Utusan Malaysia

Utusan Malaysia
اوتوسن مليسيا

Front page of Utusan Malaysia on 23 May 2015
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) The Utusan Group
Editor Mohd Hassan Mohd. Noor[1]
Editor-in-chief Abdul Aziz Ishak
Deputy editor Rosmanizam Abdullah
Zulkefli Hamzah
Arffin Nordin
News editor Rozaman Ismail
Zulkiflee Bakar
Marzuki Yusoff
Zulkifli Jalil
Rosni Hassan
Ramli Abdul Karim
Mohd Ridzwan Md Iman
Muhammad Nizam Abdul Hamid
Founded 1939 (as Utusan Melayu)
1 September 1967 (as Utusan Malaysia)
Political alignment Pro-government
Language Malay and English
Headquarters No. 44, Jalan Utusan, Off Jalan Chan Sow Lin, 55200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Circulation 166,000 (daily)
355,000 (Mingguan Malaysia)
*Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations, Malaysia - 2014[2]
OCLC number 9786722
Website www.utusan.com.my
Free online archives ww1.utusan.com.my/utusan/search.asp
Country Malaysia

Utusan Malaysia (literally translated from Malay to English as "The Malaysian Courier") is a Malay-language newspaper published in Malaysia. Distinctive for its blue masthead as its logo and trademark, Utusan Malaysia was first published in Jawi in 1939. Utusan Malaysia became an influential medium for the people to voice out their opinions towards the ruling of the British Government in Malaya.

History

Utusan Malaysia traces its roots to 1939 when it was first published as Utusan Melayu, with its address at Queen Street, Singapore. It was co-founded by Yusof Ishak, who later became the first President of Singapore, and Abdul Rahim Kajai, dubbed the father of Malay journalism. It temporarily suspended publication during the Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore. The newspaper moved its headquarters to Cecil Street in 1945, and in 1959 relocated to Kuala Lumpur.

In 1961 its workers staged a strike against the newspaper's impending takeover by the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), amid concerns over Utusan's independence. The acquisition took place despite the protests, and Utusan Malaysia has been the unofficial party organ for UMNO ever since.

Utusan Malaysia started publication on 1 September 1967, being a romanised version for Utusan Melayu and daily edition of Mingguan Malaysia. Mingguan Malaysia published 2 years earlier, on 30 August 1964.

In 1997, the Group made its entry into the world of multimedia with the launch of "Utusan Malaysia On-Line", Malaysia's first Online Newspaper in full text and visuals. The service provided, in collaboration with Telekom Malaysia, enables pay-subscribers to read exact replicas of the Group's newspapers, including Utusan Malaysia. On 2 July 2001, "Utusan Education Portal" (Portal Pendidikan Utusan) was launched. The free service has received recognition from MIMOS (the "Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems") as one of the top five education websites in Malaysia in 2001.

Headquarters

The newspaper's first building was located at Queen Street, Singapore. In 1958, it moved to Kuala Lumpur at Jalan Chow Sow Lin.

A new seven-storey high office building was erected in 2010,[3][4] opposite the existing headquarters. It was built on the former site of a car park for its staff. The official move to the new Kumpulan Utusan premises took place in 2013.[5][6]

Format

Distinctive for its blue masthead as its logo and trademark, Utusan Malaysia has over 32 pages of news and current affairs, with regular supplements, focusing on such diverse topics as entertainment, fashion, music, health, technology, and politics. It is Malaysia's only broadsheet newspaper in a national language.

Mingguan Malaysia, Utusan's weekend edition, has a red masthead. Sections such as Pancawarna and Pancaindera (entertainment section) are published in tabloid size, rather than broadsheet.

Circulation

Utusan Malaysia's circulation peaked at 350,000 copies a day in the 1990s and it was one of the largest selling newspapers in Malaysia. Circulation had declined by about 250,000 in 2004 and further down to 170,000 copies in 2010.

