Role Conflict And Role Ambiguity Among Malaysian Journalists In Newsroom Decision-Making

The main objective of the study was to determine the relationship between some selected independent variables with role conflict and role ambiguity perceived by Malaysian journalists in newsroom decision-making. The study was carried out among 226 randomly selected journalists from eight Malaysian print media organisations and a national news agency. A survey research method was employed and self-administered and structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics, namely, frequency and percentage, Pearson's correlation coefficients, multiple regression and discriminant analysis were used for data analysis

War News and Media Stereotyping

War News and Media StereotypingFaridah Ibrahim, UKMChair/Associate Professor in Journalism of the School of Mediaand Communication StudiesUniversity Kebangsaa, Malaysi

The concept of 'NYAWA'

NYAWA in the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, means life. NYAWA is the acronym for Nature’s Yield and Wonders of Art and is meant to depict nature’s bountiful yield i.e. biodiversity and its various functions. Biodiversity as defined in the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992) is the variety of all forms of life ranging from the species, the genes it contains and ecosystems. Article 13 of CBD on Public Education and Awareness states this as one of its activities: Promote and encourage understanding of the importance of, and the measures required for, the conservation of biological diversity, as well as its propagation through media, and the inclusion of these topics in educational programmes. Malaysia is one of the 12 megadiversity countries in the World with 15,000 plant species, 290 mammals, 150,000 invertebrates, with insects being the largest group (e.g. butterflies-1200 species, moths-12,000 species), and 8,000 fishes (Latiff, 2008)

The effects of pictures on the order of accessing online war stories

Research on how people read news stories has shown that readers chose to read and access news stories associated with pictures that contained an element of attraction. Researchers have found that the emotional elements within the picture could also play a role. It is unclear how neutral human interest pictures influence readers to access news stories. Is the access process influenced by less emotive pictures or more human interest elements? These issues were explored in an experiment in which 24 students participated. The experiment compared similar news that was accompanied with a human interest picture, information graphic and without information graphic. The focus of the news stories was on war news which almost always contained human interest elements that could be neutral or emotion-laden. The experiment suggested that human interest pictures of war stories could be equally effective in attracting readers to read and remember the news stories

Plant Diversity and Conservation Value of Ayer Hitam Forest, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia

The Ayer Hitam Forest, a logged-over lowland mixed-dipterocarp forest in the State of Selangor covers an area of 1248 hectares. It is one of the remaining forests left in the Klang Valley besides the Bukit Nenas Forest in Kuala Lumpur. This forest has been leased to Universiti Putra Malaysia(UPM) in 1996 for 80 years for the purpose of education, research and extension. Since then various efforts have been taken to know the biodiversity it houses. Thus, a database on the plants of Ayer Hitam Forest was started in 1998. Several plots have been established and plant collections were made to achieve this and is still progressing. Results presented here are still preliminary. A total of 430 species of seed plants in 203 genera and 72 families occur here. 33 species offerns and fern-allies, 127 timber species, 29 fruit tree species and 98 species with medicinal values were recorded from this forest. Of these taxa, 20 species which are endemic to Peninsular Malaysia are found here, five being new records for Selangor. Although Ayer Hitam Forest is still regenerating, it is nevertheless a rich fragmented ecosytem that needs to be conseroed for future generations to come

Pembingkaian visual berita krisis Lahad Datu

Visual memainkan peranan penting dalam memberi gambaran yang jelas tentang sesuatu kejadian kepada khalayak. Visual boleh dianggap sebagai alat komunikasi yang berkuasa untuk mencetuskan tindakbalas emosi yang tinggi dan boleh diingati berbanding perkataan semata-mata. Penggunaan visual dalam pelaporan sesuatu berita krisis berupaya membantu khalayak untuk lebih memahami sesuatu peristiwa yang berlaku. Artikel ini bertujuan mengenal pasti pembingkaian visual dalam liputan berita krisis Lahad Datu yang disiarkan dalam akhbar Utusan Malaysia dan Berita Harian. Kaedah analisis kandungan digunakan untuk menganalisis visual yang dipaparkan dalam kedua-dua akhbar dalam tempoh masa 20 hari iaitu bermula 1 hingga 20 Mac 2013. Kajian ini menggunakan model pembingkaian visual yang dipelopori oleh Rodriguez dan Dimitrova (2011) yang mencadangkan model empat tahap bingkai visual iaitu pertama, visual sebagai sistem denotatif; kedua, visual sebagai sistem semiotik-stilistik; ketiga, visual sebagai sistem konotatif; dan visual sebagai perwakilan ideologi. Sistem ini boleh diaplikasikan untuk menganalisis sebarang jenis kandungan visual media atau persepsi khalayak terhadap kandungan tersebut. Hasil kajian mendapati kedua-dua akhbar Utusan Malaysia dan Berita Harian menggunakan sistem denotatif dalam melaporkan visual tentang berita krisis Lahad Datu ini. Dua bingkai utama yang ditonjolkan adalah bingkai politik dan kemanusiaan manakala bingkai pemimpin mendominasi liputan visual dalam konteks berita krisis ini. Hasil kajian juga menunjukkan bahawa kedua-dua akhbar turut menggunakan sumber visual dari agensi antarabangsa seperti Associated Press (AP), AFP dan Reuters

