![Malaysia Opposition Newspapers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Malaysia_Opposition_Newspapers.jpg)
The mass media in Malaysia includes television, radio, newspapers, and web-based media such as bloggers. Many media outlets are either owned directly by the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
of
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
(e.g.
Bernama
The Malaysian National News Agency ( ms, Pertubuhan Berita Nasional Malaysia), is a news agency of the government of Malaysia. It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia. Bernama (usually stylized in all caps) ...
) or owned by component parties of the
Barisan Nasional
The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...
coalition which formed the government until May 2018 (e.g. the
Media Prima
Media Prima Berhad, doing business as Media Prima and stylised as media prima, is a Malaysian media company based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. It is Malaysia's largest media and entertainment conglomerate with business interests in television, pri ...
group, which is owned by the
United Malays National Organisation
The United Malays National Organisation (Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its in ...
). Opposition parties PAS and PKR, now the main parties of the ruling "Pakatan Harapan" coalition, publish their own newspapers, Harakah and Suara Keadilan, respectively, which are openly sold alongside regular publications.
Since conventional media is so tightly controlled by the government, Malaysia has a lively
alternative media
Alternative media are media sources that differ from established or dominant types of media (such as mainstream media or mass media) in terms of their content, production, or distribution.Downing, John (2001). ''Radical Media''. Thousand Oaks, C ...
scene, characterised by such news portals as ''
Malaysiakini
''Malaysiakini'' (meaning in English: "Malaysia Now") is an online news portal published in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. Malaysiakini receives over 2.3 million page-views per day on desktop and mobile. Alexa ranked ''malaysiakini.com'' ...
'' and ''
The Malaysian Insider
''The Malaysian Insider'' (also known as ''TMI'', ''The Insider'', or ''Malay Ins Ins'') was a Malaysian bilingual news site. During its peak, it ranked consistently as one of the country's 100 most popular websites. In June 2009, Alexa ranke ...
'' which take advantage of the government's pledge not to censor the Internet despite its stranglehold on most mass media outlets.
Newspapers
There are over 30 newspapers and
tabloid
Tabloid may refer to:
* Tabloid journalism, a type of journalism
* Tabloid (newspaper format), a newspaper with compact page size
** Chinese tabloid
* Tabloid (paper size), a North American paper size
* Sopwith Tabloid, a biplane aircraft
* ''Ta ...
s published mainly in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. The most prominent newspapers include ''
The Star
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', ''
New Straits Times
The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...
'', ''
theSun'', ''
Berita Harian
''BH'' (renamed on 2 July 2012; formerly known as ''Berita Harian'') is a Malay-language daily newspaper published in Malaysia owned by the New Straits Times Press. It was first published on 1 July 1957 as the first mainstream newspaper in M ...
'', ''
Utusan Malaysia
''Utusan Malaysia'' ( Jawi: اوتوسن مليسيا; English: ''The Malaysian Tribune'' or simply ''Utusan'') is a Malaysian Malay-language daily newspaper. Formerly owned by the Utusan Group, the newspaper is currently owned by Media Mulia.
...
'', ''
Sin Chew Jit Poh'' and ''
Nanyang Siang Pau
''Nanyang Siang Pau'' or ''Nanyang Business Daily'' () was founded by philanthropist-entrepreneur Tan Kah Kee on 6 September 1923 in Straits Settlements, currently published in Malaysia. ''Nanyang Siang Pau'' is one of the oldest Chinese-langua ...
''.
Television and radio
State-owned
RTM operates six free-to-air terrestrial local television channels licensed to broadcast in Malaysia, as well as 34 radio channels nationwide. Meanwhile,
Media Prima
Media Prima Berhad, doing business as Media Prima and stylised as media prima, is a Malaysian media company based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. It is Malaysia's largest media and entertainment conglomerate with business interests in television, pri ...
is the parent company of four television channels and five radio channels.
