The Porcine Press Club

This article explores the concept of liberty in the current political climate in a globalized perspective, using press systems of Malaysia and USA as comparative models.

Is liberty dead? Does it exist? Is your liberty also my liberty? Or is all just a power struggle? Is it all about what we can have for ourselves?

Has the idea of liberty been kicked into the world of marketing jargon?

Struggle for hegemony: A discourse of the press systems of USA and Malaysia

“Exploit us, but exploit us fairly.”(CNN, 2003)
–    Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years, October 2003

Advocates of the ‘Western-style liberal press system’ argue that models that vary from it are not conducive to the universal benefit of society (Rothbard & Hoppe, 2003). The economic rise of Southeast Asian countries in the 1990s, including Malaysia, saw alternative models of press systems, dissimilar to the liberal model, being born. This has caused an interesting display between the West and Asian countries in the struggle for hegemony within a local as well as international context. Malaysia presents an interesting case study as it is refuses to be resolutely defined by the typical characteristics of either a liberal or authoritarian press system. This reflects on the sophisticated complications that arise from the effects of globalisation as well as the differentials in perspective when countries exert hegemonic power.
This essay will use Social Dominance Theory (SDT) (Sidanius & Pratto, 2001) to conduct a comparative analysis of USA’s liberal press system to Malaysia’s press system. This analysis will enable an exploration into what motivates this power struggle, and how countries that shun the classic libertarian values shared by an influential, powerful portion of the post-Cold War world achieve their goals.
The end of the Cold War is significant in the Asian region for a number of reasons. For one, the focus shifted from the struggle for political power between democratic USA and communistic USSR along with their respective allies, to the interest in the increasing economic development within the region. This caused a surge of extraordinary economic growth in Asia, coupled with sudden introductions to new set of social and technological infrastructures catered for an increasingly capitalist environment. SDT states that “major forms of intergroup conflict, such as racism, classism and patriarchy, are all basically derived from the basic human predisposition to form and maintain hierarchical and group-based systems of social organization” (Cambridge University Press). Malaysia’s constant battle for social dominance within a local and international context displays its constant need to establish its identity within this chaos of economic and social change.
The liberal press system is deemed as the benchmark of a progressive world as its advocates have been at the top of the global food chain, in an economic and political sense. Hence, liberal values and ideals are exerted to create a larger influence globally and maintain power, which then leads to a reduction of political and economic threat. Libertarians, stemming from England and spreading into Europe and America, are characterised by the rationale that its publics are independently capable of making sound choices should they have open and unrestricted access to information and self-ownership (Stamford Encylopedia of Philosophy, 2006). USA’s liberal press system, for instance, is influenced by its ideas of democracy. It functions as a watchdog, encourages freedom of speech, is privately owned and provides both entertainment and information.
The Western-style liberal press system achieves a high social dominance orientation (SDO) through its success in four key factors (Jost & Sidanius, 2004):

1. The liberal press system of USA belongs and identifies with “arbitrary, highly salient and hierarchically organised arbitrary-set groups” (Jost & Sidanius, 2004), being that USA is deemed as a superpower for its leading position internationally, especially post-Cold War.
2. The role it plays in bringing about information in regards to current affairs enhances  “socialisation experiences” (Jost & Sidanius, 2004) locally and internationally.
3. The US press system increases its SDO through its lack of empathy, when it sensationalises subjects that are easily capitalised, such as its coverage of Saddam Hussein’s capture.
4. Through the invariance hypothesis (Oskamp, 2000), it shows that the US press system is dominated by the male gaze (Felluga, 2002). This is demonstrated through its extensive coverage of topics of aggression such as wars and a focus on the sexualisation of the female form through its portrayal of American celebrities such as Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton.

