MEDIA FREEDOM is a pressing issue in Malaysia. The country, in 2012, ranked 141 out of 178 countries under the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. Journalists are kept on a tight leash by threats of taking away employment opportunities and denying members of families of media persons a place at good universities. Though, government minders stop at hauling off and shooting journalists who are critical of the government. The Malaysian government makes full use of its powers to control the media, denying requests for licence to opposition political parties – even as people in Malaysia are fully aware that in neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, hundreds of radio stations operate without political interference.

Ironically, in the government-created vacuum in traditional media, it was former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, who while establishing the Multimedia Super Corridor in 1996 to provide high-speed Internet access and attract foreign investment, laid the foundation for Malaysia’s Internet freedom and current popularity of online and Citizen Journalism.

The direct result of this investment is the present massive popularity of Malaysiakini, the leading news portal in Malaysia, and its Citizen Journalism Project. So while home grown websites are openly critical of the government in stories and commentaries, the government doesn’t care about this contradictory divide. It’s not surprising then that Malaysiakini.com, launched in 1999, offering daily news in Malay, English, Chinese, and Tamil, attracts more than 37 million page views and 750,000 video downloads per month, as per Google Analytics. Such is the popularity of the Letters section of Malaysiakini that Malaysia, through the site’s contributors including Citizen Journalists, is exposed to unseen level of debate about taboo subjects such as AIDS, migrant workers, Islam and racial quotas.

Malaysiakini has acknowledged the praise lavished on it from world leaders but it also holds its Citizen Journalism Project close to its heart. After getting initial funding from the International Center for Journalist of United States, the Citizen Journalism Project soon had its pioneer group of Citizen Journalists within the first six months – covering the entire spectrum of news from community news to political conspiracy – with stories by Citizen Journalists appearing on Malaysiakini for maximum exposure. The roaring success of the project encouraged Malaysiakini in 2010 to conduct its first Citizen Journalists Conference, which was a huge success as more than 120 Citizen Journalists took part in seminars and workshops. The scale of its second conference in 2011 was three times the scale of the first one.

Today, as the tradition of Citizen Journalism is well-established in Malaysia, Citizen Journalists contribute to news reporting through news portals, blogs, and interactive social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and have become channels for on-ground reporting.

An indicator of how deeply Malaysians feel about Citizen Journalism, Akmal Ariffin, a school teacher from the Termeloh region, and a Citizen Journalist involved in the Citizen Journalism Project of Malaysiakini, posted his comment on the site agreeing that Citizen Journalism was the new wave of journalism and that it can be trusted. “I agree 100 percent. Yes, it is a new wave, and it can be trusted. Just look at the videos published by our CJs - some of the issues might not be reported by any news agency, but they are small issues with big impact.”

Ariffin’s passion for voluntary new reporting is proof that in countries that have state-controlled media, people have a hunger for news 'as it is', and many have a strong urge to participate as the harbingers of that news, and it is this aspect of Internet-led media freedom that is determining the excitement for Citizen Journalism in Malaysia.