Privately owned by
Astro Malaysia Holdings
Astro Malaysia Holdings () is a Malaysian media and entertainment holding company that began as a paid digital satellite radio and television service, Astro. The company is owned by Astro Holdings Sendirian Berhad, which also owns Astro Oversea ...
,
Astro
Astro may refer to:
Entertainment and media
* Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band
* Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40
* Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band
* Astro (Japanese band), ...
is Malaysia's current only satellite television provider. There are 200 channels to choose from at a minimum amount of RM 49.95 per month and at a maximum amount of RM 200.00 per month. Astro had 20 radio channels, of which 17 are Astro-branded radio stations, of which nine of them are available via FM radio.
HyppTV
Unifi TV (stylized as unifi tv, formerly known as HyppTV prior to January 2018) is an IPTV service operated by Telekom Malaysia (TM). It was launched in 2010 as part of TM's bundled Triple-play service offering of VoIP Telephone, Internet and ...
by
Unifi is one of Malaysia's
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...
provider but to take the TV package, the customer must select at least one internet package, from RM 149 per month to RM 350 per month.
TV Sarawak
TVS (formerly TV Sarawak) is a linear digital television channel which provides news and programming from the region of Sarawak to the state itself plus other parts of Malaysia. TVS can be watched nationwide via the platform Astro and myFreev ...
(TVS) becomes the first regional TV station from
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
in Malaysia to have its own TV station. Albeit not the first in the
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
history as back in the April 1998,
NTV7 was launched by Sarawakian businessman,
Mohd Effendi Norwawi
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Mohd Effendi bin Norwawi ( Jawi: محمد أفندي بن نورووي; born 1 February 1948) is a Malaysian politician, businessman and administrator. He has previously served as a Sarawak State Assemblyman (1991–1999), t ...
under the entity of Natseven TV Sdn Bhd, before acquired by
Media Prima Berhad
Media Prima Berhad, doing business as Media Prima and stylised as media prima, is a Malaysian media company based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. It is Malaysia's largest media and entertainment conglomerate with business interests in television, pri ...
in 2005. With its own TV station, it will help to counter the problem of state's low priority and under coverage news by Peninsular-based media and increasing the power of
East Malaysia
East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. Near the coast of Sabah is a small archipelago called Labuan. East Malaysia li ...
representation.
Freedom
The regulated
freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...
has been criticised. Although critics concede that journalists "probably won't be hauled off and shot" for being critical of the government, it has been claimed that the government creates a
chilling effect
In a legal context, a chilling effect is the inhibition or discouragement of the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights by the threat of legal sanction. A chilling effect may be caused by legal actions such as the passing of a law, the ...
through threats of reduced employment opportunities and refusing journalists' family members "a place at one of the better public universities". Legislation such as the
Printing Presses and Publications Act
The Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 ( ms, Akta Mesin Cetak dan Penerbitan 1984) is a Malaysian statute governing the usage of printing presses and the printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing and distribution of public ...
have also been cited as curtailing freedom of expression.
In 2007, a government agency – the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission – issued a directive to all private television and radio stations to refrain from broadcasting speeches made by opposition leaders. The move was condemned by politicians from the opposition
Democratic Action Party
The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left social democracy, social democratic political party in Malaysia. ...
. The directive was later withdrawn by the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry.
Malaysia was ranked 141 out of 178 countries in the
Press Freedom Index
The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002 based upon the organisation's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to ...
by
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...
in 2010 and 122 out of 179 countries in 2012.
Malaysia was ranked 119 out of 179 countries in the Press Freedom Index in 2021.
Because of troop sensitivities, newspapers from
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
cannot be sold in Malaysia, hence ''
The Straits Times
''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was established ...
'' and other Singapore titles are not sold in Malaysia, while the ''New Straits Times'' and other Malaysian titles are not sold in Singapore. The ban was imposed before the 1 May 1969 general election in Malaysia.
''Arming the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF): trends and implications''
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 2003, page 66
Notes and references
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Media Of Malaysia
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...