LOS GRÁFICOS ESTADÍSTICOS EN LOS LIBROS DE TEXTO DE PRIMARIA

I followed Journalist NST1 who worked mostly night shifts. I followed her during the newsgathering of the launch of the “Kami Anak Malaysia” (We are Malaysian Children) campaign on 19 March 2009. The event was held in Shah Alam¹ and the programme started at 5 pm, including a speech by Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said at 5.15 pm followed by the Prime Minister’s speech at 5.45 pm.

After the event was over, Journalist NST1 and Journalist BH1 were discussing what was newsworthy about this story and what angle to take:

Journalist NST1 : I am not sure (what is newsworthy in the story), there is not much in the speech though.

Journalist BH1 : Yeah.

Journalist NST1 : It is easier to write if Tun Mahathir (the former Prime Minister of Malaysia) is giving speeches.

Pak Lah (the nickname of the Prime Minister) is always difficult since he has got no point in his speech!

Journalist BH1 : Yeah, but just write something...

This is an example of how an event that is perceived as not newsworthy still needs to be written up in the form of a story and submitted to the editor. In this instance, the conversation between Journalists NST1 and BH1 of these sister newspapers suggests that both of them do not feel that there is anything interesting and important for them to write as a story because the speech does not contain anything valuable for readers to know. Here, the dialogue shows they have great difficulties to write a story because of an absence of fact.

This is the point when the speech becomes a matter of concern, because it is not simply accepted as newsworthy and then reported.

However, in this case, we can easily acknowledge from this conservation that reporters, on many occasions, are tied to the assignments assigned to them by editors that they need to ensure are covered, written and submitted as scheduled assignments (Tuchman 1978). In the case of Journalist NST1, she usually covers events on the night shifts, so most of her assignments are assigned by the editors, and rarely initiated by her. This included the assignment for this event too, she said. For such an assignment, usually what is assigned is expected to be reported and published.

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The explanation about the action is reflected in an interview with Journalist NST2, an important editor at the NST, who said:

“(The angle of stories in this newspaper is based on) what the newspaper stands for.

In this case, we are pro-government, pro-BN, so using the same fact we can do the story as to promote the interests… Whether you like it or not… we are bound by our shareholders and the majority of the shareholders are linked to UMNO² but very rarely that we get this kind of order that they want this story to be played up. (But if they do) we have to listen to that…”

“Another role a newspaper should play is social responsibility. People always regard newspaper as a tool to shape the mind of the people, especially those days (before the emergence of the internet). But now the general public is so open to other avenues of getting news, especially the young people using the internet. But still the later role the newspaper play is still there, which is to shape the minds of the public. That means, this story can be done in 101 ways, how you angle the story, how you do the story.

This is seen as shaping the mind.”

This explains the accreditation of political interests at the NST. In the cycles of credit at the NST, political interests are accredited to support what is seen as a practice of social responsibility. That seems to be the most important external force that determines newsworthiness at the NST. This probably provides the explanation of the dialogue between Journalist NST1 and Journalist BH1, suggesting both the NST and BH derive news values from the status of officials, which prevents both journalists rejecting a story that they find not newsworthy.

In order to increase the newsworthiness of the story, Journalist NST1 and Journalist BH1 decided to include the element of ‘safety’ as the lead of the story. This is an example of how a non-human actor is included in the news-making process: ‘safety’ has become an

‘actant’ that translates the story from first perceived as ‘not newsworthy’ to a more

‘newsworthy’ piece of story in line with the newspaper’s political interests. Based on the observation, it is from this decision (to make ‘safety’ the lead of the story) that both journalists can start writing the whole story. In this example, the angle of the story is a

‘virtual’ actant rather than a concrete actant as identified by Plesner (2009), which includes emails and telephones.

So what has been accredited in the construction of the news angle here includes both human actants (the direction from the editors assigning the assignment) and non-human actants (‘safety’), which both explain the journalistic side of the news production, and the political interests of the newspaper as the external force involved in the process. It is only

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after deciding the angle that both of the reporters started to write the whole story and Journalist NST1 sent her story as an email via mobile phone to the editors who were waiting at the headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Here, the mobile phone is the example of a concrete non-human actant. Data from this study suggests that a mobile phone acts not only as an actant that enables the story to be sent to the editor from a different geographical site (Shah Alam to Kuala Lumpur)³, but also constitutes what makes the story newsworthy, in the sense that it materialises the possibility for the story to be sent to the editor, then edited to a better version and proofed by the copy editor. Without the mobile phone with an internet connection, the story that was first considered to be not newsworthy by Journalist NST1 would never reach the editor on time, mainly because of the geographical factor and the time factor (the event started in the evening).

Then, Journalist NST1 produced this lead for her story:

SHAH ALAM:. The Prime Minister urged relevant authorities to stress on the aspect of safety and communication when organising the “Kami Anak Malaysia”

programme.

