MEDIA OWNERSHIP &CONTENT DIVERSITY academia

Media pluralism

• Refers to degree which there is diversity in media content readily available to audiences

1. Presence of different and independent voices

2. An array of political views3. A variety of cultures

Argument of Media Ownership

• Media owned by a few will lead to1. Products that lack diversity2. The content will become

increasingly uniform

• In the early 70.s, the Bumiputera trust agency, Perbadanan Nasional BHD (Pernas)acquired an 80 percent stake in the Straits Times Press. A majority of the shares was later transferred to Fleet Holdings, an investment arm of UMNO.

• The Straits Times Press was renamed New Straits Times Press (NSTP) when it was listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange in 1973. In the same year, Fleet Holdings also held shares in Utusan Melayu Press.

• the ownership of New Straits Times Press and Utusan Melayu Press gives UMNO control of the major newspapers in Malaysia.

• MCA, through its official holding company, Huaren Holdings Sdn. Bhd, has a 58% stake in Star Publications, which publishes the other mainstream English daily, The Star, the rival newspaper to the NST, which has a circulation of 206,832 and a readership of 869,000

• Another daily English newspaper, The Sun, is owned by Vincent Tan.