(d) Democracy practised with new media

New Media? Old Media?

New media refers to:-
- moblog (blog from mobile phone)
- vlogs (video blogging)
- photologs (narrating story with photos instead of words)

Examples are sites such as Youtube, online newspaper, blogs, social networking sites (such as Facebook) or podcasts.

Meanwhile, old media refers to newspaper, magazine, television or radio (Whitney, 2009)

Changes has taken place with the emergence of new media.

The 8 March 2008 election in Malaysia have proved the power of new media. It was undeniably that the changes took place because of the emergence of new media.

The reason of this is because of the needs where people seek for information but is not satisfied, with the information provided by the old media such as newspaper. This is well supported by the USINFO state report by Stephen Kaufman released when he made this remark, ‘weblogs (blogs), text messages and copies of internet-streamed videos became the most influential information sources for voters ahead of Malaysia’s March 8 parliamentary elections’. (Stodden, 2008)

While on the other hand, Dr. Abu Hassan Hasbullah, a University of Malay Media Studies Lecturer, reports 70% of voters were influenced by blogs, claiming that ‘the main stream media does not report on pertinent government corruption or on religious and racial tensions’. (Bernama, 2008) As a result, people turned to the internet to look for information. There then, they found blogs upon blogs from the oppositional leaders, websites and videos that had eventually opened their eyes, as well as opened their mind, and change the destiny of the country.

With the convenience of internet, "you can really be your own editor", said Simmons(2008). This is easily shown by any clips found on website, one of them would be the one below:

Video clip posted before election entitled: Rasuah Sayang
(Rasa Sayang is a famous song in Malaysia, while the word 'Rasuah' bring the meaning of 'bribery')

Source: www.Youtube.com

Apart from political issues, the trend of new media is from mobile phone, where you can start blogging from your phone anywhere you want. Site such as Twitter would be one good example where people can keep themselves updated with short posting, convenient for mobile .

In short, new media has open up more and more chances for the people to voice out their opinion, which, hopefully, will lead to greater participatory democracy in the future.


References:

1. Bernama.com, 2008, Reports shows 70% of Malaysia national election voters were influenced by blog, viewed 16 June 2009, at http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=324062

2. Simmons, D., 2008, Rise of the mobile video blog, BBC News, viewed 19 June 2009, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7392594.stm

3. Stodden, V., 2008, Internet and democracy blog, viewed 19 June 2009, at http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/idblog/2008/04/04

4. Whitney, D 2009, Column: What’s the Difference Between Old and New Media, viewed 12 June 2009, http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/05/column_whats_the_difference_be.php

5. Youtube.com, 2008, Rasuah Sayang Karaoke, viewed 20 June 2009, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jya2KAQfwAE