New media for a new generation

Once upon a time... people were 'pushed' with information by the traditional media, like newspapers and televisions.

Today, people have the power to 'pull' information, especially with the evolution of the new media. Not only did weblogs grew explosively, there were also social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.

John Naughton (2006, p. 7) sees this evolution as "an interesting parasitic/symbiotic relationship between blogging and conventional journalism". Indeed, we can see this relationship in Malaysia, particularly during the March 2008 elections.

The media are supposed to be watchdogs of the government. Ironically, that is not so in Malaysia because the mainstream media are mostly controlled by the government. Thus, the public was always fed with pro-government news. However, ever since alternative media began to sprout like mushrooms, the public became more aware of what is happening in the nation.

Kaufman (2008) reported that 70% of Malaysian voters decision for March 8 elections were influenced by blogs and this led to a surprise loss for the ruling party. The alternative media like MalaysiaKini, The Malaysian Insider and MalaysiaToday, match their audience's needs, habits and expectations by providing news that is independent and transparent (Penman 1998, p.10). Furthermore, they cater to their audience by using the social networking sites mentioned earlier.



References:

Kaufman, S 2008, 'Malaysia’s Alternative Media Become Decisive Political Factor', American.gov, 3 April, viewed 13 November 2009, <http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/April/20080403175441esnamfuak0.1705591.html>.

Naughton, J 2006, 'Blogging and the emergent media ecosystem', in Seminar to Reuter's Fellowship, University of Oxford, viewed 13 November 2009, <http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf>.

Penman, R 1998, 'Document structures and readers' habits', Communication News, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 1, 10-11.