Achievements

Date Achievement
9 February 1965 Utusan's headquarters new extra building in Jalan Chan Sow Lin opened by Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's first prime minister.
22 June 1972 Malaysia's second prime minister, Abdul Razak Hussein, opened extra block of new office in Utusan's headquarters in Jalan Chan Sow Lin.
30 May 1982 Hussein Onn opened new printing plant in Utusan's headquarters at Jalan Chan Sow Lin, and also new printing machine, Goss Urbanite Web Offset.
5 December 1988 The launching of World Sepaktakraw Championships organised with RTM and Malaysia Airlines, to promote Sepaktakraw to align with other sports.
21 May 1989 Utusan's Mini-Marathon organised to celebrate 50th anniversary of this newspaper has been followed by 11,000 participant, with that recorded the highest number of participants ever found in any marathon in the country.
2 May 1991 The opening of Utusan's printing plant in Gong Badak was officiated by The HRH Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah , the Sultan of Trengganu Darul Iman.
17 January 1996 Utusan Malaysia became the first Malaysian newspaper with full visual and text to get onto the International Superhighway when it launched "Utusan Malaysia On-Line" in four languages. Utusan Express, the electronic newspaper in English, was launched on 19 September 1996.
23 May 1997 Utusan is the first media group to organise an expedition that garnered the country global recognition. In true spirit of Malaysia Boleh, "The Project Malaysia - Everest 97", which was in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth & Sports, has made it possible for Malaysians to conquer the world's highest mountain.
8 November 2007 In the Deepavali celebration, Utusan has sold about 370.586 copies, than Kosmo! sold about 162,935 copies. Only three newspapers published in Malaysia, also Chinese-language newspapers, Oriental Daily News.

Criticism

Utusan has stoked racist sentiments with provocative headlines championing the Dasar Ekonomi Baru and Ketuanan Melayu.[7][8][9]

Similarly, just one day after the 2013 general elections, in which the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition suffered its worst-ever results, Utusan published a highly racist feature article with the headline "Apa lagi Cina mahu?" ("What else do the Chinese want?") accusing Chinese Malaysians of trying to overthrow the Malay-dominated government and labelling them "ungrateful".[10] Third-party analysts have noted that the massive electoral swing could be attributed to urban votes of all races deserting the ruling coalition wholesale, rather than pinpointed to any particular race.[11] Despite Prime Minister Najib Razak's defence of the newspaper, Utusan earned widespread condemnation from Malaysians for its unapologetic race-baiting.

In view of Utusan's extreme racist rhetoric, the former Opposition-led Perak state government staged a boycott against the newspaper, with other Opposition states following suit. A motion was also set by the Selangor state government to boycott Utusan while all Selangor state agencies and departments were told to refrain from buying and advertising in the newspaper, in a move to protest a short story titled "Politik Baru YB J" by columnist Datuk Chamil Wariya that appeared in the paper which mentioned the assassination of a fictional character resembling Democratic Action Party assemblywoman Teresa Kok.[12]

Utusan has also been criticised for publishing very little international news; the Foreign News section typically consists of only two to three pages out of 50 pages in total.

Statements by Chief Ministers in Opposition-held states have been taken out of context, manipulated, or otherwise downright fabricated.[13]

In January 2011, the newspaper suspended a senior journalist, Hata Wahari, president of the National Union of Journalists, after alleging that Hata had brought the newspaper into disrepute and "insulted" its management.[14] Hata was later dismissed from the Utusan group in May of that year.

On 20 May 2013, Hata staged a one-man protest in front of the Utusan Melayu headquarters, calling for an end to "irresponsible journalism" and "racist reporting". He was consequently jeered and labelled a "communist" by the Utusan staff gathered there, who also hurled two packets of fried bihun at him.[15]

The widely perceived view that Utusan Malaysia is nothing more than a propaganda newsletter for the ruling government has been given much greater credence after its deputy chief editor Zaini Hassan openly stated in a forum organised by the National Civics Bureau that it was acceptable for Utusan to "spin facts" to be "biased in our [the BN Government's] favour". The Malaysiakini reporter covering the forum was later barred from attending.[16]

Utusan offered an apology after running news of an 87-year-old Catholic missionary in Java who purportedly converted to Islam after recovering from a coma. It later turned out that the article was sourced from a fictional news story on a satirical website, the World News Daily Report.[17]

