Media Prima gobbles up ntv7: Alarming ownership concentration

As widely expected, Media Prima has gobbled up ntv7, one of the country's more independent - relatively speaking, of course, given the oppressive condition the Malaysian mainstream media operate under - media organisations.

This certainly is an alarming development as the concentration of media ownership reduces the diversity of views broadcast in the public sphere.

Well done to Malaysiakini for highlighting this disturbing development:

ntv7 acquisition alarms media activists

Pauline Puah

Oct 28, 05 5:24pm

The consolidation of local free-to-air television stations under the ownership of Media Prima Bhd has stoked concerns among media activists. They are worried that it will reduce the diversity of news available in this country. Yesterday, Media Prima, a company believed to be linked to Umno, completed its 100 percent acquisition of the ntv7 Group. This also gave it control of the defunct WaFM radio station under the group Media Prima also controls private television stations TV3, 8TV and the defunct Channel 9, which is expected to resume operations early next year. “Media consolidation is a worrying development as it reduces the diversity of news...It’s very unhealthy if the media is owned by just a few giant companies,” said media watchdog Aliran’s Charter2000 joint-coordinator Anil Netto. Media Prima’s tentacles also stretch into the newspaper industry, with a 43 percent stake in New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd, which publishes the English language dailies New Straits Times and The Malay Mail as well as the vernacular Berita Harian and Harian Metro dailies. Media Prima’s group managing director and chief executive officer Abdul Rahman Ahmad said the company will separate the brand name of ntv7 and has ‘no major plans’ to change its editorial policy. No difference However, Anil was not convinced. “I don’t see any radical differences between these television stations (ntv7 and TV3),” he said when contacted. He said when Charter2000 monitored TV3's reports during the last general election, it discovered that the reports were one-sided. “It will be a challenge for ntv7 to retain the independence in its news room by not following (its sister company) TV3,” he added. Anil also dismissed the notion that only market forces determined the ownership of media companies. “You know it is very difficult for any independent individual to get a licence if they want to start a station. So this is not only market forces,” he said. Another local media watchdog, the Writers Alliance for Media Independence (Wami), also expressed concern over the recent developments. Its exco member Por Heong Hong said freedom of press and freedom of expression will be jeopardised. “The marginalised groups will hardly get a space to express their views as they are not the targeted market of the commercialised television stations,” she added.

See also this IPS report, which warned of the dangers of Media Prima's concentration of media ownership: Making Media Monopolies

Malaysia's press freedom ranking improves slightly to 113th place

Malaysia has posted a slight improvement in the latest RSF press freedom rankings for 2005. It has risen from 122nd position in 2004 to 113th position this year. But the ranking is still worse than the 103rd ranking in 2003, when Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi took over from Mahathir Mohamad, who was regarded as one of the global enemies of press freedom.

But within South East Asia, Malaysia is now in 5th place, a slight improvement from 6th place in 2004, but this "improvement" comes about due to a plunge in the Philippines' ranking.

Timor Leste retains its top ranking, with a global ranking of 58th place (57th place last year). Cambodia moves up to 2nd spot.

Thailand, under Thaksin, records the worst plunge in the region from a global ranking of 59th last year to 107th this year. This forces it down from 2nd place in the region to 4th, just ahead of Malaysia. The Philippines too posts a sharp fall, dipping below Malaysia to 6th place from 4th previously. The bottom four positions remain unchanged, with Burma under military rule unsurprisingly propping up the regional table.

Here are the South East Asian nations' press freedom rankings. The regional rankings for 2005 are shown on the left, followed by the previous year's regional ranking in brackets. The global rankings for 2005 are shown on the right in brackets.

1. (1) Timor-Leste (58)
2. (3) Cambodia (90)
3. (5) Indonesia (102)
4. (2) Thailand (107)
5. (6) Malaysia (113)
6. (4) Philippines (139)
7. (7) Singapore (140)
8. (8) Laos (155)
9. (9) Vietnam (158)
10. (10) Burma (163)