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Social and cultural influences on journalism values in Asia
Ramanathan, Sankaran.
1995
Ramanathan, S. (1995). Social and cultural influences on journalism values in Asia. In AMIC Seminar on Asian Values in Journalism Seminar Nilai‑Nilai Kewartawanan Asia: Kuala Lumpur, 24‑25 August, 1995. Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication Centre. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/87288
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Social And Cultural Influences On Journalism Values In Asia
By
Sankaran Ramanathan
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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON JOURNALISM VALUES IN ASIA*
by Sankaran Ramanathan Principal Lecturer, MARA Institute of Technology, MALAYSIA
1. Introduction
Commenting on different perceptions of news values
eight years ago, JACK LULE notes that news is in
the eyes of the beholder (1). Lule further
distinguishes between news values as practised in
the First World (comprising the libertarian
Western countries), the Second World (comprising
nations aligned with the Soviet bloc) and the
Third World (the developing nations of Asia,
Africa and Latin America).
Since the classification constructed by Lule can
be a useful starting point for the discussion on
journalism values in Asia, it is pertinent to note
that classification, as follows:
* Paper Presented at the AMIC Seminar on Asian
Values in Journalism, Kuala Lumpur, 24 - 25
August 1995.
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First World News Values
(a) Timeliness, eg. yesterday^'s newspaper is fit only for wrapping fish (or nasi lemak, as in the case of Malaysia).
(b) Proximity, eg. 10,000 deaths in Nepal equals 100 deaths in Wales equals 10 deaths in West Virginia equals one death next door.
(c) Personality, eg. coverage of Elizabeth Taylor's numerous marriages.
(d) Unusual Events, eg. The man-bites-dog variety.
(e) Human Interest, eg. unexpected fortune or tragedy.
(f) Conflict, eg. fights and disagreements.
Second World News Values
(a) Ideological Significance eg. that which supports the current ideology.
(b) Party Concerns eg. news of the Communist party.
(c) Social Responsibility eg. news that is responsible to society.
(d) Education eg. news that is educational/ instructive.
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Third World News Values
(a) Development, eg. news about progress and growth.
(b) Social Responsibility, as explained above,
(c) Education/ as explained above.
(d) National Integration eg. news which promotes national unity.
Since the earlier session of this Seminar has already discussed the guestion of whether there is such a thing as Asian values in journalism, this writer does not wish to beg the guestion further, at least not at this early stage. He proposes instead.to report the findings of a research study involving Malaysian journalists working in the English Language, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil newspapers.
This will be followed by a discussion on social and cultural influences affecting journalism values, especially vis-a-vis Malaysian journalists. The final section of this paper will discuss whether some of these influences can be identified as being predominant in Asian cultures.
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The discussion in this paper refers primarily to news
papers in Peninsular Malaysia. However, reference will
fje made to journalism in Sabah and Sarawak as and when
appropriate.
2. Journalism Values in Malaysia
This section begins with an overview of Malaysian
journalism, followed by a profile of 91 gate
keepers working in eight major Malaysian news
papers. The final part presents a content
analysis of a structured-week sample of the eight
newspapers studied.
2.1 Malaysian Journalism - An overview
Though the first newspaper was published in
1802 (Prince of Wales Island Gazette),
journalism in Malaysia has not fully
developed neither as a profession nor
as a business entity.
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Many factors account for this situation, the primary one being the plural characteristic of newspapers, which reflects the plural society they serve and mirror. Hence, there are basic differences in the ownership, operation and management of Tamil and Chinese newspapers as compared to their more robust counterparts operating in English and Bahasa Malaysia.
Another basic characteristic is the partisan ownership of not only the major newspapers but also other mass media including a private television station, advertising and publishing companies. Ownership (and ensuing control) is vested with individuals or institutions connected with the leading political parties.
A third factor is the differing levels of education and training to which journalists working in the various media are exposed, as will be discussed later on in this paper.
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Historically, the development of Malaysian
journalism has been influenced by the British
presence in the Malay Peninsula. Hence,
English journalism took root in the former
Straits Settlements of Penang (for somatime
known as the Prince of Wales Island), Malacca
and Singapore. The last-named city was in
fact the birthplace of not only the early
English newspapers (such as the Straits Times
and Singapore Journal of Commerce in July
1845) but also the early Chinese newspapers
(such as Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit
Poh) and early Tamil newspapers (such as
Tamil Nesan and Tamil Murasu). By and large,
Malaysia and Singapore share a common
history inso-far as the early development of
journalism is concerned.
