Paper presented at ARC APFRN SIGNATURE EVENT 2006 Media: Policies, Cultures and Futures in the Asia Pacific Region

This study investigates the news media preferences of university students from the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia – Malays, Chinese and Indians. Survey respondents are asked, in open-ended questions, to name their favorite newspaper, and their favorite television channel and radio station for keeping up with the news. Preliminary analyses indicate that ethnicity is associated with news media preferences, with each race preferring certain newspapers, television channels and radio stations. These findings can easily be explained by the language and agenda of the different newspapers and different television news programs. Malaysian media makes it a practice to target audiences and create niches according to racial lines and language. Thus, while there is no mystery regarding the news preferences of Malay, Chinese, and Indian respondents, such preferences raise certain questions about the role of journalism in the creation and maintenance of a national polity. Of great interest is the incongruity of government policies relating to media and identity. If findings of this survey are any indication of the general Malaysian population, it would mean that the media’s government-sanctioned practice of ethnic-narrowcasting is successful. And yet, much debate goes on about ethnic polarization among Malaysians and the urgent need to foster a true national Malaysian identity by promoting the idea of the ‘Malaysian race ’ (as opposed to the more established Malay, Chinese, and Indian racial identities)