The changing media terrain

 

By Karim Raslan, The Star

A FASCINATING special section in last week’s The Economist magazine explores the new media terrain post – Tahrir Square (in Cairo). As we now know, social media can be instrumental in toppling governments.

Unfortunately, our leaders seem to have equated Malaysia with the Middle East – not realising that the conditions on the ground are totally different.

Indeed, paranoia seems to have clouded the judgment of perfectly intelligent people. The magazine’s analysis is all the more telling given the global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s highly embarrassing and value-destroying, phone-tapping debacle in the United Kingdom.

The Economist outlines the extraordinary expansion and radical democratisation of the news industry as technology up-ends traditional business models.

They argue that the global news industry is in the midst of a dramatic transformation – something that we in Malaysia are also experiencing.

However, the survey begins by describing how the news was generated and then circulated centuries ago. In the era before the advent of newspapers, people exchanged news face-to-face at coffeeshops, warungs and markets.

As a result, genuine news was mixed with gossip. Inaccuracies abounded and individuals were left to determine for themselves the relative veracity of what they were hearing.

Obviously this is the tukang cerita’s kind of world – an environment where the truth is in short supply and charlatans are poised at every corner.

Anyhow, according to The Economist the news industry is facing a surprising return to the past.

However, the random market gossip has been replaced by a torrent of chatter emanating from social media – from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. In short, the volume is phenomenal.

It is also loud, vociferous and intensely personal. The wall of noise will end up fracturing the public debate as a mass of disparate voices swamp the mainstream media. This will be matched by a challenge to the traditional media.

Nonetheless, The Economist dates the rise of the newspaper industry to the launch of The Sun newspaper in New York in 1822. Combining advertising and objective journalism, The Sun was to reach an unprecedented 15,000 circulation within just two years – giving birth to an entire industry.

Of course the subsequent travails of the newspaper industry have differed from country to country, reflecting underlying cultures. The Internet has had its most dramatic impact on British and American newspapers, all of which have been affected in circulation and revenue whereas German and Japanese titles haven’t been badly mauled.

Interestingly, there is still growth in newspaper circulation in emerging markets in India, Brazil and Indonesia.

Another major exception to the overall negative trend in newspaper circulation is the general success of local media – newspapers with deep community roots that work hard at reporting and representing the various voices on the ground such as Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian.

From a political perspective, the industrialisation of news-gathering resulted in the centralisation of influence. Those who owned newspapers quickly became very powerful with men such as William Hearst, Beaverbrook and indeed Rupert Murdoch trading favours with politicians and other businessmen.

Understandably, politicians disliked and distrusted these powerful individuals and in many cases they did their utmost to curb their reach.

However, in countries such as Malaysia, with our draconian newspaper licensing regulations, the balance of power is tilted very clearly in favour of the authorities.

At the same time the actual control and ownership of newspaper titles by political parties and their allies was a major source of Barisan Nasional’s lock on power.

But times change.

We are now presented with a very curious and unique scenario in Malaysia. We have a media that is split in the middle – with the mainstream (conventional) media supporting Barisan and the web-based predominantly supporting Pakatan.

A relaxation of government controls will boost newspaper credibility immediately but tragically this is an unlikely eventuality.

Denied access to the mainstream media, Pakatan politicians are being forced to learn how to navigate the new and increasingly complex media terrain. They’ve become leaner and meaner.

By way of comparison, (with the exception of Khairy Jamaluddin who switches through all media formats, relentlessly pushing his agenda like any ambitious politician), Barisan figures prefer to stick to the mainstream media.

As such they aren’t learning how to manage the new challenges.