Article by Helen Ang and Image both from Haris Ibrahim's blog People's ParliamentReproduced verbatim. View the original here
How big and strong is The Star?
The answer: Very.
Just look at the 17-storey Menara Star, its main printing plant in Bukit Jelutong and other subsidiary plants, bureaus in the various states and its guanxi (business networking).
Money maketh the MSM.
Newspapers take up the biggest slice of the adspend pie at 56 percent, i.e. raking in about RM3.1 billion revenue, according to a Feb 13 report by Nielson Media Research. The cost of a full page colour ad in a Star main page ranges between RM36,000 and RM38,500 depending on the day of the week – you do the math on adex (advertising expenditure) filling the paper’s coffers.
In its corporate profile, Star claims a readership of 1,122,000. This figure is based on Nielson’s July 2006-June 2007 Index. It also claims an audited circulation of 309,181 copies on weekdays and 322,741 on Sundays for the same period. Multiply the numbers with its cover prices of RM1.20 and RM1.50, with total days in a year and you get readers forking over roughly RM115.4m + RM21mil = RM136.4 million per annum.
The reason why Star gets our goat is because of its smug spinning.
Reasons why it so sickeningly spins are because the paper is owned by MCA, linked to the government and has BN vested interests at heart. It figures that the paper’s top management, both editorial and corporate, is handpicked by the owners.
Can MCA reinvent itself to shed its communalism? Not unless it drops the ‘Chinese’ in its name, upon which the party will cease to have its raison d’etre.
Can a rebranded The Star likewise change its spots? I don’t think so, not unless the Augean stables of its highest echelons are cleaned out first. These men (and women) are dyed in wool pro-establishment, and dare we say, know which side their bread is buttered. Its reporters and middle-rankers are not necessarily likewise. But if you want to climb up the career ladder and fast, it naturally pays to play the politics.
What happens in its newsrooms?
I dug up some past whistleblowing on The Star from Malaysiakini archives. Letter writers who claimed to be insiders spilled the beans in 2001 when MCA investment arm Huaren Holdings, which at that time held 66 million Star shares, wanted to take over Nanyang Press Holdings along with the several Chinese publications in its stable.
Please cut and paste the urls below to read these letters in full – I strongly recommend that you do. Excerpts:
· “No stories about the opposition can be published without clearance from the editor-in-chief, especially any statements by DAP and Lim Kit Siang. No picture of Lim Kit Siang or Karpal Singh is allowed on the paper.” (‘Ling lies about ‘non-interference’ http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/8467)
· “The fact that we are owned by the MCA is enough to give all MCA leaders, not just Dr Ling himself, the authority to dictate what stories should or should not be run, how stories should be angled, what pictures to use, and what pages stories should appear on.” (‘The MCA does interfere’, http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/8497)
· “… whatever decision made during the meetings is guided by what Ling wants. Ex-Star Journalist is right – the real editor-in-chief of The Star is Ling Liong Sik.” (‘All the news that MCA deems fit to print’, http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/8498)
Is the scenario much different in Star today? Back then, some 90 columnists and contributors to Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guangming decided to stop writing for the dailies in protest of the Nanyang takeover.
Kudos to those guys!
What about today’s MSM men?
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11 comments:
My dear Monkey,
If you keep bashing the Star like this you can expect a call from their legal department soon.
He is the head honcho behind MCA’s and BN’s election media campaign out to “destroy” the Opposition, especially DAP.
He is also the guy whose paper didn’t print photos of the massive crowds at DAP ceramahs but instead those of some crowd in a BN rally in which Pak Lah attended.
His paper also published endless character assassinations on Anwar Ibrahim.
And that photo of Lim Kit Siang with a PAS flag towards polling date.
Why didn’t he interview Kit Siang, Guan Eng, Anwar, etc before the election?
Let’s not pretend Wong is some impartial, professional journalist. He didn’t even have the balls to ask his own questions in his interview with Guan Eng. You think readers can’t email Guan Eng these days to ask him such matters?
http://jedyoong.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/dap-lets-remember-who-wong-chun-wai-is/#comments
What about the the Sun?
Witness todays caption in relation to an article in Taiwan - "Urinating Chinese Men, Burgers Highlighting Polls Ads"?
How insulting. A Piss! on the editor(s) responsible for this racist caption and toilet symbols. Maybe Zainol and his editors should be sacked.
Shame for continuing BN's racial agenda to continue to demean the Chinese and erode their self esteem.
Hope one day some one will bomb your office if this represent the start of a racial line.
Can someone tell me if I will be threatened by Star's legal dept if I say "Wong's face makes me puke" 20 times a day?
Just to add to me earlier comments. I just do not know why but lately, everytime I see Wong Chun Wai's face, I puked. Unfortunately I see his face 20 times a day. Could it be something's wrong with the newspapers he is in charge of or his face or is it just me? I am praying Star's legal dept won't sue me for saying this.
whooaa, if you ask these people how bad is the western media in potraying certain quarters as very bad and frightening; immediately they will jump sky high and go over the moon to denounce the western media. The people like Bunn Nagara never had anything nice to say about them Now what can you say about the paper that you are a coloumnist. How different are you from them?
Who says The Star is owned by MCA?
Its owned by the Ong Brothers now.Ask anyone in The Star, and he will confirm this.OKT is also known as "the national editor".
The MSM in Malaysia is really beginning to feel the pinch especially The Star with many people heeding the clarion call to boycott the paper. To me life is about choices and doing the right things when we make our choices. We are after all the master of our own destiny. I can understand some people do what they do because they have very few or limited career opportunities in life until they are even willing to use their God given talents to do Satan's deed.
I can't comment on dirt bags like Josceline Tan, VK Chin (The Star), Kallimullah (NST) and Goh Ban Kee (The Sun) but what I can comment on is Wong Chun Wai of The Star. After all, apart from the ones mentioned above, Wong is the only one of the dirt bags that has gone on record to profess to the whole world that he is a Christian. Brother Wong, being a Christian especially being a follower of Christ ain't easy. You need to constantly walk the walk and talk the talk! You can't have the cake and eat it both ways, brother.
I wonder how you can go to Church every Sunday and face the Lord and yet pursue the diabolical agenda of your employer and political masters and scourge the Lord with lashes of falsehood, deception and malice. You are nothing but the same as Judas Iscariot who betrayed his Master.
Unlike Judas, redemption is still available for you. This being the time of Easter Brother Wong, take this as an opportunity to use your God given talents to write and speak up for the Truth and repent by quiting The Star. Let not ye be shackled by the chains of perdition. If you truly love Jesus with all your heart and all your soul, QUIT THE STAR BY MARCH 30, 2008.
If you fail to do so, Lord have mercy on your soul. The Lord has spoken to you Brother Wong and The TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!
To all Christians out there please pray for Brother Wong Chun Wai to have the strength and courage to walk in the light of righteousness. Amen!
http://margeemar.blogspot.com
Jed Yoong works for WCW
Yes i totally boycott the Star. It has been a piece of crap for many years. Malaysian ought to reject the star the same way they have rejected MCA. The first to go is the Star's editor in chief/self proclaimed "Journalist" Datuk Wong Chun Wai. You know how he got the Datuk title and its not through honest Journalism work.
Wasn't it Wong Chun Wai who predicted an easy victory for Barisan Nasional? Talk about being out of touched with the common people. Wong Chun Wai has got to go. Someone from the Star has to take responsiblity for missing the biggest change in Malaysian history. That's what responsible journalism is all about. In a self respecting company, leaders would have stepped down voluntarily for their failures.
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