This book examines how women journalists in Malaysia negotiated male power structures, in particular structures determined by the keystone party of the ruling coalition, the United Malays National Organisation. Through both oral histories and content analysis, it looks at how women journalists in the women’s pages of the newspapers found spaces to advocate for their readers. It is thus the first work to look at the importance of the women’s pages in the Malay-language newspapers, and how apparently monolithic institutions of the authoritarian state hid diverse contests for resources and prestige. In this contest, the concept of news values, the perception of the reader and the ways in which women constructed themselves as journalists all come into play, and are examined here. The book contributes to the field of feminist media studies by examining how gendered newsroom practices paradoxically allowed women journalists in the women’s pages more editorial freedom than those in the malestream press.
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Dr Sonia Randhawa has been a director for the Centre for Independent Journalism since 2001, and is one of Malaysia’s foremost media freedom advocates, having worked as a journalist in the UK, Malaysia and Australia. She has taught at the University of Melbourne, Monash University Malaysia, and New Era College (Malaysia). She has served on the board of a regional feminist media organisation (now called IO-International) and on the board of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcaster (AMARC) Asia-Pacific, and worked as the editor of GenderIT.org, a website that looks at the intersection of gender and technology.
This book is dedicated to those Malaysian journalists who have tried to expand the number of stories that can be told. Thank you.