However, with the economic rise of the Asian region, USA’s high SDO is being challenged by China, an emerging superpower, followed by other regional countries, such as Malaysia, that do not share nor approve of the libertarian and religious values of the US. Malaysia’s political landscape is a complex amalgam of authoritarian values mixed with the semi-democratic and technocratic (McConnell, 2003). A focus on building up the nation through its interpretation of ‘social democracy’ is evident in its treatment of the press system. Its media is primarily state-owned and functions on many occasions as a propaganda tool for the government. Although the press system does not follow the classic autocratic model, often, it is the voices of the Malay-Muslim citizens that are heard above those who practice other faiths. Like USA, Malaysia’s press system displays a high SDO.
Uniquely, Malaysia practices a form of legalized racism (Eguiguren, 2000) through its implementation of Article 153 in the Malaysian Constitution. Article 153 compromises of subsidies and preferential treatment of Malay-Muslims citizens, known as bumiputera (translates as ‘son of the soil’), that includes education scholarships, land ownership at discounted rates and public service positions over other non-bumiputera citizens. Despite the assistance, it is the non-bumiputeras, such as the Chinese Malaysians that have flourished, dominating the middle to upper classes of society (Kahn, 1996).
By understanding the motivation behind Article 153, we can apply it to a macro scale as to how Malaysia attempts to position itself on an international platform. Article 153 is an example of the extreme protectionist approach that Malaysia, with its high SDO (Sidanius & Pratto, 2001), takes to safeguard itself against the Other (Williams, 1992). In this case, non-Muslim and non-Malay citizens represent the Other. With the onset of capitalism bringing about a global village (McLuhan, 1964), there is a greater need for Malaysia, as it opens its doors to international trade, to exert hegemony over other countries. This reaction is similar to how it attempts to dominate non-bumiputera citizens who are viewed as more successful.
The Malaysian media has been used to implicate resistant opposition through the tactics of exposé. In the case of disgraced former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, his charges of sexual misconduct (BBC, 2008) was reported salaciously in the local paper. Ibrahim was twice accused of sodomy, in 1998 and 2008. He was convicted in 1998 and spent six years in jail, despite maintaining his innocence. After his release, he focused on piecing together the new opposition coalition, and at which time the second wave of charges are simultaneously held against him and reported extensively through the local media. This displays how the Malaysian government uses the influence that it has over its press system as a propaganda tool for its political agendas.
How is this dissimilar to the propaganda campaigns of the US elections? During the period of the US pre-election campaigns, fellow Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton used the media extensively to further their causes through various tactics. The campaigns involved more then informational facts and figures required for democratic-style voting. For instance, the media coverage of Obama’s affiliation with his controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, resulted in a five points dip in his ratings (Martelle, 2008). Clinton, on the other hand, is renowned for employing the media as a battleground against Obama’s campaign through constant attacks over his credibility (CNN, 2008) to lead the people of America.
This demonstrates that even within the heart of a country based on democracy, each party’s personal agendas, such as religious beliefs or political ambition, dominate over the idea of a liberal press system. With this in mind, it is debatable to discern Malaysia’s media as being influenced by the tactics used in the liberal US media, as what has occurred is a blurring between liberal and non-liberal press systems. The struggle for hegemony over the Other will constantly present barriers to the concept of liberty, as demonstrated by the examples above.
The Asian model of journalism challenges the openness of western systems, viewing it as “leading into chaos and degradation of society” (Richstad, 2000).  Therefore, with “the transfer of control from colonial interests to the new authoritarian governments” (Richstad, 2000) in countries like Malaysia, governments assumed responsibility of the press as part of its nation restructuring strategy. Malaysia enforces self-censorship of press in line with the Asian model of journalism (Richstad, 2000), especially when an article involves defamatory material. It flexed its muscle in September this year, arresting a prominent political blogger, a local journalist and probing three newspapers under its Internal Security Act, in claims that the works produced were promoting racial dissent (Reuters, 2008).
Interestingly, The Star, a major daily in Malaysia that runs an online edition besides its broadsheets, was allowed to print articles regarding and following the arrests. In an article, ‘Detention of journalist an act to intimidate media’ (The Star, 2008), published on 13 September, the National Union of Journalists argued that the government’s unfair treatment of the arrested journalist inhibits journalistic duties. Therefore, even though the government acted autocratically towards the press, it also allows for an opposing voice. This shows that Malaysia’s press system does not function entirely from the top-down approach. The acknowledgement that opposing comments will be made, especially with the democratic tool that is the Internet, shows that Malaysia is unable to entirely escape the liberal idea of freedom of speech.