Lawsuits

Numerous lawsuits have been filed against Utusan by several personalities from the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. Notably, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng successfully sued for libel twice against the paper, winning RM400,000 in accumulated damages for both lawsuits.[18][19]

On 14 December 2012, Karpal Singh was awarded RM50,000 in damages after a High Court judge declared that an Utusan article painting him as anti-Islam was "by all accounts mischievous".[20]

Just over a month later, on 21 January 2013, the High Court awarded Anwar Ibrahim RM45,000 in damages after a series of Utusan articles deliberately misrepresented his statement in a BBC interview so as to suggest that the opposition leader was pro-LGBT (a controversial stance in Muslim-majority Malaysia). The paper's lawyer triggered significant uproar during proceedings when he argued that newspapers did not have the "luxury of time" to ascertain the truth of their reports.[21][22][23][24][25]

Awards and recognition

Utusan won the "IFRA Publish Asia 2003 Award" for the "Best in Print" category on 20 March 2002. It was the first award to be won by the newspaper at the international level. In 2014, it won two awards in Johor Media Award 2014.[26]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.utusangroup.com.my/corporate/editorial
  2. ↑ http://abcm.org.my/abcmfiles/uploads/2015/05/ABC-Circulation-Figures-Jul-14-to-Dec-14-Newspapers-West-and-East-Malaysia-Price-Bands1.pdf
  3. ↑ http://www.utusankarya.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146:bangunan-baru-kumpulan-utusan&catid=1:terkini&Itemid=128
  4. ↑ http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/utusan-melayu-saves-rm3m-with-new-office
  5. ↑ http://live.utusan.com.my/Event/Pelancaran_Ibu_Pejabat_Baru_Utusan_13_Sep_2013?Page=0
  6. ↑ http://xtive.utusan.com.my/video.php?v=971
  7. ↑ Ketuanan Melayu tercabar - Kaum lain lebih dominan dari segi politik, ekonomi – Tengku Faris (Malay) (Crown Prince of Kelantan: "Malay supremacy challenged" at Utusan.com.my)
  8. ↑ Persoal pemimpin Melayu tolak DEB (Malay)
  9. ↑ Bangkitlah Melayu (Malay) - "Orang Melayu perlu bangkit dan bersatu dalam berhadapan dengan tuntutan kaum lain yang kini dilihat semakin keterlaluan. Mereka juga perlu sedar dan insaf dengan situasi politik semasa yang menyaksikan pelbagai tuntutan hingga boleh menjejaskan kekuatan politik orang Melayu. Sehubungan itu, orang Melayu diminta tidak tunduk kepada tuntutan keterlaluan tersebut sebalik bangkit bersatu bagi mempertahankan hak dan kepentingan mereka."
  10. ↑ "Apa lagi orang Cina mahu?"
  11. ↑ GE13 an urban, not Chinese, swing, say analysts
  12. ↑ Motion for Selangor govt bodies to boycott Utusan
  13. ↑ Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng of Penang clarifies matters on youtube.com
  14. ↑ NUJ president suspended from Utusan
  15. ↑ 'Flying bihun' greets lone protester at Utusan HQ
  16. ↑ Utusan editor: Spinning to attack opposition is okay
  17. ↑ Utusan forced to say sorry after running fake story of Catholic priest's conversion
  18. ↑ Guan Eng wins suit against Utusan
  19. ↑ Guan Eng wins second defamation suit against Utusan
  20. ↑ Court finds Utusan article 'mischievous', awards Karpal RM50K
  21. ↑ Utusan lawyer: Newspapers lack ‘luxury of time’ to vet truth
  22. ↑ High Court rules in favour of Anwar in defamation case against Utusan
  23. ↑ Utusan defamed Anwar over LGBT remarks
  24. ↑ Anwar wins defamation suit against Utusan
  25. ↑ Anwar wins suit against Utusan, court rules articles 'distorted'
  26. ↑ http://www.utusan.com.my/berita/nasional/utusan-menang-dua-anugerah-media-johor-1.79454

External links

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