Challenges In Investigative Journalism In Malaysia: Essay.

Investigative journalism is a common term in developed nations. However, the situation is different in developing nations. Malaysia is not excluded as well. Local journalists find it a challenge to practice investigative journalism in the country. Analyse the challengers faced by the journalists in Malaysia.

Challenges Faced by Journalists in Malaysia

Journalism is a broad field of which investigative journalism is a significant part. As compared news journalism, investigative journalism has a different agenda as it highlights reporting on subjects that are considered to be crucial by the journalist in regards to the moral issues and complications associated with the subject. An important feature and common aspect of investigative journalism is highlighting on incidents and happenings which are believed on the part of journalists that it required attention as these subjects result in disregard in terms of their standards.  Thus, the main focus of investigative journalism is identifying and discovering the truth in the particular subject along with highlighting the gapes present in it in regards to available media. Considering the above discussed aspect, the present essay will analyze and evaluate the challenges faced in investigative journalism with particular emphasis to the present scansion in Malaysia.                 

From a generic perceive, the practice of investigative journalism in Malaysia is associated with various challenges in the process of delivering desired content to the readers. In the present scenario, investigative journalism plays a crucial role in providing the public hidden information in order to create awareness and disseminate information to them. In context to Malaysia, the presence of local governance along with the Ethics of Journalism in Malaysia is among the major factors acting as a barrier or challenge for investigative journalism in Malaysia (Hamid et al., 2015). The above discussed fact can be established with the help of an excerpt from Ethics of Journalism which stated that Journalists are required to be courteous and civil in the process of performing their duties. It has also been restricted for the journalists to plagiarize or sedition along with accusing someone baselessly and bribing someone in some form or other for the purpose of performing their task. On the basis of this journalist ethics it can be clearly established that “baseless accusations” are prevented from performed on the part of investigative journalists in the process of conducting their report (Ismail, 2013).  Though such ethics of journalism have certain advantages associated with it, as it prevents disseminating wrong information among the citizens however, it also acts as challenge for the investigative reporters from making revelations to the audience. It is because of the fact that on the basis of these ethics the information disseminated by the journalists can be challenged under the ground of “baseless accusations”. In case these revelations cannot be established by the journalists with required prove it will be equivalent to violation of Ethics of Journalism acting as a challenge for investigative journalists.

Ethics of Journalism in Malaysia

The challenge and difficulty level of investigative reporting further increases in a country like that of Malaysia wherein the journalists are required to be function under different restrictions of the country’s laws and regulations. To get in depth of the matter, reports and journalists in Malaysia are bounded by legislations like Internal Security Acts 1967. The legislation got terminated in the year 2012. The presence of such acts makes it difficult for the journalists to operate (Chibundu, 2007).  The presence of such legislation played a major role in the process of practice of investigative journalist. Under the particular legislation, any reporting of military activities without any kind of permission is considered to be breach of the legislation due to which the particular journalist is punishable by imprisonment. Under the legislation it has been further stated that anything which is considered to be undesirable on the part of the government cannot be covered by journalists. This, results in not only preventing the journalists from providing any kind of information on military activities to the citizens but any kind of military activities undertaken by the government that is against the interest of the citizen cannot be informed to the citizen under the legislation (Ihediwa and Ihediwa, 2011). The above made discussion also helps in representing the challenges in practicing investigative journalism in Malaysia, due to the presence of such legislations that restricts the functioning of journalist in the nation.    

