Is the online media lopsided?
(The Nut Graph) – YET again, the online media in Malaysia is under attack. One of the latest rebukes comes from Kelab Wartawan Muda Malaysia (KWMM) president Dzulkarnian Taib who wants the authorities to curb Malaysiakini, including shutting it down, because of its “lopsided” reporting.
Dzulkarnian is not alone in his views. Senior Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians have also lambasted the online media. Newly-minted Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for example, recently accused Malaysiakini of “spin”, “twisting statements” and “creating things which are not there”. He ominously warned the news portal that he would be monitoring it very closely.
But is the online media’s reporting as biased and lopsided as the BN and its allies make it out to be?
Online most balanced
A recent media monitoring project over the general election period found that, in fact, online media was the most balanced in terms of coverage of both BN and Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The project, titled Watching the Watchdog, was conducted jointly by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and Nottingham University’s Malaysian campus. Up to 70 coders collected data from all election news items, line by line, minute by minute, from 7 April until just after the 5 May 2013 elections. It reviewed television news and newspapers from both east and west Malaysia, online media Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider, and wire service Bernama.
Read more at: http://www.thenutgraph.com/is-the-online-media-lopsided/