That the leading Bahasa Malaysia news
paper Utusan Malaysia was born in Singapore in
1939 should therefore come as no surprise.
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Even after this country's independence as the
Federation of Malaya in 1957, major newspapers
operated in both Malaya and Singapore without
becoming legally-separate entities until 1973,
when Malaysia amended the Printing Presses Act
to restrict foreign ownership of the print
media. Hence, The Straits Times spawned The
New Straits Times in Kuala Lumpur, whilst
almost all the other major newspapers retained
the same name but became separate entities,
with operations in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Two developments have affected Malaysian
journalism over the last quarter-century, as
foilows:-
(a) Emergence of Bahasa Malaysia as the foremost language for education and communication, resulting from the implementation of the government's national language policy. Hence, literacy in Bahasa Malaysia rose from 4 3 percent in 1977 to 85 percent in 1985. (2).
Current literacy in Bahasa Malaysia can be estimated at more than 90 percent.
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The direct result has been the increase in circulation of Bahasa Malaysia newspapers and magazines, so that Utusan Malaysia has become the biggest-circulation daily (see Table 1) •
(b) Newspaper ownership changes resulting from the amendments to the Printing Presses Act (referred to earlier), coupled with the emergence of new newspapers such as The Star, The Sun, Leader, Kanban, Watan and Harakah. These changes have ensured that major newspapers in Malaysia are owned and operated by Malaysian citizens.
Nonetheless, as observed earlier, Malaysian
journalism is still at its nascent stage and
needs to develop much further, particularly in
terms of its acceptance as a profession and
status as a business entity.
The picture is not entirely bleak, as we
can note some positive developments that
atjgur well for the future, including the
following :-
(a) Increasing emphasis on education and training in Journalism, as exemplified in courses taught and student enrolments in local universities and colleges (including the latest entrant, the Akademi Penulisan). (3).
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(b) Increasing influence of organisations devoted to promoting journalism as a profession, particularly the Institut Akhbar Malaysia (IAM - Malaysian Press Institute) which has ' successfully organised annual journalism awards since 1980. In addition, IAM has conducted 172 short courses in journalism for 3,251 participants since its inception in 1974 as the Southeast Asia Press Centre. Other noteworthy organisations at the national level are the National Press Club, The Environmental Journalists Association and the National Union of Journalists. At state level, the Sarawak and Sabah journalists1 associations are active in organising the annual state journalism awards. In fact, some of the winning entries have exhibited high standards of journalistic writing. Private organisations which have helped promote higher standards of journalism are Esso, Shell and the ICI group.
(c) Increasing operations and growing strength of Bernama, Malaysia's national news agency. Though Bernama's development has been slow in its incipient years, its pace has picked up, particularly with its semi- corporatisation in this decade. Nonetheless, this writer feels that Bernama's full potential, particularly as a regional and international news agency, has yet to be exploited.
(d) A more liberal attitude on the part of the government towards the mass media, resulting in the establishment of news papers such as Watan, The Sun, and the so-called "mosguito newspapers" (akhbar-akhbar nyamuk). It is hoped that the liberal policies will continue into this decade and beyond.
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Gatekeepers, people who influence the selection and presentation of news, range from the reporter to sub-editor, editor and even the owner or manager appointed by the owners. Though gate keeping can be viewed as a positive contribution, it is generally considered from the Western perspective to be an activity which negatively influences the selection and presentation of news. Most gatekeeping studies conducted in Western Journalistic settings have utilised the concept of objectivity as their theoretical orientation. These studies therefore view subjectivity as being deviant from the accepted norms of Western journalism.
The study reported here is basically exploratory, seeking to establish a profile of gatekeepers working in different environments, including differing languages. A total of 91 gatekeepers from eight newspapers studied (New Straits Times and Star in English, Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian in Bahasa Malaysia, Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh in Chinese, and Tamil Osai and Tamil Nesan in Tamil were interviewed using a standard guestionnaire. (See Table 2).
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The gatekeeper survey elicited the following information:-
(a) The majority of respondents were bilingual, proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and other language (English, Chinese or Tamil), with quite a few being trilingual (Bahasa Malaysia, English and either Chinese or Tamil). However, Bahasa Malaysia constituted the primary working language for most of them.
(b) The vast majority of respondents knew either formally or informally about the existence of an editorial policy in their newspaper with regard to specific personalities, organisations and issues. Almost all of them knew about these policies from their senior colleagues within a few weeks of starting work.
