Knowledge versus experience: indicator to good journalism practices

Globally, journalism education is undergoing significant changes in view of the ongoing technological evolution. Hence, it is important to have a good journalism education that can shape good journalism practices and professionalism. In recognition of this, the Council for Heads of Communication Studies (COHEC) in Malaysia has mapped out a framework for journalism education to be offered by Malaysian universities (COHEC, 2010). However, COHEC study was very brief and did not underline what makes good journalism practice. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the knowledge, experience, and skills needed in Malaysian journalism education. To this end, this study conducted in-depth interviews with senior practitioners – senior editors and chief editors - from media organizations in Malaysia. Findings show the importance of knowledge, experience, skills, and attitude needed for good journalism practices. The findings also acknowledged that journalism knowledge is as important as experience and debunked the old testimony that knowledge can be practiced on the job and no formal journalism education is needed. The understanding of journalism is not as a skill but as social, cultural, and philosophical expression, and general education is needed to cover the journalistic aspect of life. There is a need to redefine journalism as a field of study

Shaping the journalism education studies in Malaysia: the effects from the study on ethnicity

Journalism education is a unique field of study under a liberty of social science because it works in context. The surrounding society gives a lot of impact on how journalism has been practiced and educated. However, there are not many studies on journalism education that focuses on the elements of its society (i.e. gender, ethnic, religion, class, etc.), what more studies from the students’ perspectives. Therefore, this study attempts to fill the gap by having students of journalism as its samples. This article presents an extract from a huge study on journalism education in Malaysia. It studies the journalism students’ perceptions and expectations of journalism education in Malaysia and identifies whether different ethnics in Malaysia make any differences in their perceptions and expectations. Using quantitative methodology, 187 sets of survey questionnaires were collected from Malaysian journalism students who are studying at public universities in Malaysia. The result shows significant differences in terms of good journalism practice, news gathering skills and news production skills between three main ethnics of Malaysian journalism students

Journalism education curriculum in Malaysia: A preliminary study in a Malaysian public university

The research aims to develop an instrument on perception and expectation of journalism students in Malaysia.The pilot study employs survey research method.The questionnaires were distributed to 30 journalism students in Universiti Utara Malaysia. The data was analyzed based on reliability, validity and descriptive analysis.The findings indicated the instrument is valid and reliable.The majority of the respondents perceived that knowledge and expectations of journalism education are pertinent in developing knowledge and skills of journalism students. Nonetheless, facilities offered need to be enhanced to match the minimum requirement of journalism learning

Framing the media: Harmonious news reporting on Malaysia-Singapore relationship

In this paper, news framing and news agendas are used to identify whether harmonious as illustrated in the Malaysian media contributes to a symbiotic relationship between Malaysia and its neighbouring country -Singapore. The case study provides an important example of the way the media helps define regional relationships for both countries and is essential to regional stability.A textual analysis is used to analyze 497 online news of BERNAMA (Malaysia news agency) from 1996 to 2008.Most of the news articles show direct involvement of higher-ranking government officers.The agenda of the news was derived from the government’s perspective, not that of the public.This concludes that the Malaysian media groups are tied to leadership styles and news reporting styles in their regional reporting.The paper also concludes with a summary of what has been discovered about development journalism practices in Malaysia and a note of its possible changing will be in the future

Newspapers and disaster risk reduction in Nigeria: A review

The main purpose of the paper is to discuss the media role in disaster risk reduction.The role of mass media in the society cannot be overstated. It has been identified as a key stakeholder as it informs, educates, mobilizes, and entertains among other roles.As an agent of development, media is identified as a crucial factor in disaster management.The paper examines the role being played by Nigerian newspapers in curbing flood devastation.With the growing frequency and devastation of flood disaster globally and in Nigeria in particular, the need for all stakeholders to collaborate is more urgent. In Nigeria, flood is the commonest disaster and a perennial problem.However, as crucial as finding solutions to this problem is, few researches have been conducted on the role of media in disaster risk reduction.The review reveals that Nigerian media is not proactive but reactive in its involvement.Findings show that media largely get involved during and after disaster occurrences, reporting human misery, tragedy loss of lives and property.Also, it is confirmed that rather than seeing self as a vital stakeholder, media still considers self as observer or passive participant. The study concludes by calling on the media to collaborate more with other stakeholders, disseminate early warning information, educate populace ahead of flood incidents and play other vital roles to complement other stakeholders efforts in reducing disaster risks

