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) is an abbreviation of Berita Nasional Malaysia (''Malaysia National News''); it also means ''named'' or ''titled'' in the Malay language. It was created by an Act of Parliament in 1967 and began operating on 20 May 1968.

Overview

BERNAMA operates from its headquarters at ''Wisma Bernama'', off Jalan Tun Razak near National Library, Kuala Lumpur. It has its branches in every state in Malaysia. It also has correspondents in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

, Singapore and Bangkok and also its stringers in Washington, D.C., New York City, Australia and London. Most of the news media in Malaysia and Singapore and international news agencies subscribe to BERNAMA. Bernama began reporting using the audio-visual medium with the opening of its audio-visual division in September 1998. It also has its own radio and television channel.

Bernama Radio 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) ...

is a 24-hour news and talk radio station broadcasting in the areas of Kuala Lumpur and the

Klang Valley Klang Valley ( ms, Lembah Klang; zh, 巴生谷; ) is an urban conglomeration in Malaysia that is centered in the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and includes its adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor. It is con ...

on 93.9 FM, as well as in

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

, Kota Kinabalu,

Johor Bahru Johor Bahru (), colloquially referred to as JB, is the capital city of the state of Johor, Malaysia. It is located at the southern end of Peninsular Malaysia,along the north bank of the Straits of Johor, opposite of the city-state Singapore. T ...

and Singapore on different frequencies. Bernama TV is a channel which offers news in

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

, English, Chinese and Tamil on Channel 502 and Channel 631 of Astro and Unifi TV, respectively.

Bernama TV

Bernama TV (formerly known as Bernama News Channel) is a Malaysian free-to-air news television network. It is owned by Bernama, a government news agency. It airs news programmes that are related to local and international business, lifestyle, sports and entertainment. Like

Radio Televisyen Malaysia Radio Televisyen Malaysia ( en, Radio Television of Malaysia, abbreviated as RTM, stylised as rtm), also known as the Department of Broadcasting, Malaysia ( ms, Jabatan Penyiaran Malaysia) is the national public broadcaster of Malaysia. Establi ...

's television channels, Bernama TV have some amount of commercial advertising. BNC news bulletins were initially aired on Astro Ria, Astro Prima, Astro AEC, Astro Wah Lai Toi and

Astro Vaanavil Astro Vaanavil is a Malaysian pay television channel that broadcasts programming in Tamil, targeting the Indian community in Malaysia. It was launched on 1 June 1996. It was created by Astro. Starting 1 June 2020, Astro Vaanavil has been offic ...

, but they have since been integrated to one Astro network. Its news content is primarily broadcast in Malay. However, there are also news bulletin in English,

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, and Tamil since 2018. Other shows that are broadcast on BNC are flagship talk-shows like Malay-medium "Ruang Bicara" as well as English-medium "The Nation" and "Bernama Today". On 25 May 2016, BNC went into a major rebrand, rebranding itself from Bernama TV to Bernama News Channel (BNC) only to quietly revert to its original logo and name in October 2019. The staff were offered a contract with Gem Bytes Sdn Bhd on 14th day of the same month and year. On 8 October 2021 from 12:00am onwards, Bernama TV switch to broadcasting in HD format.

Bernama Radio

Bernama Radio (formerly known as Radio24 or BERNAMA Radio24 until March 2016) is the first all-news radio station in Malaysia. The free-to-air station began trial transmission on 2007 at noon and was officially launched on 3 September 2007 at 9:00 a.m. It broadcasts on the FM 93.9 MHz frequency in the

that was formerly used by RTM's Klasik Nasional FM. The station broadcasts domestic, regional and world news through hourly news bulletins, quarter-hourly news highlights and breaking news as and when they happen through live field reports and telephone cross-overs. The station also has an array of talk-back shows. It also airs at frequent intervals, traffic, weather and stock market reports. The station also provides live audio streaming through its website. On 3 January 2011, the station began its Mobile Streaming service via smartphones, accessible through the devices on board internet browser. The station underwent a minor rebrand in March 2016 whereby the station is now known as "Bernama Radio". Broadcasting in both English and

, the station is owned and operated by the news agency, and broadcasts from ''Wisma Bernama'' in Kuala Lumpur. For its first phase, the station's transmission covered the

, which is home to approximately eight million people. Tamil language broadcasting was introduced on 4 February 2017. The slot, known as "Tamil Oli", is broadcast from 11a.m. to 1p.m. and from 11p.m. to midnight every Saturday and Sunday respectively. It is created in collaboration with New Wave Events Sdn Bhd and will be based on an infotainment concept. The introduction of such slots also means that Tamil language radio broadcasts will be launched in East Malaysia for the first time, since other Tamil radio stations available in Malaysia only broadcast in Peninsular Malaysia.

Frequency

Television

Incidents

Noramfaizul Mohd Nor Noramfaizul Mohd Nor was the first journalist from Malaysia to be fatally injured while on a dangerous assignment abroad. The attack occurred on 2 September 2011 in Mogadishu, Somalia, while Noramfaizul was reporting for '' Bernama TV'' on a h ...

worked for Bernama TV as a TV camera operator when he was killed 2 September 2011 covering a humanitarian mission to Somalia.CNN. "Malaysian journalist killed in Somalia." 3 September 2011. Retrieved 25 October 201
CNN
He was the first Malaysian journalist to be killed while on assignment abroad.

References

External links

* {{coord, 3.1715006, 101.7100206, display=title Federal ministries, departments and agencies of Malaysia News agencies based in Malaysia Mass media in Kuala Lumpur Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (Malaysia) 1968 establishments in Malaysia Government agencies established in 1968 24-hour television news channels in Malaysia Television channels and stations established in 2007 Radio stations in Malaysia Malay-language radio stations Multilingual news services