The programme was aimed to create awareness among Malaysian school children of the nation’s vast tourism products.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi tasked several ministries including Tourism as well as Youth and Sports Ministries to ensure these two aspects would be implemented.

He wanted children to feel safe and able to stay in touch with their parents when they participate in any of the “Kami Anak Malaysia” programme.

The story was then changed to this version, after being edited by the editor in Kuala Lumpur:

SHAH ALAM: Safety and keeping parents informed must be the priority in the

“Kami Anak Malaysia” tourism programme.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he wanted the children participants to feel safe and able to stay in touch with their parents during the programmes.

“When they (the children) climb hills and explore the jungles, we have to

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make sure there are officers in-charge of their safety,” the prime minister said at the launching of the campaign yesterday.

Several ministries including Tourism and Youth and Sports Ministries are involved in the programme designed to promote tourism to children.

What is interesting, and also makes visible the political interest of the newspaper, is the way this story has been edited. This explains further, in a cycle of credit at the NST, that the editor (probably echoes what Journalist NST2 said in the quote earlier) can ‘spin’ the story although they did not witness the event for the purpose of ‘shaping the mind of the public’.

I based this comparison with the actual speech I heard and the notes I took during the observation. What the Prime Minister said exactly in the speech, besides the importance of the safety and communication aspect involving children when they do outdoor activities held in Malaysia, was that two other ministries were also urged to assist in achieving safety - the Tourism and Youth and Sports Ministries. It was also his personal hope, he said, that the safety of children needed to be prioritised in all activities organised in this campaign.

However, if both versions of the stories are compared (thus enabling the identification of specific cycles of credit at the NST and BH), it is found that the tone of the story has been changed. Besides maintaining ‘safety’ as the lead of the story, the involvement of the two ministries was portrayed as ‘they are already involved’, although in the speech, they are called upon to get involved and help to ensure the safety of the children, or, as the word used by Journalist NST1 in the story - ‘tasked’. When these translations are analysed from an ANT perspective, a strong political interest of the newspaper in determining newsworthiness in the NST can be detected. By changing the tone of the story, which is from a ‘directive tone’ to an

‘involvement tone’, this suggests an implicit message that the government is always united in organising an event such as this campaign directed at its people. This changes the actual meaning of what the Prime Minister really said during the event, and in this example, I argue that this is done by the NST to show readers the strength of the state. Through words, this is perceived as achievable because readers who do not attend the event will turn to the newspaper to find out about it. Since readers are not there to listen to the speech, news stories can be used as a tool to portray a good image of the government to its public, thus reducing the multiple effects of the event to the public, by producing a less risky object of news value.

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In an interview with Journalist NST2, spinning the story is not a bad act in journalism as long as the meaning of the story does not change, thus, it is fine to spin the story according to the tendency of the newspaper and in line with its objective, which is to ‘let the readers know what the government is doing, and the progress of the country’. However, as I have demonstrated, the ‘spinning’ theory applied at the NST seems to be too heavily directed towards the political interests of the newspaper than to upholding the ideal philosophy of developmental journalism (Herbert 2001), which mainly calls for turning developmental news values into matters of concern rather than matters of fact, but so far it has been rather difficult. As Herbert (2001) observed, the concept of developmental journalism in the Third World has not been able to function as it should (which is to become the watchdog of the government, and be non-partisan in news reporting), but rather it has become the supporter of the government, almost without question, similar to how Asian journalism has mainly been practised (Petersen 1992). From the interview and observation conducted, one of the ways this is done is through the way wordings in the news are constructed, such as the headline

“Selling Country’s Charms to Schoolkids”.

Selling Country’s Charms to Schoolkids

SHAH ALAM: Safety and keeping parents informed must be the priority in the "Kami Anak Malaysia" tourism programme.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said he wanted the child participants to feel safe and able to stay in touch with their parents during the programme.

"When they (the children) climb hills and explore the jungles, we

Have to make sure there are officers in charge of their safety," the prime minister said at the launch of the campaign yesterday.

Several ministries, including the Tourism and Youth and Sports Ministries, are involved in the programme designed to promote tourism among children.

(copied directly from the online version of the news as it was published by the NST Online on 20 March 2009)

In this final version of the news story, it suggests that there is a tendency for the NST to promote its political interests more than other interests through the construction of such a sentence that (1) does not connect with the news lead, thus a question related to journalism practice, and (2) implies Malaysia as having such tourist appeal that schoolkids must not disregard it. The main problem with this headline is, besides it does not say anything about what the lead has to say (which is element of safety among the kids), why suddenly the headline now highlights the country’s charms when that was not even the strongest

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suggestion from the Prime Minister? Here, such journalistic practice can be associated with the strong political interest of the newspaper I have been talking about earlier, which can be related to promoting the country’s stability to the young generation.

Now, let’s see the BH version of the story as it is published as news.

Program riadah pelajar perlu utama keselamatan

SHAH ALAM: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi menggesa kementerian dan penganjur program pelancongan dalam negara, khusus membabitkan pelajar supaya memberi penekanan terhadap aspek keselamatan dan komunikasi.

