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TOPIC TWO
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
A.

HISTORY OF JOURNALISM

1.

NEWSPAPERS

Since historical times people find some events newsworthy. We have known for
a long time what interests people and what we think they should know about the
events that affect them.
Realizing that Roman citizens needed to know about official decisions that
affected them, Julius Caesar posted tablets called the Acta Diurna, which
contained reports of government activities on the walls of the Senate after each
meeting. In China, the Tang dynasty published a gazette handwritten or
printed by woodblock to inform court officials of its activities. The more
immediate predecessor of the newspaper was the handwritten newsletter,
containing political and economic information, that circulated among merchants
in early 16th century Europe.
The first printed newsbook, published in 1513 and titled The Trewe
Encountre, described the Battle of Flodden Field in which James IV of Scotland
was killed during his invasion of England. The Anglo-Scottish wars that followed
provided printers with materials for more newsbooks.
The elements of our
modern-day journalism were included in these accounts names of officers in
the wars and their deeds. Adventure, travel and crime were featured, along with
accounts of disasters.
During the 17th century, news sheets spread to the business centers of Europe,
reporting news of commerce. In Europe, as historian Bernard Weisberger has
pointed out, the newspaper served as a handmaiden of commerce by
emphasizing news of trade and business. To this day, much of our news is
about the actions of government and business, and our journalism continues to
stress the drama of war and other calamities.
The newspaper editors of the 19 th century understood the need to appeal to a
large audience to stay in business, and their acumen led to definitions of news
that hold to this day. The papers in the large cities were printing news for the
newly literate working class.
One of the first penny papers inexpensive
enough for working people contained the ingredients of popular journalism. In
1833, the first issue of Benjamin H. Days New York Sun included a summary of
police court cases and stories about fires, burglaries and a suicide. Other stories
contained humor and human interest.

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Several years later, James Gordon Bennett described by historians as the
originator of the art, science and industry of news gathering used the recently
developed telegraph to give readers of his Herald commercial and political news
to go along with his reports of the everyday life of New York City, its sins and
scandals. His formula of news for the merchant and man of learning, as well as
the mechanic and man of labor guides many editors today.
Day and Bennett followed the tastes and appetites of their readers, but they also
directed and taught their readers by publishing stories they deemed important.
This blend of entertainment, information and public service was stressed by
Joseph Pulitzer, who owned newspapers in St. Louis and New York. He, too,
gave his readers what he thought they wanted sensational news and features.
But Pulitzer was not content with entertainment. He also used his news staff for
his campaigns to curb business monopolies and to seek heavy taxes on income
and inheritance.
In 1883, Pulitzer charged his staff of his New York World with this command:
Always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption,
always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose
privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor,
always remain devoted to the public welfare, never lack sympathy with the poor,
always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by
predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty.
Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were locked in a circulation war for New
York readers when Cuba rebelled against its Spanish rulers. Spain was severe
in repressing the insurrection and the New York newspapers seized on the story
of helpless Cubans trying to free themselves from oppression.
Hearsts
newspapers printed fictitious stories, using their creativity to write stories.
19th century concepts of news - define their news menu as a blend of information,
entertainment and public service. They would also agree with the definition of
news offered by Charles A. Dana, who ran the New York Sun. Dana said news
is anything that interests a large part of the community and has never been
brought to its attention before.
One of Danas editors, John B. Bogart,
contributed the classic definition. When a dog bites a man,that is not news,
because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, its news.
Another enduring definition of news was offered by Stanley Walker, a Texan who
succeeded as city editor of The New York Herald Tribune in the early 1930s. He
said news was based on the three Ws, women, wampum, and wrongdoing.
By this he meant that news was concerned with sex, money and crime the
topics people desired to know about. Actually, Walkers formula which, along
with information about public affairs, offered news of sports, crime and
sensational events.