On the termination of the legislation, new media laws got introduced in the nation which was assumed to have enhanced level of toleration associated with freedom of investigative journalism practices. In order to replace Internal Security Act, Security Offenses (Special Measures) Act 2012 [SOSMA] got introduced. Under the particular legislation, as stated by the then Home Minister of the nation that journalist will be still provided to detention without trial, however the process associated with appeal of court will be easier for the journalist to ask for, and effect and detention period will be shorter (Ismail, 2009).  This resulted in tension between the media practitioners due to the lack of balance between the rights of the accused and safeguarding of national security. Thus, it will not be wrong to state that the government of Malaysia is still having control and regulation of the information and stories disseminated to the citizens that may impact their interests. The only condition required for effective functioning of media in a nation is unrestrained and free scope of operation of the press which would allow the media to expose any kind of deception on the part of the government or any issues against the interest of citizens of the nation. In context to Malaysia, the presence of rules, ethics, laws and regulations are some of the factors which restrict the journalists from practicing investigative journalism and reveal to the citizens any kind of deceptive acts on the part of the government (Ismail at al., 2017). On the part of the government it is stated that the sole purpose of formation of these rules, laws, ethics and regulations was to protect the security of the nation and preserve the peace state of the nation. In other words, it can be stated that any articles or news which may result in disturbance and chaos, officially, in such cases, the national security is considered to be under threat. However, due to formation of these laws, ethics, regulations and rules for the purpose of preserving national security results in limitation of the news on the part of practitioners of investigative journalism. In this context, there is another scenario which is also required to be mentioned. As already stated the motive behind the formation of the ethics, legislation, rules and regulations that restricts the practitioners from performing investigative journalism is to preserve the nation security and peace (Buniamin et al., 2010). However, it results in highlighting only certain portion of these important aspects on the part of the press. This may result in having a biased perspective to the total scenario on the part of the readers the consequence of which may be conclusion and interpretations of the scenario which does not take into consideration all the aspects of the situation. From this perspective, the emphasis on the part of the government to preserve national peace and security with the help of policies, ethics and legislation that hinders performing investigative journalism fails in having much signification and implication associated with it.         

Restricted Laws and Regulations

On analyzing the scenario of investigative journalists in Malaysia, it has been observed that extent to which performing rightful ethics and standards of journalism impacts upon their credibility. In this context it is mentionable here that ethics have been formed for the journalists to perform their duties in the right way. In reality, however, it has been observed as one of the major challenged experienced on the part of the practitioners of investigative journalism. There has been a wide range of impact on the media practitioners and their credibility (George, 2007). This can be very well established with the help of the incident of October 27^th 1987, the year which is considered as one of the fearful blackest histories for the media practitioners in Malaysia. This incident witnessed the arrest of 106 persons under Internal Security Act. The statement of the Malaysian police in the scenario was they took such initiative in order to prevent the occurrence of racial riots. On the very same day two important daily newspaper- Sin Chew Jit Poh and The Star faced the impact of Internal Security Act effects, under the act the publishing licenses of the organization was revoked (Netto, 2007). The basis of revoking this company’s publishing was the content of these newspapers disturbed the security of the nation. Some of the detainees in this situation were social activities and journalists.

Referring to the above discussed situation, in the present situation of investigative journalism in UK, it is the presence of fear culture towards the regulations and laws among the media practitioners which results in impacting the content of the investigative reports towards the public. This, clearly reflects the adverse impact and challenges experienced on the part of the media professionals practicing investigative journalism. Another significant aspect creating challenge on the part of professionals practicing investigative journalism is the aspect of ownership (Kim, 2007). To get in depth of the matter, the news agencies the ownership of which lies in the hand of government, in these cases, the government are observed to have their own favorable investigative news stories, most of which preferred preventing the disclosure of the government relation information which may impact its image adversely. Thus, it clearly puts forward the fact that concentrated ownership is among the major reasons and major challenges for investigative journalists to let their investigative articles getting published. The main reason behind this being, the shares of these media houses are mostly owned by individuals having authority and power. On the basis of the above discussed fact it can be inferred that the concentration of media ownership in the hand of a particular section of the society have significant impact on the content that are broadcasted and printed in the media which is also applicable in case of investigative journalism (Anuar, 2007). Basing on the above made discussion it can be inferred that good governance can only be present within a society wherein, the society demonstrates a system in which there is ample scope of intercommunication between the society and the government which gets included in the process of enhancing and developing a country. In context to Malaysia, the presence of ethics, laws, rules and regulations which are formed with the purpose of preserving the security and peace of the nation results in limiting and restricting the functioning of investigative journalism in Malaysia. As a result of this issue another issue which crops up for journalists practicing investigative journalism is, the presence of these laws and regulations forces the journalists and reporters to practice self-censorship. The reason of performing of self-censorship to such a large scale on the part of journalism in a country like Malaysia is for the purpose of protecting themselves from being accused of anti-government charges (George, 2007).. It is due to this reason, in media houses in Malaysia, the sub-editors rewrite the report for the purpose of toning down controversial issues. In certain cases, the self-censorship goes to such an extent in which the sub-editors turn deaf ear to the needs and grievances of the people.                  

