TELEVISION NEWS AND MEDIA FREEDOM IN MALAYSIA: A STUDY ON TV2 AND NTV7’S ENGLISH TELEVISION NEWS

Media freedom has never been omitted from any academic discussion and discourse. Recently, Malaysia’s Press Freedom Index was reported to decline from its previous position to 147 in 2014. This indicates the importance to examine media freedom in Malaysia, specifically on the issues pertinent to English news of the free-to-air television, namely those of the TV2 and NTV7. News items presented on these two channels were collected as samples of this research. However, this is not a quantitative research that encompasses content analysis. In fact, this article employs context analysis by investigating the history of journalism and broadcasting in Malaysia which include the policies and laws of Malaysia together with the ownership and control of the television channels. In addition, the samples were also analysed in line with the notions of nationalism and national unity. The findings of this article indicate that the news reporting in Malaysian television have camouflaged as the agent of unity and national development are the result of ownership and control of the television channels itself. Therefore, efforts in providing media freedom are a continuous process and can only be achieved by overcoming the issues highlighted in the article.