(c) The vast majority of respondents (86 or 90 percent) strongly agreed or agreed that they were influenced by personal values in their news judgement decisions (See Table 3). Other factors which they felt important were reader interests, news sources, journalism ethics and journalism course's that they had attended. Slightly over half the respondents felt that the power/support of their employers was important.
Factors which were not important in their news judgement exercises were the influence of colleages/coworkers, the influence of religious groups, the influence of political parties and lastly, the influence of external forces.
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(d) Respondents were then asked to rate the importance of various news values on a ten-point scale, with 1 being the highest and 10 the lowest. Their ratings are presented in Table 4.
Once again, the needs of readers emerged as a principal element in their news judgement process. The so-called Western values such as immediacy, objectivity, proximity and timeliness were not given the high scores that would have been expected.
2.3 What's News in Malaysia - A Content Analysis
A total of 56 issues of the eight selected news
papers constituting a structured-week sample in
1989 was analysed. The following variables were
studied:-
* frequencies of various categories of domestic
and foreign news.
* countries mentioned in foreign news.
* datelines (cities mentioned) for domestic
and foreign news.
* personalities mentioned in domestic and
foreign news.
* sources of domestic and foreign news
* analysis of front-page news stories
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Table 5 presents the total news items that were analysed for eight newspapers during the structured week. From this table it can be seen that the first, three days of the week show the journalist to be more active in seeking and publishing news as compared to the latter part of the week. With regard to Sunday editions of these news items published as compared to other days, such items were considerably lengthier and usually comprised the "soft news" variety.
TABLE 5
NEWS ITEMS PUBLISHED BY EIGHT NEWSPAPERS
DURING THE STRUCTURED WEEK
Date of Analysis No. of Items
Monday June 19 1,091
Tuesday July 25 773
Wednesday Aug. 2 1,117
Thursday Sept. 7 8 65
Friday Oct 20 678
Saturday Nov 11 724
Sunday Dec 20 672
TOTAL 5,92 0
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Table 6
CATEGORIES OF FOREIGN NEWS
PUBLISHED BY EIGHT NEWSPAPERS DURING THE STRUCTURED WEEK
NO. NEWS CATEGORY NO. OF ' PERCENT ITEMS AGE
A01 Politics 369 16. 3
A02 International 382 16. 9 Relations
A03 History/culture 38 1. 7
A04 Crime/courts 80 3. 5
A05 Accident 98 4., 3
A06 Violence/ 136 6.. 0 conflict
A07 Sports 367 16. 3
A08 Entertainment 158 6.9
A09 Science/ 7 2 3.2 technology
A10 Environment 25 1.1
All Economics/ 423 18.7 business
A12 Religion 27 1.2
A13 Social/human 29 1.3 interest
A14 Bizarre 19 0.8
A15 Others 43 1.8
TOTAL 2,266 100.
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It can be seen from Table 6 that economic/business news constituted the leading category of news for all the eight newspapers studied (total - 423 items). This was particularly so far the Chinese and English language newspapers.
However, all the newspapers studied devoted a significant amount of space for the second-most popular category, i.e. international relations (382 items). The third-most popular category was politics (369 items), followed by sports (367 items) and entertain ment (158 items).
Surprisingly, news about conflicts/violence/rebellion, etc (what has been referred to by JOHN LENT*a* sth e daily disaster diet) was about the bizarre/unusual was the least mentioned category of foreign news. This analysis lends credence to the belief that Asian journalists are more responsible in reporting news about Western countries tha<\their Western counterparts are in reporting about Asian countires.
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TABLE ONE CIRCULATION OF MAJOR NEWSPAPERS IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA
No. Name Language Date of Circulation Remarks Founding
1. New Straits English 1845 \%0,GOO Originally Times the Strait: Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce
Star English 1971 I *\ O 0£>D Originated in Penang
Sun English 1994 70,000
Utusan Bahasa 1939 350,000 Originated Malaysia Malaysia Singapore
Berita Bahasa 1957 320,000 Originated Harian Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
Watan Bahasa 1985 n. a. thrice Malaysia weekly
7. Harakah Bahasa 1991 n. a thrice Malaysia weekly
Nanyang Chinese 1922 200,000 Originated Siang Pau in Singapo]
Sin Chew Chinese 1929 210,310 Originated Jit Poh (Dec 1992) in Singapo:
10 China Press Chinese 1946 Originated in K. Lumpi
11. Tamil Nesan Tamil 1923 15,000* Originated in Singapoi
12. Malaysia Tamil 1990 20,000* Originally Nanban the Tamil Osai. Notes
* Figures are latest estimates, based on available data n.a. - Not available or not applicable
16 TABLE 2 A T
RESPONDENTS ACCORDING TO WORK PLACE T E N T I O N :
T h e
S i n g a p o r e
C o p y r i g h t
A c t
a p p l i e s
t o
t h e
u s e
o f
t h i s
d o c u m e n t .