Perdana Menteri berkata, selain tapak perkhemahan dan asrama,

perjalanan program yang dirangka untuk generasi masa depan negara itu perlu dilengkapkan dengan kehadiran pihak yang mahir dalam kegiatan lasak seperti mendaki bukit dan meredah hutan.

Beliau berkata, bagi memastikan perkara itu menjadi kenyataan, beberapa kementerian termasuk Kementerian Pelancongan dan Kementerian Belia dan Sukan dipertanggungjawabkan untuk melaksanakan perkara itu.

"Aspek keselamatan wajar diberi keutamaan bagi memastikan ibu bapa lebih yakin untuk membenarkan anak mereka menyertai sebarang program pelancongan yang dianjurkan khusus untuk pelajar.

(directly copied from the online version of this news from BH Online on 20 March 2009)

The translated version:

Students’ recreation programmes need to emphasise security

SHAH ALAM: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged the ministry and those organising travel programmes in the country specifically involving students to emphasise the aspects of security and communication.

The Prime Minister said other campsites and hostels’ travel programmes designed for the country's future generations need to be complemented by the presence of a skilled trainer in vigorous activity such as rock climbing and jungle trekking.

He stressed that, to realise this, some ministries, including the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Youth and Sports were responsible for implementing the matter.

"Security should be a priority to ensure that parents are more confident to allow their children to participate in programmes related to tourism

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What is striking in this news story as published by BH is that it maintains the exact tone of the speech as delivered by the Prime Minister. In the lead, it says that the Prime Minister urged organisers and ministries involved in tourism industries in the country to prioritise students’ safety and communications aspects in their programmes. In the second line, the Prime Minister is recorded as saying that besides providing campsites and hostels to students, every outdoor programme organised must be attended by experts in such activities.

In the next line, he went on to say that to achieve this, several ministries including the Tourism Ministry and the Youth and Sports Ministry were tasked to ensure the safety aspect mentioned. The direct quote then reported: “The safety aspect needs to be prioritised to ensure parents are confident to allow their children to join any tourism programmes organised for schoolkids.”

The headline differs a lot from the one published at the NST, from an ANT perspective. What becomes news at BH involved translations in a more ‘objective’ way, in the sense that it reports objectively what the Prime Minister has to say in the speech. This specific cycle of credit at BH suggests that the role of the editor contributes to promoting good journalism, compared with the NST. The only problem that BH cannot challenge in their news practice, however, is the accreditation of political interests, as the ownership is similar to that of the NST.

Besides this, it can also be related with practices that reified as the collective identities of these newspapers. Pertaining to the collective identity of BH, as explained by a senior editor at BH - Journalist BH2 - he would describe the identity of BH as a ‘neither here nor there’ newspaper which covers almost every topic including politics, human interest and education and which includes all different ethnic groups in Malaysia. By this, it can also be related with BH’s recent attempts to publish stories which are not too political (not publishing too many political stories). However, it still needs to report such stories (not even publishing too many human interest stories). Now, Journalist BH2 added, BH has even changed its policy to include human interest news on its front page. The change is important, according to Journalist BH2, because “the readers are now very bored with such [political] stories and they don’t buy the newspaper any more”.

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Compared with the NST, it views itself as a newspaper which, having a ‘strong conviction for a stable, progressive nation-building, brings to its audience a rich editorial content that has garnered huge following of movers and shakers, and key decision makers, paving the way to a united and progressive Malaysia’⁴. It is probably the intention to build a united and progressive Malaysia that moves some editors to edit the stories at the newspaper as discussed, so that some of them forget certain ethical aspects of journalism that would assist the process of becoming a progressive nation. Based on Audit Bureau of Circulation, the NST is audited as having one of the largest drops in circulation of all the country’s newspapers. Further discussion about the readership in relation to the NST’s circulation is discussed later, in Chapter 7.

Realising this, BH, which is used to be a newspaper that publishes a lot of political news, has taken a progressive step to translate what becomes news at the newspaper, by reducing its political news and making human interest news as newsworthy enough to be covered on its front page. Besides that, as we have seen in the previous analysis, BH also reports its news with a more objective approach, within the political interests accredited by the organisation.

It is this response that translates BH into a newspaper that can be said to accredit commercial interests rather than political interests alone. When Journalist BH2 said the change is a response to the decrease in BH’s circulation, commercial interests are also accredited in the cycles of credit that create news value at BH and translate BH into not so much a “hard core political newspaper” compared to the NST, turning the collective news value of BH to become nearer to Journalist BH2’s description as a “neither here nor there”

newspaper.

If we return to both analyses of the construction of news with the headline Selling Country’s Charms to Schoolkids (the NST) and Program riadah pelajar perlu utama

If we return to both analyses of the construction of news with the headline Selling Country’s Charms to Schoolkids (the NST) and Program riadah pelajar perlu utama