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By mid-1970s, in the US, people not only wanted more pocketbook stories but
escape stories as well. Reflecting the interests of their readers, editors asked
for more entertainment in the form of copy about lifestyles, leisure subjects and
personalities.
In the 1990s, editors devised the reader-friendly story. Readers, they argued,
want to learn how to diet, how to raise their children, where to invest their money.
The news agenda was being shaped to conform to the interests of middle-class
readers and viewers. Also, editors became aware that a major segment of the
female population consists of working women.
Coverage followed this
awareness.
The 21st century opened with proof of Walkers wampum and Westins
pocketbook theories of news. Stories abounded of the high-flying economy and
its new dot-com millionaires.
Later, the news focus shifted to a depressed
economy, jobs lost, dot-coms collapsing, the Dow Jones declining.
2.

RADIO

With the technological advances of the 20 th century came rapid changes in how
quickly information could move throughout the USA. First came the invention of
the telegraph and the telephone, which depend on electrical lines to deliver their
messages, and then, wireless telegraphy, which delivers radio signals through
the air. Both Samuel F.B. Morse telegraph and Alexander Graham Bells
telephone used wires to carry messages. Then in Germany in 1887, the
physicist Heinrich Hertz began experimenting with radio waves, which became
known as Hertzian waves the first discovery in a series of refinements that led
to the development of radio broadcasting.
Then Gugliemo Marconi in Italy expanded it so that messages should be able to
travel across space without a wire. Marconi was invited to the United States to
show off his wireless radio broadcasting invention. Soon after, amateur radio
operators created clubs to experiment with the new discovery.
Two
experimenters, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden and Lee de Forest, advanced the
Marconi discovery to create todays radio.
During World War II, radio news blossomed.
US President Franklin D.
Roosevelt drew the nations first military draft number on the air and Edward R.
Murrow broadcast the emotion of the bombing of London. When the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor, radio carried the news.
The next day, Roosevelts
declaration of war on the Japanese was broadcast from Congress live on radio.
In June 1944, all commercial programming stopped for the live broadcast of the
Normandy invasion.
World War IIs legacy to radio was to make radio as
important to its audience for news and information as it was for entertainment.

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3.

TELEVISION

The word television first appeared in the June 1907 issue of Scientific American.
Before then, experiments in image transmission had been called visual
wireless, visual radio and electric vision. Alexander Graham Bells telephone
and Samuel F. B. Morses telegraph contributed to the idea of sending electrical
impulses over long distances.
By the late 1940s, television began its conquest of America. In 1949, the year
began with radio drawing 81 percent of all broadcast audiences. By the years
end, television was grabbing 41 percent of the broadcast market.
When
audiences began experiencing the heady thrill of actually seeing as well as
hearing events as they occurred, the superiority of television was established
beyond doubt.
Black and white television replaced radio so quickly as the nations major
advertising medium that it would be easy to believe that television erupted
suddenly in a surprise move to kill radio.
Broadcast news, pioneered by radio, adapted awkwardly at first to the new
broadcast medium television. The first news broadcast was mainly just sitting
at a desk and talking. There were no pictures at first. Later, simple news films.
At first, network TV news reached only the east coast of USA. It was in 1951,
that 108 TV stations across America were linked. Just as radio matured first as
an entertainment medium and then expanded to cover important news events,
television first established itself with entertainment and then developed a serious
news presence. Television news has matured from its early beginnings as a 15minute newscast to todays access to 24-hour coverage of significant news
events. Today, network television news continues to play an important role in
setting the agenda for discussion of public issues.
B.

MALAYSIAN MEDIA

1.

MALAYSIAN PRESS SYSTEM

Every country has its own press system. Malaysia is no exception. The press
system is affected or influenced by several factors, such as the countrys history,
the make-up of the population, government policy, economic development and
the political and legal systems.

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Given the plural make-up of Malaysian society, any attempt to analyze the role of
the media cannot avoid addressing questions concerning ethnic problems and
national unity.
A characteristic of Malaysian media is their tendency to forward competing ethnic
claims. Ethic language newspapers are vehicles to voice the aspirations, hopes
and fears of the racial groups they represent. The exceptions are the Englishlanguage newspapers whose readership transcend racial groupings.
Previously, the Chinese and Tamil-language newspapers gave prominence to
events in China or Hong Kong or Taiwan and India respectively. When external
events were given less emphasis, the Chinese and Indian language newspapers
gave prominence to issues pertinent to the interests of their own racial groups.
Events of other racial groups were not given attention or were only provided
space insofar as they affected Chinese and Indian interests.

