Filed under: Astro Awani, internet, journalism, new media, writing | Tags: 1malaysia, bias, bias reporting, fat bidin, journalism, malaysia, media, new media, news, objectivity, solo journalism, subjectivity, zan azlee
Malaysian media is biased. No! Really?
By Zan Azlee
What level of sin is it if a media organisation to be biased? Is it ‘makruh’, ‘dosa kecil’, or out right ‘haram’? For the majority in Malaysia, its actually no problem at all. And if you ask me, I would have to agree with the majority. Surprise surprise! You heard me, the professional journalist, right. Biasness in the media is no problem at all.
In this day and age, people in society receive an overload of information from all kinds of sources. There’s TV, radio, print, Internet, mobile phone, iPad, Galaxy, Nexus, the kitchen sink, etc.
You’ve got most of the mainstream media that are owned by the ruling party spewing their propaganda. And you’ve got blogs, tweets and news portals that spew out the opposition’s propaganda. Tons of information is all over the traditional and new media, and biased ones at that. This is pretty obvious so don’t try to even attempt to deny it. [Click to read the full article at ASTROAWANI.COM]
Filed under: broadcast, directing, documentary, internet, journalism, new media, The Malaysian Insider, vj movement, writing | Tags: bias, documentary, editorializing, fat bidin, film, gay, homosexuality, islam, jakim, journalism, kuala lumpur, lesbian, los angeles, malay, malaysia, media, muslim, new media, news, objectivity, pick and choose journalism, radio, solo journalism, The Malaysian Insider, this way out, video journalism, vj movement, web video, zan azlee
Pick and choose journalism. That’s what I wrote about today in my column at The Malaysian Insider.
Pick and choose journalism
By Zan Azlee
MAY 20 — Last week, a Los Angeles-based radio show picked up a video news package I did for the Dutch news agency VJ Movement. The story was about being gay and Muslim in Malaysia and it was apt that This Way Out ran the story since they serve the gay community. I was obviously excited since it meant that I am now a celebrity in LA and can expect to be signing autographs in Hollywood soon. But the excitement fizzled when I actually listened to the show. My entire story was intact except for the interview with JAKIM director-general, Datuk Wan Mohamed.
I had interviewed different people with liberal and conservative view points and Datuk Wan Mohamed, of course, was of the latter. His voice may have been more conservative than the rest, but it was equally as important since I wanted to show both sides of the story for better context. This Way Out’s producers must have taken it out because it didn’t support their agenda and this brings me to my issue of the day – pick and choose journalism. (Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider)
Filed under: broadcast, directing, documentary, internet, journalism, new media, video blog, vj movement | Tags: bias, documentary, editorializing, fat bidin, film, gay, homosexuality, islam, jakim, journalism, kuala lumpur, lesbian, los angeles, malay, malaysia, media, muslim, new media, news, objectivity, radio, solo journalism, this way out, video journalism, vj movement, web video, zan azlee
Recently, a gay-oriented radio programme out of Los Angeles, California, called This Way Out, picked up on my video news package ‘Being Gay and Muslim in Malaysia‘, which I did for the news agency VJ Movement. Since it was a radio show, they only took the audio from my story. Of course I was delighted that I was now a celebrity in LA!
However, When I listened to the show (click here to listen to the radio show), I noticed that they had edited out the interview with JAKIM Director-General, Datuk Wan Mohamed. His voice may have been more conservative than the rest of my interviewees, but it was equally as important since I wanted to show both sides of the story and his interview definitely contextualised things better (Click here or on the image below to view my video in it’s entirety).
So I wrote an e-mail to the producers. I received a prompt reply from her, “… I actually did try recording the subtitles to mix into the piece. Unfortunately, especially since I was working alone with no male voice to use, I just couldn’t get it to sound right … it was just more confusing. I was also facing the problem that I needed to shrink the piece a bit to make it fit into our program. The time constraints made the parts with my sadly ineffective attempt to add the translation the most likely (although ultimately not the only) things to be cut — despite the fact that I realized that the government point of view provided important context. You’ve probably faced similar situations, when you have to reluctantly lose material that’s important to a story. I appreciate your understanding…”
It could have been due to constraints or it could have just been plain editorialising.
Click to view my original video in it's entirety.
