FIRST, there was news that Opposition newspapers PKR’s Suara Keadilan and PAS’s Harakah were being banned for three months. It appeared that DAP’s The Rocket was also having difficulty getting its license renewed.

Then on the opening day of the Umno General Assembly, a bunch of online media outfits find themselves barred from covering the event, although one pro-government site, Agenda Daily, was given permission to cover the annual event.

Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung says these developments have nothing to do with the upcoming three by-elections and the ongoing Umno meet. That might or might not be the case but they clearly represent a U-turn in the government’s attitude towards New Media.

Shortly after the shocking March 8 general election, Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians from all component parties seemed to be falling over themselves to start up blogs and many started granting interviews to previously shunned news sites like Malaysiakini.

Prominent politicians like former Selangor Menteris Besar Mohd Khir Toyo and Muhammad Muhammad Taib started blogs. So did former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek. For good measure even veteran politicians Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah started blogging regularly.

Information Minister Shabery Cheek initiated a TV programme on RTM1 featuring interviews with famous bloggers and one of the first ones interviewed was none other than controversy king Raja Petra Kamarudin.

Incoming Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself launched a website complete with Web 2.0 mainstays like YouTube, Flickr and Twitter. And of course it included a blog.

This embrace of New Media had an impact on old media. Mainstream newspapers started giving more space to dissenting voices and started featuring interviews with Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders. Columnists also started becoming more critical in their comments.

“After March 8, there was a sense that the editors of mainstream media recognised the public’s demand for more balanced coverage and openness and they did respond positively,” says V Gayathry, executive director of the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ).

Meanwhile, online media flourished. It seemed like there was indeed an opening up of the media space even though there was no change made to the existing media laws.

Things took a turn for the worse in the run-up to the Kuala Terengganu by-election this past January when mainstream media reverted to form and gave blanket positive coverage to the government. Opposition politicians were either shut out or cast in a negative light.

It seemed like it was pre-March 8 all over again. “In Kuala Terengganu and even more so in Perak, when the crisis began, the kind of coverage mainstream media gave was clearly biased towards the government,” says Gayathry.

Harakah and Suara Keadilan were banned for three months on Monday. The following day, six New Media organisations —Malaysiakini, The Nut Graph, The Malaysian Insider, Merdeka Review, Laksou and SiaSiah — were shocked to find that they were barred from covering Umno’s annual pow-wow.

“I find it strange that though we were finally recognised by the government last year, the party (Umno) is now out of step in its dealings with the New Media,” says Steven Gan, editor of Malaysiakini.

Undaunted, these publications are still covering the event through alternative means such as using newswire services and cooperation from journalists from news organisations that were not barred.

Will UMNO be able to control the media this way? Not a chance, says CIJ’s Gayathry. “Everyone except for Umno knows that this is counterproductive,” she says. “If you see the approach by Gerakan or MCA you will find they probably don’t approve of this kind of heavy-handed measures.”

Banning the two party newspapers and barring the six news sites is a wrong move says Khaw Veon Szu, director of Gerakan-linked think tank Sedar. “The perception is that the government of the day is very intolerant of critics,” he says. “This latest move will be seen as a way to curtail media. Worse of all, it will not work. You suspend them but the online sites still go on and people will talk about it, spreading the news even further.”

Written by Melody Song & Lam Jian Wyn
Source: http://www.bizedge.com/political-news/2613-umno-doesnt-get-new-media.html

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