2.

HISTORY OF MALAYSIAN MEDIA

I.

NEWSPAPERS

The tendency of ethnic Malaysian media to concentrate on events important to

their respective communities can be traced to the early years of the newspaper
industry. The first newspaper to be published was in English the Prince of
Wales, established in 1805. It lasted until 1827. Other succeeding newspapers
included Malacca Observer, Malacca Weekly Register, Pinang Register,
Miscellany, Penang Gazette and Straits Chronicle.
In 1828, the Universal
Gazette was published in Malacca, with Samuel Kidd, the headmaster of the
Anglo-Chinese College, as its editor.
The Straits Times was launched in July 1845. Another well-known English
newspaper was The Malay Mail, launched in 1896.
The Criterion Press
published The Straits Echo in June 1903 with Chesney Duncan as its first editor.
As part of the growing consciousness of the Eurasians to present and foster their
interests, The Malayan Tribune was born in 1915, giving stiff competition to The
Straits Times.
The English newspapers mainly served the interests of the business community.
News items of foreign countries, especially about Europe, were given
prominence as these events in Europe affected business in Malaysia.
In Sabah, the English newspaper, North Borneo News, was started in Sandakan
in 1948. Sabah Times came into the picture in 1952 with Donald Stephens as
the publisher. North Borneo News and Sabah Times merged in June 1952 to
form North Borneo News and Sabah Times.

The first Chinese newspaper called Chinese Monthly Magazine was

published in 1815 in a magazine form.
It first editor was William Milne, a
missionary from the London Missionary Society. The aim of the society in
printing the Chinese Monthly Magazine in Malacca was to spread Christianity in
China because its activities there were declared illegal by the Chinese
government. Publication ceased in 1822.
The first daily newspaper in Chinese for the Malaysian and Singapore region was
Lat Pau. It was published in Singapore in 1881 and lasted until 1932.
During the period of the Chinese Revolution in 1911, Chinese newspapers in
Malaysia were extremely partisan.
For example, the Penang Sin Poe
(established in 1896 but merged with Kwong Wat Yit Poh in 1936) was
sympathetic to the establishment. Thoe Lam Jit Poh, on the other hand, sided
with the revolutionary movement.
When the Chinese Revolution ended, newspapers in Malaysia turned their
attention to business.
In 1923 Tan Kah Kee founded Nanyang Siang Pau
because he wanted an outlet to advertise his products. Aw Boon Haw published
Sin Chew Jit Poh with the similar objective of promoting his Tiger Balm products.
Ipoh, the capital of Perak, also had its share of newspapers. Pi Hua Ri Boo was
published in 1934 and Kin Kwok Daily News in 1940.
The earliest Malay-language newspaper was Jawi Peranakan, launched in 1876
in Singapore. Other Malay-language newspapers published between 1876 and
1900 included Sekolah Melayu, Warta Melayu, Bintang Timor, Jajahan Melayu,
Lingkungan Bulan and Chahaya Pulau Pinang.
There were more newspapers published between 1901-1925 than the previous
decade.
Among them were Al-Imam, Utusan Melayu, Neraca, Lembaga
Melayu, Pengasoh, Lidah Teruna and Masa. Utusan Melayu grew into a wellknown paper. When Malaysia gained independence in 1957, Utusan Melayu
shifted its office to Kuala Lumpur. In August 1967 the group launched Utusan
Malaysia.
Malay-language newspapers such as Warta Melayu, Al-Imam and Utusan
Melayu were the channels through which Malay nationalism was kindled and
fostered. In the early days, the Malay press spoke out against some attitudes of
the Malays that hindered progress. The Malay-language newspapers agitated
against the British who were about to form the Malayan Union. When Malay
leaders championed this cause, the Malay-language newspapers took up the
issue and forced the British to withdraw the concept. The development of Malay
political parties would not have been possible without the support of the Malay
press.

