News blog, an online-only news site and online counterpart of print newspaper.

1) news blog

Malaysian Must Know The Truth http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.my/

Malaysian Must Know The Truth is a news Blogspot shared by several bloggers (editor) who provide news by sharing news content from other news agency. We have found that MMKTT has less credibility in producing and providing news to their readers.  According to Meyer (1988), to be credible is to offer reasonable grounds for being believed. To make people believe that the news is not a fake news, it must come from a legitimate news site.  Since everyone can use the blog as their personal journal, political blogs or even entertainment blog, the blog has less credibility in delivering news to the public.  This is because the news could be inaccurate or bias toward one party.

The good practice of this blog is that they allowed readers to comment on news.  The online readers can comment on the news openly without having to subscribe to the blog.

2) an online-only news site

Malaysia Kini  http://www.malaysiakini.com/

Malaysiakini is an online-only news site in Malaysia that covered mostly political news in the country.   Malaysiakini claims to be an independent news agency and free from government regulation.  However, although they claims to be an independent news portal, they were acknowledge by the government for being pro-opposition.  Thus, the news reported will not be balance as it will favoured the opposition party.

      It is the same as the print newspaper.  All stories must have at least two sides.  Therefore, it is the reporter’s job to present a balanced story to the readers.  One-sided news reporting happened when the writer put an unfair or one-sided opinion on the story. This is a bad practice for online news as it does not tell us the whole story or giving us a fair account of what happened. 

The good practice of Malaysiakini is that they plays an important role as the fourth estate.  Basically the fourth estate or also known as fourth power refer to the news media.  So far, Malaysiakini plays their role in keeping government in check by keeping the public informed.

     

For an online-only news site like Malaysiakini, only subscribers can sign in and comment on the news posted on the site.  By being a subscriber, they can give comment on all news story.  Non-subscriber has a limited privilege as they can only read the news and could not participate in the comment section.

3) online counterpart of a print newspaper

The Star Online http://www.thestar.com.my/

The Star Online is one of the most popular online sites in Malaysia.  It is own by the Malaysian Chinese Association(MCA), a component party of Barisan Nasional.

The good practice of The Star Online is that they provide a fair and unbiased news.  

For The Star Online, the online counterpart of The Star Newspaper, they allowed readers to express their emotions by asking how do you feel, and the reason why the readers feel so.  There is a limited conversation or discussion between readers on the news story.

 3) Which sites would you recommend to other people and why?

I would like to recommend Malaysian to read The Star Online.  This is because, The Star Online news sites is a credible news site.  Besides that, The Star Online able to deliver an accurate, not bias news to the public.  Therefore, I would suggest readers to read The Star as their main news sources.  

Reference

Meyer, P. (1988). Defining and measuring credibility of newspapers: Developing an index. Journalism Quarterly, 65(3), 567-574.

"The Star Online is the most visited news portal in Malaysia". The Star Online. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2014.