Page 416 - Westport Guide To Malaysia

408 USEFUL INFORMATION
The Media Scene
By Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai
Group Advisor, The Star Media Group
With updates by Dato’ Ho Kay Tat
CEO, The Edge Media Group
The Malaysian media scene has a fair balance of the traditional and the new, operating on different platforms and in multiple languages. Visitors to Malaysia are bound to
be impressed by the fact that the English language press is very vibrant, with
a variety of titles published daily. English is also widely used on radio, television, cable TV and web-based social media. It is easy
to stay connected to the rest of the world because of the wide availability of media resources, including extensive WiFi access in most areas.
Over 20 newspapers are published, mainly in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. The most prominent include The Star, New Straits Times, The Sun,(English), Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia (Malay), Sin Chew Jit Poh, China Press, Nanyang Siang Pau (Chinese), Tamil Nesan and Malaysian Nanbam (Tamil). Specialised publications like The Edge also offer insights into Malaysia’s business scene. The Star is the highest- selling English daily, with
a circulation exceeding 100,000 copies. There is also a plethora of online news portals, both free and subscription-based,
A special edition of “Temu Minda” (Meeting of Minds) broadcast from RTM’s Kuching studio to celebrate Malaysia Day 2020, featuring former Minister
of Communications and Multimedia (now Foreign Minister, right) YB Dato’ Saifuddin Abdullah and Sarawak cultural activists (L-R) Ezra Tekola, Alfanso Mckenzie Simon and Meldrick Anak Udos.
covering a wide variety of topics and political interests.
The East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak each have their own regional newspaper industry. In Sabah, dailies include The New Sabah Times, The Daily Express, The Borneo Post (English), Utusan Borneo (Malay), Asia Times, See Hua Daily News and Overseas Chinese Daily News (Chinese). Sarawak offers The Borneo Post,
The New Sarawak Tribune (English); Utusan Sarawak, Utusan Borneo and Harian Ekspres (Malay); and See Hua Daily News, United Daily News, International Times and Berita Petang (Chinese).
State-owned RTM operates two free-to-air terrestrial TV channels,
as well as 32 radio channels nationwide.
In East Malaysia, RTM radio also broadcasts in Iban (Sarawak), Kadazan (Sabah) and other indigenous languages through a network of regional and district stations. These indigenous language broadcasts have been crucial in bringing development to East Malaysia’s interior.
The Media Prima Group, owner of The New Straits Times and Berita Harian, has a near-monopoly on free-to-air commercial broadcasting, with four national TV channels as well as three radio channels.
Its only serious challenger is The Star Media Group, which also publishes The Star (see above). It owns two radio channels.