Internet Media and Online Political Participation in Malaysia

This book analyses the importance of the exponential growth of independent news portals (INPs) in Malaysia and in particular the readership of Malaysiakini.com during Malaysia’s 12th and 13th general elections. The mainstream media in Malaysia has for decades been controlled by draconian laws such as the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) and the Sedition Act, as well as self-censorship by print and broadcast journalists and editors. The rise of INPs in Malaysia has challenged this government stranglehold, as well as making information available much faster than the traditional media. The interviews conducted for this book provide deeper insights from those producing news and at the same time observing political events including representatives of the Malaysian middle class, Opposition parties, youth and university students, NGOs and civil society movements.

Chinnasamy investigates key questions relating to this change in the media and political landscape in Malaysia. Did the INPs help evolve new democratic practices in the media or changes in how the government retained power by increasing people’s active engagement in political participation? Did a drastic revolution in the government-managed media landscape occur? If so, how did they accomplish these changes?

Sara Chinnasamy?is an Academic & Research Fellow under Institute of Journalism Studies (IJS) under the Faculty of Media and Communication Studies, University of Technology Mara, Malaysia. Her expertise is in new media and political journalism. She currently teaches the final year post graduates, International Communication and Degree courses Asian Politics, Communication Research Methods and Political Communication. She supervises a number of PhD higher degree candidates, Masters and Bachelors. Other research interests : media communication & consumption, research methodologies, media laws and ethics, media & democracy, international politics, qualitative approaches, journalism studies, new media and technologies and cultural studies. At present, constructing Master of Journalism, Faculty of Communication & Media Studies commencing September 2017 since December 2013.