Indonesian and Malaysian Press Policy: Pre and Post-Independence

Indonesia and Malaysia are the two countries that come from a family of the Malay Archipelago. These two countries were born after a different colonial occupation namely the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. However, each country has a different press system and policy. This study aims to look at the main objectives of Indonesian and Malaysian press policy trough critical reviews of secondary data obtained from library research based on categories in two stages of newspaper development in pre and post-independence.  This study found that, in Indonesia, in the pre-independence era, the main objectives of Indonesian press policy were to control security and public order, and abuse of the press, during the Japanese occupation as Preventive censorship, and Propaganda. In the Post-Independence, the main objectives policy of the press namely as Freedom of Press, support 'political manifesto' and Implementing the "Pancasila Press System". Meanwhile, In Malaysia, in the pre-independence era, the main objective of the policy press was as controlling the press as a medium of internal racial conflict among the Chinese in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur due to differences of support for the Chinese monarchy since 1911, and propaganda machinery. In Post-Independence, the main objective of the press is to control and maintain the political stability of the country and prevent racial riots due to political and economic crisis.  This study concludes that the main objectives of the Indonesian and Malaysian Press Policy are made in accordance with the direction of the system and political policies of the ruling regime

A Study of Chinese Students’ Media Dependence on Douyin in Malaysia

This paper uses the “Media System Dependency Theory” proposed by American communication scholars Paul Rockich and Melvin DeFleur as a research framework to investigate the deep-seated reasons for the dependence of Chinese international students on Jitterbug in social media, and to propose countermeasures. Overseas students are an important force for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and their values will influence the values of the whole society in the future. The international students are in the period of value formation and cognition, so it is very important to grasp the cognition formation in this period. With the advent of the mobile Internet era, short video social media, represented by Jitterbug, has become one of the most popular leisure and entertainment platforms for international students. However, while Jitterbug has brought rich experiences to young people, some negative effects have come along with it. Many international students seem to be inseparable from Jitterbug, gradually developing into a strongly sticky “relationship chimera”. It can be said that tens of thousands of international students not only cannot leave Jitterbug, but also gradually develop a kind of “dependency syndrome”—spending a lot of time and energy indulging in it, experiencing negative effects such as reduced attention span and indifferent interpersonal communication, and becoming doubly dependent on Jitterbug in terms of emotion and behavior. This study aims to examine the effects of the dual dependence on Jitterbug. Therefore, this study hopes to analyze the dependence of international students on Jitterbug as a social media and propose countermeasures to improve the media literacy of international students

A preliminary study on the distribution of fruit tree taxa at Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Selangor

An assessment on the fruit trees families Burseraceae, Sapindaceae and Meliaceae showed that 714 trees from 10 genera representing 26 species were identified in the 5-ha plot. Sixteen mother trees were identified and all are Burseraceae explaining the high populations compared to Sapidaceae and Meliaceae. Despite the Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve being not fully recovered from the effects of previous logging activities, the diversity of fruit trees present is commendable in supplying food to different wildlife

The Use of Medicinal Plant Species by the Temuan Tribe of Ayer Hitam Forest, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia

Preliminary results of a study on the use of medicinal plant species by the indigenous people from the Temuan tribe at Ayer Hitam Forest are presented. Although this forest is surrounded by rapid socio-economic development, it is ironically a substantial pharmacopoeia for the Temuans. A total of 98 plant species with 140 different uses were recorded and they were grouped into seven methods of application namely drink, eat, chew, poultice, rub, bath and shampoo