Post Political Content among Youth in Facebook

The vibrancy of information and communication technology has made it possible for interactive internet use in daily communication. Users’ involvement in online interaction via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedt has specifically been seen to have some implications on communication and interaction. This research focuses on the use of new media as platforms to facilitate the dissemination of information, where access is unrestricted and users are free to voice out their opinions and increase their levels of political participation. The aim of this research is to explore the extent of youths’ perceptions on national political climate via a social media platform which is Facebook. In-depth interviews with youths aged 15 to 30 years old were carried out to collect data. This research adopted the approach used in Media System Dependency Theory by (Ball-Rokeach, 1985). The findings from this research showed that new media i.e. Facebook was accepted as a democracy space for political information in which youths took active online political participation. The findings were supported by the responses from the respondents which showed youths’ tendency towards using their image and display content on Facebook as reasons to use Facebook as a platform for political participation. Keywords: Youth; Facebook; Media System Dependency Theory; political participation; social medi

Industry 4.0 and circular economy in an era of global value chains: What have we learned and what is still to be explored?

This article reviews the industry 4.0 (I4.0) and circular economy (CE) literature from a global value chain (GVC) perspective. More specifically, it (1) summarizes the empirical findings on the applications of I4.0 and CE practices; (2) explores the previous literature and identifies several future research directions to advance the existing literature. In this respect, the interface between I4.0 and CE research is a relatively young field of inquiry that has been little concerned with developments in GVCs. We systematically review 112 peer-reviewed papers in the field of I4.0 and CE to distill key future research opportunities and trends in the GVC field. We develop three specific conclusions from our literature review. First, GVCs can vary widely within the various forms of I4.0 technologies with the various CE practices. Second, GVC research is underdeveloped with regard to I4.0 and CE. Third, our findings are congruent with previously published studies, which recognize the importance of GVC research that has generated a rich body of knowledge, mainly from a governance perspective in operations management, supply chain management, and international business. Likewise, our study offers promising avenues for future research studies at the intersection of I4.0, CE, and GVCs. Our systematic literature review suggests that there are many opportunities to advance the I4.0 and CE debates in the burgeoning field of GVC

Shaping Predisposition Political Expression among Youth in Malaysia through Facebook

The proliferation of information technology has led to a unique cyber world that paved the way to a borderless communication space between communities. The advent of social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkdIn, and others causes the spread of a belief or doctrine in the cyberworld without requiring the communities to interact face to face. The phenomenon has instigated varied reactions among the public especially youths who are using social media to express their political opinion. Therefore, this study seeks to examine Malaysian youths’ perception towards the national political climate through social media which is Facebook. The method of study is through field observation and in-depth interview with youths aged between 15 to 30 years old. This study utilises the Media Dependency System Theory introduced by Ball-Rokeach (1985). The study concludes that youths are predisposed to use Facebook as the stage for political expression. This finding is supported by the interview with the respondents that showed youths’ predisposition to use social media, frequency of news source, and events criteria as the reasons for them using Facebook as a political stage. Keywords: Youth; Facebook; Media Dependency System Theory; political expression, social medi

Modeling of Maximum Power Point Tracking Controller for Solar Power System

 In this paper, a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller for solar power system is modeled using MATLAB Simulink. The model consists of PV module, buck converter, and MPPT controller. The contribution of the work is in the modeling of buck converter using equation model approach rather than circuit model one.  The buck converter model is developed using equation model that allowing the input voltage of the converter, i.e. output voltage of PV is changed by varying the duty cycle, so that the maximum power point could be tracked when the environmental changes. From the experiment, the developed model comforms with the circuit model provided by MATLAB Simulink Power Simulation. Furher, the simulation results show that the developed model performs well in tracking the maximum power point (MPP) of the PV module using Perturb and Observe (P&O) Algorithm.

Industry perspective on journalism education curriculum in Malaysia

Purpose -This study investigated media and communication practitioners’ perspectives on the journalism education curriculum in Malaysia. Curriculum plays an important role in providing quality education for students. Journalism is a dynamic field that integrates industrial experience and fundamental knowledge in the field from higher educational institutions. Scholars in the field are divided on the issue of whether it is important for academia to consider input from industrial players in shaping the curriculum on journalism education in higher institutions of learning.Methodology - Drawing from the researchers’ experiences and guidelines from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency, the Taba Model was adapted as the theoretical framework for the study. The study used a semi-structured interview method. Fifteen experts were interviewed. They have served more than 10 years in the media industry and have held various executive positions. The interview protocol was developed based on the literature review and guidelines from the curriculum review of Communication and Media Studies. The interviews were conducted at the offices or homes of interviewees. Each interview ranged from 1 to 2 hours. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.Findings - The findings revealed four main themes, namely 1) Strong general knowledge requirement, 2) the right skills matter, 3) Interest in the field – ability to adapt and learn, and 4) Specialised knowledge. The analysis of interviews indicated that curriculum needs to be revised based on academic convention and industrial needs.Significance - Thus, these findings lend further support to the clarion call for industry and academia to collaborate extensively in nurturing high quality graduates in journalism