Looking at the US press system and its concept of freedom of speech, it could be regarded as a watchdog not only for one party, but for a diverse range of opposing parties. For instance, an article from a Democratic media watchdog group disputes and challenges the claims of a Conservative-based study from Media Research Centre stating that the US media has a “liberal bias” (Media Matters for America, 2005). This exchange of opinion is conducive to the liberal ideology of using freedom of speech to create a balanced argument.
On the other hand, the liberal press system does not entirely champion an unbiased point of view (Rasmussen, 2007) simply because freedom of speech is exercised. The liberal press system propagates the politics of a country in the instance of USA and its War on Terror campaign. Americans are constantly bombarded with disturbing material in their local media leading up to the war in Iraq, as part of a shock tactic to instigate nationalism and paranoia (Klein, 2007). This shows that despite the liberal press system being regarded as being impartial, politics trumps libertarian ethos.
The question now is, do non-Western nations that do not subscribe to libertarian ideals require the blessings of Western nations to legalise propaganda? The idea of media imperialism is another factor that demonstrates the influence of liberal press ideas in Asia. As part of an increasingly capitalist world, critics argue that media imperialism is a way for the First World to exert and promote its cultural values in order for the continuation of consumerism of First World products to the Third World (Boyd-Barrett, 1977; Golding, 1977).
That said, the content of Malaysia’s online news portal, The Star Online, is catered for the local reader even when it reports on international current affairs. This demystifies the hypodermic model of media effects (Chadha & Kavoori, 2000) that comes from the West to Asia. A majority of media content from the West, however, is produced and shared internationally in comparison to Asian content. Even though popular media channels such as MTV have been glocalised for the Malaysian market, the framework of executing the show as well as the marketing techniques down to the delivery by the presenters follows the Western model. This synthesis of localising foreign content supports the media dependency theory in which the “more dependent an individual is on the media for having his or her needs fulfilled, the more important the media will be to that person” (Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur, 1976). Therefore, not only are Asian countries not able to free themselves from the liberal press system, it is also dependant on its frameworks for its local context.
From that basis, the concept of Asian values seems to be a reaction by South East Asian governments against the dependency that Asian press systems have on liberal press systems. Asian values are defined through its “emphasis on group orientation”, “frugality” and “respect for authority and hierarchy” (Richstad, 2000) in an effort to achieve collective success.
Malaysia challenges the concept of frugality by spending US$1.2 billion to build the Petronas Twin Towers (Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia) in 1997 and promoting it extensively and internationally through press releases in various publications and websites, print and online advertisements. Yet Malaysia proves that it does not conform to one set of beliefs when it displays its skill of hegemonic control through social democracy. The most viewed business news on 19 September 2008 on The Star Online are “Fresh hopes push KLCI above 1000” and “Banker: Malaysia will pull through financial storm”. This demonstrates that the media is collaborating with the government in projecting a positive outlook to prevent widespread panic, in reaction to the monumental news of the tumbling of Lehman Brothers (The Wall Street Journal, 2008), an important American financial institution.
Dissidents argue that Asian values are in fact universal and are not unique to Asia. The US media emphasizes group orientation through its extensive coverage of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. This coverage induced the US public to donate approximately US$587 million in aid, “more than initial donations for 9/11 and the Asian tsunami” (BBC, 2005). This shows that hegemonic control can be achieved from a variety of tactics depending on the situation at hand.
The above examples show that although Malaysia’s press systems are influenced by the liberal press system, the current liberal press system is failing to distinguish itself as a universal model. This is primarily due to the growing effects of contemporary globalisation, of which the ideology that the West dominates the rest of the world, in a social and political context, is fast becoming extinct. Even though it is fair to assume that no nation can free itself from the universal influence of a Western-style liberal press system due to its widespread practice across many countries, what dominates the argument is the constant struggle to dominate the Other. This creates the drive that propels countries towards creating alternative press systems and it is inevitable that liberal press systems alter in reaction towards other dominating systems.
Ironically, an emergent concept of a homogenised heterogeneity (Niessen, Leshkowich, & Jones, 2003) whereby individualist qualities are celebrated as part of the total sum of a larger community is fed ironically by libertarian values such as capitalism. Malaysia has grasped the idea of homogenised heterogeneity through the quote given by Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the start of this essay. Malaysia recognizes its identity within a global community and it aptly uses that position to propagate its dominance over other countries. The desire for political, social and economic domination has spurred Malaysia forward utilising a powerful combination of indigenous and foreign ideologies. This exposes the West to increasing hegemonic challenges of which libertarian ideals are compromised in an effort to regain dominance. The theory of SDT is one that will be relevant to the study of press systems or any social studies as long as the existence of a dominant and a weaker force is in play.

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