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Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia bumps along the bottom of international rankings for press freedom, but the explosion of social media like Twitter and Facebook is revolutionizing how journalists work.

Dissenting views, which for decades were screened out of the government-linked mainstream media, are now everywhere, including the blogosphere and mobile SMS messages, making repression extremely difficult.

One veteran reporter with one of the country’s leading newspapers said that for most of his career it was virtually impossible to write about the opposition or any issues deemed off-limits by authorities.

“But today, government MPs are forced to engage and debate their counterparts across the aisle in social media like Twitter and Facebook, allowing us to report on the opposition and avoid much censorship,” he says.

“Where previously we had to accept at face value a minister’s version of events or policies, today their disgruntled aides and opponents are already tweeting or leaking details on Facebook, giving us uncensored access.

“Although the restrictions and controls are still in place, it’s become much harder to censor what the opposition or rights groups say in the media,” says the journalist who, due to the sensitivity of the issue, declines to be named.

Malaysia was ranked 131 out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, because of its tight controls on print and broadcast news media.

The watchdog says Malaysia prevents journalists from properly covering sensitive subjects such as corruption or human rights abuses, using a publishing permit system that allows it to shut down news media outlets at will.

After decades of such policies, self-censorship became rife and political leaders hardly even needed to make the much-feared phone call to the newsroom.

But the seeds of change were sown in 1996 when the government pledged not to censor online content as part of a campaign to promote its information technology sector.

Despite occasional raids, bans and government criticism, the Web and online news media remain relatively free.

Today, Facebook fan pages highlighting political rallies and civil society forums, as well as Twitter exchanges with lawmakers, have reshaped the reporting landscape.

“All our reporters have BlackBerrys and use that to follow these tweets. The social media has changed the way journalists work in fundamental ways,” says Premesh Chandran, founder of one of the pioneering online news portals, Malaysiakini.

Chandran says the new immediacy hampers government attempts to “spin” or control a story as journalists get real-time reaction from the opposition and experts and use it to seek an immediate response from officials.

With the advent of Twitter, politicians from both sides of politics freely disseminate their views, so much so that legislators have been known to take debates out of the chamber and continue them in the Twitterverse.

Social media also have a knack of eliciting more candid commentary than politicians would usually choose to put in a regular press release.

That phenomenon was on display earlier this week when Khairy Jamaluddin, the influential leader of the ruling party’s youth wing, gave a quick response to a government decision not to drop a ban on students joining political parties.

“Cabinet decision not allowing university students to be involved in political parties is gutless and indicates outdated thinking,” he said in a much-discussed tweet.

Malaysians have flocked to the Internet for news and views, a phenomenon credited with the opposition’s stunning performance in 2008 polls when the government lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority for the first time.

Reporters Without Borders regional correspondent Patrice Victor said the Malaysian experience could be replicated in other countries as they developed a potent combination of repressive governments and reasonable Internet access.

“We are seeing social media free the way journalists report in this region and the trend in Malaysia can also be seen happening in Singapore, Thailand and Burma,” he says.

 
Agence France-Presse