N a n y a n g
T e c h n o l o g i c a l
U n i v e r s i t y
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TABLE 3
RESPONDENTS' OPINIONS ON FACTORS
INFLUENCING THEIR NEWS JUDGEMENTS
NO. STATEMENT RESPONDENTS OPINION TOTAL
Strongly Agree Dis- Strongly agree dis agree
1. Personal 40 46 0 91 values influence me
2. Colleagues/ 5 35 40 11 91 coworkers ifluence me
3. Power/ 14 3 3 40 91 Support of my employer influences me
4. Reader 57 3 0 91 interests are important
5. Journalism 33 37 20 91 ethics are important
6. External 6 24 55 91 forces influence me
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I' m very 23 34 30 91 dependent upon news sources
8. Courses in 42 38 91 Journalism have influenced me
Political 12 41 31 91 parties influence me
10 Religious 10 22 34 25 91 groups are important
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TABLE 4
RESPONDENTS' RATINGS OF NEWS VALUES
No. Factors Ratings
Mean Median
1. Needs of readers 2.505 2.000
2. Needs of the nation 3.582 3.000
3 . What sells the newspaper 4 .341 4.000
4 . Objectivity 3.352 3.000
5. Immedic3l£y 3.154 2.000
6. Timeliness 3.220 3.000
7. Proximity 3.407 3.000
8. Social importance 3 .780 3.000
9. Religiofl^ importance 4.33.0 4.000
10. Cultural significance 4.132 4 . 000
Note :- Highest possible median score is 1.000, whi the lowest possible median score is 10.000.
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CATEGORIES OF DOMESTIC NEWS
PUBLISHED BY EIGHT NEWSPAPERS DURING THE STRUCTURED WEEK
NO. A NEWS CATEGORY NO. OF PERCENTAGE ITEMS B01 Politics 382 10.4 B02 Education 194 5.4 B03 History/ 184 5.0 culture B04 Crime/courts 391 10.7 B05 Accident 112 3.2 B06 Violence/conflict 19 0.5 B07 Sports 463 12.6 B08 Entertainment 343 9.4 B09 Science/technology 203 5.6 BIO Environment 146 4.0 Bll Economics/Business 812 22.2 B12 Religion 85 2.3 B13 Social/ 142 3.9 human interest B14 Bizarre 12 0.3 B15 Others 186 4.5
3,654 100
Table 7 shows that economic/business new s also emerged as the leading news category (812 items or 22.2 percent). This was follow ed by sports (463 items), and news about crime/courts (391 items), with the
Chinese language newspapers focussing a lot on crime/court news. Other kinds of news covered by the eight newspapers were domestic politics (382 items) and
entertainment news (343 items).
Again, news about the bizarre/unusual emerged as the
least popular category of domestic news.