Government's Control and Regulation of Information

Another mentionable challenge experienced on the part of journalist all over the world is associated with the development of internet and technology. To elaborate the issue further, the main duty of a journalist is towards truthfulness followed by their duty towards the citizens to provide them with disciplined verifications. The emergence of medium of news distribution in this context poses a challenge to the above discussed aspect with the help of Face book, Youtube and Twitter (Spark, 2012). The emergence of such varied means of information dissemination results in compromising with the verification of the presented news. Due to the presence of citizen media channel the credibility of investigative journalists can be distorted. This is because of the fact that the news presented to the audience by investigative journalist may be in contrary to the information received by the audience with the help of social media. Thus, in such situation, the information which are disseminated to the readers with the help of social media, which are comparatively quick means of disseminating information at a larger scale result in framing a mindset of the readers prior than they receive the report of the investigative journalists. This is also observed to be a major challenge for the investigative journalists internationally to provide the readers with authentic information (Nain & Kim, 2007). Thus, in Malaysia, the combination of the above discussed factors results in creating challenge for reporters practicing investigative journalism.

A significant factor that is required to be discussed here is the reason of difference of the extent to which investigative journalism is practiced in developed nations like that of USA as compared to the developing nations like Malaysia. To briefly state the factor for difference of the extent to which investigative journalism is practiced in Malaysia as compared to developed nations, the major reason is freedom of press. It can be clearly observed from the freedom of press report of 2012 that Malaysia in terms of freedom of press status it is not free. On the contrary, in case of USA which is a developed nation it has achieved the status of free in regards to freedom of press. This is one of the major points of difference resulting in practice of investigative to an increased level in developed countries like that of USA while in case of Malaysia due to the absence of freedom of press the media professionals fails in practicing investigative journalism in an effective manner. In addition to the above discussed aspect, there are other factors associated with freedom of press like legal environment in which the media operates. In this context USA scores 6/30 whereas Malaysia scores 26/30 [in which 0 represents best and 30 represents worst]  (Freedomhouse, 2017). To get in depth of the matter, USA as a nation is one of the strongest system in the world in terms of providing legal protection for independence of media. The USA Constitution provides and protects freedom of speech and press which makes the legal environment of USA an apt one for the functioning of investigative journalists. On the contrary in case of Malaysia, though Article 10 of the constitution guarantees freedom of expression but in the legislation there are various limitations imposed as well, which have been stated in the above made discussed that not only impacts the legal environment of the nation adversely but also makes the functioning of investigative journalists a comparatively difficult one. Similarly the score of Malaysia in the aspect of political environment also reflects ineffective political environment with the score of 24/40 that in case of USA is 10/40 that reflects comparatively, significant performance. Such significant difference in the score of political environment between USA and Malaysia is because of the fact that in Malaysia the government works towards protecting government information and reflects its views. It is because of this fact its refrains from direct online censorship under CMA Section 3(3) (Freedomhouse, 2017).  In context to Malaysia it has been further noticed that various websites were blocked by the authority under the above discussed legislation. On the contrary in USA self-censorship performed by journalists is rarely observed which is common in Malaysia. Other than that offline censorship is absent in USA. These are the factors that resulted in successful political environment in USA which was not the case in Malaysia. The press freedom score of Malaysia is also as low as 67/100, whereas in case of USA the scenario is completely opposite with a score of 21/100. Other than that the prevalence of investigative journalism bureaus in these developed nations that are funded by subscription and donations like ProPublica which are not at same scale in developing countries like Malaysia is another factor impacting the performance of investigative journalism in Malaysia as compared to developed nations (Lashmar, 2011). Thus the combination of the above discussed aspects impacted the press freedom status of Malaysia which is not the case in developed nations like USA, which is mainly due to the freedom provided to the media by the government in the nation.          

Impact on Credibility of Journalists

Conclusion

On the basis of the above discussed aspect it can be stated that in Malaysia, the presence of ethics, laws, rules and regulations formulated by the government are the main factors impacting the practice of investigative journalism in Malaysia. It is due to the fact that, these rules regulations are designed in a manner, which the government states, is it preserve national peace and security but n reality it restricts the reports performing investigative journalism.      

References

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