Media/Jr freedom & ethics (BLOG 1)

Media can be said as a communication tool between government and citizen. Government need media to spread out the information to the public to get them know well about what's going on in their country (like politics, economic, education or others) and thus media play an important role in it.

 In Malaysia, due to the ownership of the media and regulation to control the media by government, there is almost no freedom for the media. They have to follow what their boss (owner which is government) said, and is obviously has been censored and filtered some issues by government. And also, it brings difficulty for the journalist as they are merely a part of the government’s propaganda machines and not professionals performing their duties to the best of their abilities. This situation also makes it hard for the citizens to exercise their rights to information and the right to make informed choices (Wang L. K 2001).

For example, there is a case happened last year about a Suara Wanita 1 Malaysia (SW1M) president, Sharifah Zohra snatching the microphone away from a university student, Bawani KS by creating comical Internet memes, songs and even dance remix versions of the video. Printed media that owned by government had covered some of the issue that might effected the government's image, it shows that the owner has the power to decide on the scope and the content to publish.

Reference:
http://www.google.com.my/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC0QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcijmalaysia.org%2Fminiportal%2Fdownload%2F1%2F&ei=dOanU_bMNc2C8gXAnIHIAQ&usg=AFQjCNE3khK26z49e2SSYp_BiISCUDwr5g&sig2=wPN71p_2PXc2vvxZ1cW5nQ&bvm=bv.69411363,d.dGc
 http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/uum-forum-was-to-indoctrinate-students-says-girl-told-to-listen