The earliest Indian-language newspaper published in 1875 was Singai

Warthamani, while Ulaga Nesan was published in 1877. Tamil Nesan came into
existence in 1923.
Another important newspaper was Tamil Murasu, first
published in the 1930s.
In the 1960s Tamil Malar was launched and later
changed its name to Thinamani in the 1970s.
This period too saw the
appearance of Tamil Osai, which co-existed with Tamil Nesan and Thinamani.
The history of the Indians in Malaysia cannot be written without the reference to
the Indian newspapers. They carried the plight of the Indians in the estates and
other economic sectors, championed Indian education, helped spread literary
works, and became the vehicle for political demands.
In short, political development of the country affected the growth of Malaysian
press system.
During the Japanese occupation, the authorities banned all publications. In
place of the privately-owned newspapers, the Japanese came out with their own.
For the first time, the newspapers were subjected to rigid censorship. However,
as Indian Nationalist Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was sympathetic to the
Japanese in India, the Japanese allowed the Indian Independence League in
Malaysia to operate newspapers such as Sutandira India and Sutandirotayam in
Tamil, Sutandra Bharatnam in Malayalam and Azad Hind in Hindustan.
With the advent of independence in Malaysia in 1957, newspapers found it
necessary to adjust to the new political reality. For example, The Straits Times,
which had its main office in Singapore, decided to print the Malaysian edition in
Kuala Lumpur in June 1956, a year before independence. In 1959 The Straits
Times shifted its registered office to Kuala Lumpur. In August 1972 a new
company called the News Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP) came into
existence. In October 1972 it ceased any connection with the Straits Times
(Malaysia Berhad). The Straits Times had 20 per cent share in NSTP at that
time.
Utusan Melayu, a well-known Malay-language daily, also adjusted itself to the
new political climate. In 1957, Utusan Melayu shifted its office from Singapore to
Kuala Lumpur. Berita Harian came to being in 1957.
The Chinese dailies also adjusted themselves. In 1972 Nanyang Siang Pau
sold 51 per cent of its shares to Malaysians. Sin Chew Jit Poh and Shin Min
Daily News also sold their majority shares to come under Malaysian control.

ii.

Electronic Media

The Kuala Lumpur Amateur Radio Station (KLARS) pioneered broadcasting

activities in Malaysia. It was only in July 1935 that the government established
the British-Malaya Broadcasting Corporation.
Under the Japanese, several new radio stations were added in Malacca,
Seremban, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
With the return of the British, the administration of broadcasting was supervised
by the Broadcasting Department of Malaya and programming provided by the
Information Service. The policy direction that radio took was first set by J.C.W.
Ruth, a General Manager of BBC who saw that the role of broadcasting was to
inform, educate and entertain.
In the early stages of the countrys development, radio was extensively used to
inform the people about the flood situations, the countrys development plans and
the progress of the Emergency, as well as to forge national unity.
When
Malaysia was about to achieve independence, radio was used to prepare the
hearts and minds of the people.
Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM) programming caters to the tastes and
demands of Malaysias plural community.
Radio Malaysia broadcasts
programmes in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese (Cantonese, Hokkien,
Mandarin), Tamil and other Bumiputra dialects.

iii.

Malaysian News Agency

The establishment of BERNAMA on 20 May 1968 has helped greatly in bringing

about an acceptable definition of what national news is. This has changed the
way the provincial press and the national press (in Chinese, Tamil and also
English) view events in the national context. Provincial newspapers, especially
those in Sabah and Sarawak, can now subscribe to BERNAMA and obtain
extensive news coverage of events from all parts of the country. State reports
have given way, in terms of coverage, to national concerns. On the other hand,
newspapers published in the Federal Capital and in Peninsular Malaysia have
also been influenced to give coverage to events in Sabah and Sarawak to
educate their readers on happenings in these Eastern States.