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Table 8
PERSONALITIES MENTIONED IN FOREIGN NEWS
PERSONALITY FREQUENCY (NO. OF' NEWS ITEMS)
George Bush 52 Other American leaders 33 Deng Zhiao Ping 5 Quio Shi 8 Other Chinese leaders 19 Taiwan leaders 3 Hong JCong leaders 15 Lee Kuan Yew 10 Other Singapore leaders 16 Corazon Aquino 26 Other Filipino leaders 16 Thai leaders 7 Suharto 1 Other Indonesian leaders 7 Hasanal Bolkiah 2 Gorbeacev 10 Other Russian leaders 2 Rajiv Gandhi 20 Narasimha Rao 2 M.G. Ramachandran 2 Other Indian leaders *59
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Table 9
PERSONALITIES MENTIONED IN DOMESTIC NEWS
PERSONALITY FREQUENCY ' NO. OF NEWS ITEMS
Dr. Mahathir 60 Ghafar Baba 51 Anwar Ibrahim 14 Abdullah Ahmad Badawi 2 Daim Zainuddin 5 Sanusi Junid 3 Menteri Besar UMNO 88 Other UMNO Ministers 159 Other UMNO officials 29 Ling Liong Sik 16 Lee Kim Sai 13 Other MCA officials 69 Lim Chong Eu 2 Other Gerakan officials 26 Samy Vellu 46 Subramaniam 10 Pathmanabhan 9 Other MIC officials -. 29 Taib Mahmud 3 Other BN Sarawak officials 17 Joseph Pairin Kitingan 11 Other BN Sabah officials 4 Lim Kit Siang 5 Karpal Singh 2 Lee Lam Thye 19 Other DAP officials 22 Tengku Razaleigh 3 Rais Yatim 3 Other S46 officials 6 Hadi Awang 1 Other PAS officials 27 Government officers 371
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Table 10
FOREIGN CITIES MENTIONED
City Country Frequency
New York United States 94 Washington DC ii 59 Other American 16 cities United States London . United Kingdom 127 South American e Ai«s 2£ A»»^ Far is France 35 African cities - 37 European cities - 226 Beijing China 59 Tokyo J^pan 103 Hong Kong - 112 Taipei Taiwan 7 Singapore Singapc >re 112 Bangkok Thailand 27 Jakarta Indonesia 34 Manila Philippines 43 Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei 4 Madras India 45 New Delhi India 21 Other Asean cities - 147 Australian cities Austra].i a 52 New Zealand cities New Zealand 13
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Table 11
DOMESTIC CITIES MENTIONED
CITY FREQUENCY
Kuala Lumpur 1,971 Ipoh 82 Penang 104 Johor Bahru 123 Seremban 81 Melaka 84 Alor Setar 40 Kangar 10 Shah Alam 41 Klang 57 Kuala Kangsar 5 Butterworth 8 Muar 11 Batu Pahat 16 Kota Bharu 43 Kuala Terengganu 43 Kuantan 50 Other West Coast cities 298 Other East Coast cities 11 Kota Kinabalu 47 Other Sabah cities 7 Kuching 29 Other Sarawak cities -5 ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library
Table 12
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC NEWS SOURCES
NEWS SOURCE FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
Bernama 77 1.3 Bernama & others 17 0.3 Utusan Reporters 16 0.3 Berita Harian Reporters 16 0.3 Nanyang Reporters 175 3.0 Sin Chew Reporters 118 2.0 Star Reporters 2 6 0.4 NST Reporters 2 2 0.4 Tamil Nesan Reporters 6 0.1 Tamil Osai Reporters 10 0.2 Associated Press 30 0.5 United Press 10 0.2 Reuter 101 1.7 Agencg. France Press 22 0.4 Other European agencies 8 0.1 Asian Agencies 6 0.1 South American Agencies 5 0.1 Other Sources 20 0.3 No source mentioned 5,235 88.4
TOTAL 5,920 100.0
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Social And Cultural Influences Affecting Journalism
The picture that emerges from the gatekeeper survey and content analysis shows that the major newspapers in Malaysia mirror the societies they seek to serve, in terms of the values used in the selection and presentation of news.
Newspapers therefore do not exist in a vact+ani, nor do they operate according to the generally perceived view of journalism being a detached and objective vocation.
In sofar as Malaysian newspapers can be viewed as representing the predominant Asian cultures at a micro- cosmic level, it can therefore be stated that Asian values in journalism are derived from the centuries old Asian cultures. In Malaysia, these cultures are the Malay, Chinese, and Indian cultures, wherein the tradition of writing has precey^ded the vocation of journalism.
In the final analysis, the social and cultural influences affecting Asian journalism are the very same influences that affect other aspects of the arts and cultures of Asian societies.
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Notes
1. Jack Lule, "News Values of Three Worlds" in
Al Hester and Wai Lan J. To (Editors) Handbook
For Third World Journalists, Athens,
Georgia : Center for International Mass
Communication Training and Research, 1987, p. 24
2. Sankaran Ramanathan, "Peranan Media Massa Dalam
Masyarakat Majmuk, "(The Role of the Mass Media in
a Plural Society), Dewan Masyarakat Kuala Lumpur :
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, July 1987, pp 44-46.
3. Sankaran Ramanathan and Roslena Ahmad,
"Motivations for Studying Journalism : A Malaysian
Survey, Media Asia, Singapore : Asian Mass
Communication Research and Information Centre
(AMIC), Vol. 16 No. 3, 1989, pp 137-144.
Acknowledgments:
Prof. Dr. Wan Abdul Kadir Wan Yusoff, Head, Malay
Studies Department, University of Malaya.
Y. Bhg. Dato' Ir. Haji Ahmad Zaidee Laidin,
Director, Institut Teknologi MARA.
28