Lemak Lemang

Journalists who blog

Jun 17, 2006 17:15

The debate over whether bloggers are journalists rages on despite Dr Jay Rosen's proclamation in January 2005 that the "battle" of Bloggers vs. Journalists is Over.

The mutated debate topic centers now on the question: Are bloggers journalists?

Recently, Nathan Goulding, a regular writer for the National Review, rekindled the latest round of debate by pointing to a Washington column that highlighted questions raised by renowned columnists Adam Nagourney and Maureen Dowd, and the issue was a recurring one: "Are bloggers trying to play media as they start writing books or columns in big publications?"

Goulding himself took a position, thinking that bloggers are indeed heading towards that direction. However, not all bloggers share his view. For one, I have always avoided the label of journalist affixed to my forehead. Journalists can be bloggers, but not all bloggers are journalists. We smoke from different pipes. (This sounds like a potential blog topic).

While the debates ensue, I am personally delighted to see journalists in Malaysia who have started blogging consistently--that they don't get burn out too fast.


Those who have been on my radar screen for some time are former New Straits Times Press group editor-in-chief A. Kadir Jasin, former executive editor of Malay Mail/Sunday mail Ahirudin Attan a.k.a. Rocky Bru, online journalist-turned human rights activist Susan Loone, former theSun online editor Oon Yeoh, former Sin Chew Daily journalist James Wong Wing On, and former Sin Chew Daily editor Lee Ban Chen, to name a few.

A. Kadir Jasin. Having started his journalist life in 1969, Jasin is a veteran with over 35 years of experience in mainstream journalism. He was the group editor-in-chief of The New Straits Times Press from 1988 to 2000, during which he crafted an influential Sunday column "Other Thots" that provided much reference for the political climate. Walking along the power corridor during his time, he became both the barometer and lightning rod of local politics.

Since retiring from The NSTP, he has helmed the Berita Publishing Group which publishes a well-referenced business fortnightly, Malaysian Business, and his Other Thots column has since shifted to his own magazine.

The blog for The Scribe A. Kadir Jasin

Kadir started his blog--www.kadirjasin.blogspot.com--in February 2006, and it has captured quite an impressive following from the laymen to the dignitaries. Talkback to his blog topics often reaches over 100 entries. Much of the points of interest have centered on the performance of the current Government and its ensuing tussle with the former Prime Minister who ruled Malaysia for an unprecedented 22 years.

Kadir's blog is one that features political issues and current affairs.

Ahirudin "Rocky" Attan. A former business journalist, Rocky is the current president of the National Press Club in Malaysia. He left the NSTP Group in May amidst huffs of speculations, which included a run-in with the present head honchos in the organization. There was even speculations that The NSTP had launched an expensive revamp and Voluntary Separation Scheme just to get rid of him.

There might be some resemblance of professional differences between Rocky and his former organization as Rocky Bru's blog, started in May 2006 after his retirement from The NSTP, provides a strong source of insider information about The Firm which he formerly worked in. As if adding fuel to fire, many of his talkback commentators appear to be his former colleagues within and outside The NST.


Attan's blog at Rocky Bru

Though it's a young blog with just 10 entries at the time of writing, Rocky announced that his URL--www.rockybru.blogspot.com--has been barred from being accessed by journalists from The NSTP's local area network.

That speaks volume about the lethal impact of his blog among his target audience, which is still being defined and redefined due to its youth.

Susan Loone. You may have noticed that while Kadir and Rocky use the free services of Google-owned Blogger.com to publish their blogs, Loone chooses Wordpress for its versatile features in projecting photo power.


Loone's main blog at http://sloone.wordpress.com

From a full-time, and later part-time journalist with online media Malaysiakini, Loone is now a freelance writer based in Bangkok, working with a human rights organization.

She uses travelog and picture power "to document history as I see it", and shares it with her readers. It's a respectable task that Loone has undertaken as a blogger as her main blog was started in June 2006. She has also launched another blog to encapsulate her poetry at www.susanloone.blogspot.com.

Oon Yeoh. Though Oon started his journalist life reporting on politics and business for an overseas financial newspaper, he is more known as an IT writer. This may be due to the fact that when he returned to Malaysia, he crafted a name as a technology columnist in The Edge Weekly's IT supplement at Internet Time.

He used to be my sparring partner in blogging circa 2003 when George Bush was about to invade Iraq. We took opposing sides--he pro-Bush and I anti-Unilateralism--and our platonic debate raged on for months. However, he had to discontinue his blog after he decided to work full-time as the online editor in theSun, Malaysia's free paper.


Oon has started a blog on ZDNet Asia: Malaysian Explorer

Now that he's left theSun to work as independent editorial consult to magazines, Oon has started blogging in CNET Asia's sister online media, ZDNet Asia. His URL is at www.zdnetasia.com/blog/msiaexplorer. Besides this, Oon is also focusing his energies on promoting podcasting as is evident on his personal collection at http://oonyeoh.podomatic.com.

That's a formidable effort bearing in mind that Oon also writes for Singapore free paper Today and edits the Eve and Adam lifestyle magazine. I look forward to sparring with him again in our podcast series.

James Wong Wing On. Wong needs no introduction as he is a prolific, award-winning, bilingual writer. He used to work for Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily as a senior writer before he became the chief analyst at Strategic Analysis Malaysia, a think tank associated with Malaysiakini.

Wong, by training a strategic analyst in foreign policies, is considered as insider with vast networking in regional defence matters. Blogging was something new that he started in November 2005. His blog, named Freedom in Solidarity, is located at www.jameswongwingon-online.blogspot.com.


Wong's blog: Freedom in Solidarity

Flip through the archive and you will be greeted with valuable chronicles of contemporary history and political manouvers that dotted the regional conflicts.

Lee Ban Chen. Lee holds an unequalled record among Malaysian journalists. He is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese, and he was imprisoned for over 13 years under the Internal Security Act--which commands imprisonment without trial--plausibly due to his crusade for the development of Chinese vernacular education in Malaysia.

He became an editor at Sin Chew Daily upon his unconditional release from the detention camp, but quit to become an independent writer. He has since published six books to his credit.

When it became known that the Nanyang Siang Pau Press, which also publishes a popular blue-collar daily China Press, was being bought over by the ruling party MCA in collaboration with Sin Chew, thus creating direct political control over media and monopoly under a single media cartel, Lee joined a group of 120 columnists to stop writing for the Chinese Press.

Besides writing a well-followed Bahasa column in Malaysia, Lee began to write a Chinese column in an apolitical vernacular paper, Oriental Daily News, both focusing on current affairs and political issues. However, his Chinese column was killed off shortly after it started, purportedly due to political pressure.


Lee's Chinese blog at www.leebanchen.blogspot.com

In May 2005, Lee turned to blogging in Chinese, at www.leebanchen.blogspot.com to pursue his conviction in guiding the public opinion space.

So, what's the story again... journalists also blog? Decades ago, Star Trek had a famous phrase used by the Borg: "Resistance is futile".

When journalists flock to blog, the media landscape will definitely change beyond recognition. Yes, "you will be assimilated".

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