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

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

Hijab wearing among Malay women in Malaysia: media or social influence?

Hijab wearing among Muslim women is currently seen as a common phenomenon in Malaysia. Is the religious awareness among them on the rise? Or is it just a fashion? Many studies (Williams and Vashi, 2007; Furseth, 2011) were carried out to understand factors that influ-ence hijab wearing among Muslim women. Nonetheless, little information is available on the roles that media play in women’s decision to wearing hijab. This study was conducted to find out the perception of Muslim women on the extent to which media and people surrounding them influence their hijab (head cover) wearing. Specifically, the objectives of this study are (1) to find out the patterns of hijab wearing, (2) to find out sources of media influence on hi-jab wearing among Malay women, (3) to determine sources of social/interpersonal influence on hijab wearing among Malay women, (4) to compare between the media influence and the social/interpersonal influence on hijab wearing among Malaysia women, and (5) to analyze the extent of media and social/interpersonal influence on impact change from hijab wearing. Using data from a survey conducted with 362 female students from an Islamic Higher Educa-tion Institution in Malaysia, the findings revealed that Facebook, blog and magazine are the top three highest media influencing on impact change from hijab wearing. Parents, friends/colleagues and siblings have more influence on hijab wearing than the other sources. Social/interpersonal influence has a bigger influence than the media influence on hijab wear-ing. In addition, both media influence and social/interpersonal influence are positively related to one another. The Malay women admitted that hijab wearing have much/very much changed them towards being good Muslims

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

Impact of Islamic film on understanding of Islamic values and cultures for a multiracial society in Malaysia

Religious film plays an import role in educating the viewers, especially the youth. This study tries to compare the results of the experimental group (N=141) to the control group (N=150) on perception of, attitude on, and impact change from watching Islamic film. Specifically, it analyses the effect of an Islamic short film on youth behavioral change, according to race, religion, age and gender. The study uses a quantitative research design, with an experimental research method, using questionnaire as the research instrument for data collection. Results revealed that there were no differences between the experimental and the control group on the overall perception and the overall attitude, but the difference exists for the overall impact change. Surprisingly, the control group assessment on the impact of film, as a whole, is higher than the experimental group, after a short Islamic film was shown to the participants. For the control group, the Malay youth indicated a higher impact change assessment than the Chinese while the Muslim participants indicated a higher impact change assessment than the Christian, Hindus, Buddhist and Others. For the experimental group, the Malay youth gave a higher impact change assessment than either the Chinese or the Indian, with the Muslims superseded the Buddhists, and the least affected age group was the teenagers compared to the adolescents and the young adults. Therefore, the short film was making an impact on the participants, negatively. Thus, Social Learning Theory could be applied to learning of both positive and negative type of information. Suggestions to young film makers are posted so that they make religious films interesting enough, not as a threat, challenging youth existing knowledge on their own faith and on Islam; but as a motivation and reinforcement

Perception, Attitude and Impact Change after Watching Faith-Based Films: A Comparative Study

Understanding each other’s religions and cultures are important for maintaining peace and harmony especially in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the impact of Islamic films or films related to Islam and Muslims on youth (teenagers, adolescents, and young adults) of various races, religions and gender. Specifically, the objectives of the study are to (1) to find out the level of perception on Islamic films among various youth backgrounds, (2) to find out the level of attitude towards Islamic films among various youth backgrounds, (3) to find out the level of impact change from watching Islamic films among various youth backgrounds, and (4) to analyze the relationships between impact change from watching Islamic films on attitude towards and perception on Islamic films for various youth backgrounds. The data were collected from an experimental research method, using questionnaire as the research instrument. From a total of 141 respondents, about two-thirds are females, 70% are teenagers representing different races and from different religions. Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 17. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to answer the objectives and hypotheses of the study. Results showed that there is no difference between males and females in terms of perception, attitude and impact change from watching Islamic films. However, the differences lie for perception, attitude, and impact change for the various race, religion, and age groups. Therefore, relevant authorities should take heed on how to ensure that the faith-based films are meaningful for the diverse youth to treasure staying in Malaysia so that unity is attained despite the diversity in their backgrounds

Extended hierarchy-of-effect model and its application on Islamic reality shows towards Malay community in Malaysia

This paper tries to explore the possibility of applying the Hierarchy-of-Effect-Model (Zajonc, 1980) on Islamic reality shows towards Malay community in Malaysia, which is a new phenomenon, compared to the other existing reality shows that are mushrooming. The objectives of the study are (1) To find out the level of attention given to, perception of, attitude towards, involvement in, satisfaction obtained, and impact change from watching Islamic reality shows; (2) To compare the level of effects on different types of viewers (gender and age-group); and (3) To analyze the relationships between all the effect-related variables for the Islamic reality shows towards the Malay community in Malaysia. This study employs a quantitative research design, using survey method, with questionnaire as the research instrument used for data collection. Pilot study has been conducted to pre-test the research instrument. The study is using cluster and stratified random sample, in which the stratified groups are based on state, gender, and age. The data were collected in March 2012. The study found that the two most popular Islamic reality shows are Imam Muda and Akademi Al-Quran. The Malay community has positive perception and attitude towards the Islamic reality shows. They are also satisfied with the programs and above all the programs have positive impact on them. Therefore, the hierarchy of effects model could be applied to the Islamic reality shows for the Malay community in Malaysia; thus, implying that the learning theory is supported, but with a cyclical open system in nature

The mediating effect of attitude on perception towards impact change after watching Islamic films

Religious films play an import role in educating the viewers, especially the youth. This study tries to explore the relationships between perception and attitude towards impact change after watching Islamic films. Specifically, it analyses the mediating effect of attitude towards Islamic films for perception on impact change on youth behavior after watching Islamic film. The results of the quasi-experimental design using questionnaire as the research instrument revealed that there are positive relationships between impact change with perception and attitude. Attitude in turn mediates the relationship between perception and impact change. Therefore, the social learning theory tested for the study holds true and the hypotheses developed were supported. In sum, based on the 141 youth studied, Islamic film, as a whole, is able to have a positive impact on them. Therefore, filmmakers, in general, and religious-based filmmakers, in particular, should take heed in producing films with positive issues toward nurturing youth in making youth to possess morally and ethically sound behavior for peace and harmony of the community and the nation. Key words: impact change, attitude as mediator, perception on Islamic films, social learning theory, yout