Studies show that social media play an important role in shaping political discourse. Applications of Web 2.0, particularly Twitter, are currently influencing the nature of online participation in which the audience is not merely passively reading web content, but is actually contributing to and creating the content. This study examines communication on Twitter during the 13th Malaysian General Election based on Twitter messages collected under the #PRU13 hashtag. The analyzed dataset is collected from Twitter's public timeline from May 1 to May 6, 2013. This study found lack of diversity in the discussion on Twitter sphere in which tweets that are pro-Barisan National coalition dominates the #pru13. Based on the communication patterns, however, #PRU13 constitute a multifaceted group of commenters who seek to persuade, educate, provoke and so on. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The online news media are said to have changed the understanding of the gatekeeping theory. Due to the virtually unlimited news space together with the interactivity in the online presentation of news, the Internet defies the whole conception of gatekeeping in journalism. This article seeks to examine the influence of gatekeeping forces in two influential Malaysian online news portals, MalaysiaKini and The Malaysian Insider (TMI), during the 2013 Malaysian general election. Based on the hierarchical model of news conception, this study assessed the influence of ideological gatekeeping forces on their news content. The reporting by both news portals was subjected to qualitative textual analysis. The results are triangualted with interviews with corresponding reporters and editors from MalaysiaKini and TMI. The findings show that although the reporting of MalaysiaKini and TMI is counter-ideological, the gatekeeping process remains intact. This is due to the speed factor and the requirement of the news portals to abide by the media-related laws in Malaysia.

This paper focuses on the transformation of media organisations in Malaysia and the implications on media content through the debate of the political economy of media and globalisation of media content. The objectives of this study are to look at the aftermath of Media Prima Berhad's structural changes since the 1998 economic crisis and the transformations that occurred in the local broadcasting and content industries. Additionally, the identification of the implications of MPB transformation on its content, particularly the television programming of its four television stations will be discussed. Semi-structured interview and content analysis of TV programming approach were used to gather data. Two main findings were identified. MPB's corporate expansion had concentrated the local television market. The adoption of a cost-saving strategy and sharing of resources have been the keys to success. MPB is an integrated media organisation that has performed horizontal and vertical integration to strengthen its performance within the local broadcasting industry. Repositioning of 8TV and TV9 has transformed the stations' programming since conglomeration, whilst Chinese and religious programming emerged from the corporate expansion strategy.