Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email NST reported today that media monitoring group has stated the press reporting is fair. Read NST’s report below. Then, read the ACTUAL report by media monitors Centre for Independent Journalism, below the NST article or at their website. There will be a link to PDF showing the results. The same source, but original owner says BIAS, NST says FAIR!.
For the week 18-22 February, The Sun provided most coverage for opposition between monday and wednesday, while Makkal Osai took over on Thursday and Friday.
NST took the highest value it got (Friday 22nd for opposition news and Tuesday 19th for neutral news) and presented it in a sly way so that we will think its the average. In fact, NST got the following value for the 5 day for pro-opposition news: 9.3%, 10.5%, 20.8%, 9.3%, 25.8%. (15.14% on average)
It also undermined the STAR by showing the lowest value (8.5%) obtained by Star for opposition news (on friday 22nd), when in fact, on other days, The Star’s coverage were: 16.7%, 17%, 15.8%, 14.6% and 8.5% for the five days (average 14.52%)
The Sun’s average for pro-opposition news was 28.04.
Makkal Osai scored 27% (20,16,23,44,32) for average pro-opposition news. Nanban got 22.6% average.
Want to know about coverage for BN news? Lowest among all the monitored papers was 29.4% (the Sun, Friday) while highest was 77% (Makkal Osai, Monday). 19 of the 30 values (6 papers X 5 days) were between 50 and 61%. 5 values were 70% and above.
Talk about fair coverage! Shame on you NST!
ELECTION 2008: Fair coverage of opposition
KUALA LUMPUR: Contrary to accusations of a blackout, the opposition is actually getting a fair amount of media play.
Opposition parties received between 30 per cent and 50 per cent play in newspapers in the week leading to nomination day on Feb 24, the Malaysia Media Monitors Diary said in a statement.
The New Straits Times was credited with giving up to 25.8 per cent coverage to opposition parties (happened on friday only) and up to 45 per cent for neutral stories (on tuesday only).
The newspapers monitored for the statistics are the NST, Star, theSun, Utusan Malaysia, Makkal Osai and Malaysia Nanban from Feb 18 to Feb 22.
The Star provided 8.5 per cent opposition coverage, while neutral stories formed up to 29.3 per cent. Coverage in the Sun of opposition stories stood between 17.6 and 41.7 per cent, while neutral stories made up between 8.3 and 52.9 per cent.
Among the Tamil vernacular newspapers, Makkal Osai gave the opposition as much as 44 per cent coverage.
The Malaysia Media Monitors Diary said Utusan Malaysia carried only between 4.3 per cent and 27.3 per cent opposition stories in its daily coverage for the period.
Makkal Osai and Utusan Malaysia, both broadsheet dailies, gave the most extensive coverage in the Barisan Nasional’s favour.
It said the English language dailies also provided more coverage to civil society initiatives.
The story percentages calculated by the media monitors are based on the total number of published articles on the elections. They were classified as pro-BN, pro-opposition and neutral.
The media monitoring is jointly carried out by the Centre for Independent Journalism, the Writers’ Alliance for Media Independence and Charter 2000-Aliran with the support of volunteers.
Prelim stats show media bias for BN
source
Friday, 29 February 2008
KUALA LUMPUR, Wed: Mainstream newspapers gave up to 77 percent coverage for the Barisan Nasional in terms of stories on the 12th general elections in the week leading to the nominations on 24 February. On average, the six newspapers for which data have been collated, had between 50 and 70 percent stories that portrayed BN in a positive light. Makkal Osai topped with 77 percent on 18 February of its election stories in BN’s favour, Utusan Malaysia 75 percent on 20 February and The Star, 70 percent on 18 February.
This is the preliminary results in the quantitative analysis carried out by volunteers part of the citizens’ media monitoring initiative. The newspapers monitored for the statistics are New Straits Times, The Star, theSun, Utusan Malaysia, Makkal Osai and Malaysia Nanban from 18 February to 22 February.
Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive director Gayathry Venkiteswaran said while it was common knowledge that the mainstream media would favour the BN in its coverage, the quantitative analysis provided interesting and relevant information to assess the media in reporting the elections.
“The data showed the often held opinion that when the non-BN parties are featured, they are portrayed as in a state of crisis or in a trivial manner. The Utusan Malaysia is a glaring example, but the others are also guilty of the same. The extent to which the stories are lopsided is a worrying indication to the lack of scrutiny for professional and ethical standards.
“Among the issues that the media capitalised for the BN were Fong Po Kuan’s withdrawal, Hadi Awang’s statement on demonstrations, Nik Aziz Nik Mat calling UMNO members orang utan and the opposition’s welfare state proposal,” Gayathry said in a statement.
However, she noted that there were positive stories on non-BN parties and candidates in the newspapers monitored and even Bernama-run Radio24 aired news of their candidates and manifesto although the coverage could be significantly improved.
“So far we have seen the news focusing on the candidates on both sides of the divide. We hope there will be more in-depth analysis of the issues and pledges made by all sides. There is still time to alter the trends in the slant of the coverage to one that proves the ethical integrity of the media,” she added.
Gayathry said as voters relied on the mainstream media as their main source of information, they should be entitled to fair and balanced coverage of all parties contesting the elections. Basic ethical considerations like fairness in reporting, the right of reply and independence of the sources need to be actively enforced by journalists.
Read summary of results here [PDF file].
The media monitoring is jointly carried out by CIJ, the Writers’ Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI) and Charter 2000-Aliran with the support of volunteers. The monitoring is ongoing and will be conducted until the day after polling day. Updates will be provided periodically to all media and interested parties. For inquiries, call Gayathry or CIJ advocacy officer Yip Wai Fong at 03-40249840/40230772.
