entire coalition look stupid. Supporting your peers is encouragable, but supporting something that is not right is the fooliest. You may say "I never said I support it" but keeping quite is not a sign of against the idea. So, you may look strong inside with each members supporting one another, but what is good if there is no strong external support from the citizens? Think about it.

Citizen said...

"There are a lot of misleading statements and falsehood in the new media."

There's a lot NOT REPORTED and BIASNESS in the old media so what have you Mr Chua, have to say about it now? Everyone knows it, and how are you going to counter my statement. You very well know that it's true too.




"One of the biggest failures of BN is that it is not countering what they’ve said in new media. "

Tell me Mr Chua, how are you going to counter facts that are brought up by the new media? For example the demolition of the hindu temple or the fact that Pak Lah lied to his nose. It's a FACT, everything in black and white recording. You can't counter a fact in the new media.

Siti Khadijah said...

Would prefer the term information rather than media.Blogs are a great source of information.And it is two way traffic. Write something wrong and you will be crucified by fellow bloggers. Whether it is the truth or not people reading it will make up their minds. If it is just rumour mongering filled with lies, people can tell and they will stop reading. What people want is information, the truth and they are all intelligent enough to make up their minds. The problem with our main stream media is that they went overboard with their spin and lost credibility. People just stopped believing the information they published.

Unknown said...

Dr CSL,

1stly, welcome to the blogosphere! I hope u willing to publish all the comments to your blog minus those using offensive words.

2ndly, How do you see govt should counter attack the issue raised in popular political blogs such as Malaysia Today, M Bakri Musa, The other malaysia, Lim Kit Siang and the likes?

The way i see it, unless govt can and willing to come out clean regarding all the issues, there will be no way to fully counter attack 'the truth' can it?

Hope to see your reply.

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