The Malayasian Newspaper

Utusan

Malaysia Terkini-

The Malayasian

Newspaper Daily

An introduction

Utusan Malaysia Terkini, a Malaysian newspaper daily was found in the year of 1939. The phrase “Utusan Malaysia” when translated into English means Malaysian Courier. The political alignment of the newspaper can be said to be pre-government or right winged and thus is referred as an unofficial agent for the ruling government which is the United Malays National Organization. Utusan Group is both the owner and the publisher. The newspaper is published daily in two languages – Malay and English.

 

One of the founding fathers of this newspaper daily – Abdul Rahim Kajai was dubbed as the “Father of Malay Journalism”. When during the invasion of Japan in Malaysia and Singapore the publication of Utusan Malaysia Terkini was temporarily suspended. In the initial years that are in 1945 the headquarters were situated on Cecil Street which later got relocated to Kuala Lumpur.

 

The workers staged a strike against the ruling party, United Malays National Organization accusing them of taking over the organization and expressed their concerns over how Utusan would gain its independence. This incident occurred in the year 1961 and ever since then Utusan Malaysia Terkini has remained the unofficial party spokesperson for the UMNO despite of the fact that the workers continued their strikes and protests. The official publication came out on the 1^st of September in 1967 as the Romanized version.

 

Format of the Newspaper

Utusan Terkini is published on daily basis consisting of diverse topics ranging the current affairs to basic news. It consists of over 32 pages and additionally providing the readers with supplement papers on fashion, health, music, technology, politics and entertainment. Regional articles, business and education news are also covered. The logo of this newspaper daily is a blue masthead.

 

Circulation

The sales of this newspaper went high in the 1990’s selling 350,000 copies per day and went on to become one of the largest selling newspapers in Malaysia. In 2010 though the circulation has fell down where about 170,000 copies were sold, only. However by 2012, sales picked up 178,000 copies daily

 

How was it received?

The newspaper come has come under criticism a number of times for publishing double standard news against opposition parties. Done in regard to political news and often the statements given by the prime ministers of opposition parties were fabricated, manipulated and changed out of context to suit the requirements of the newspaper.It has also been reported that the newspaper has provoked racist sentiments amongst the masses;Utusan Malaysia was accused of publishing highly racist news against the Chinese. Just after the general elections on 2013, they published a news against the Chinese Malaysians. The headline was titled – “Apa lagu Cina mahu?” meaning what else do the Chinese want?

 

The newspaper daily went on to accuse the Chinese Malaysians by labeling them ungrateful and reportedly trying to dethrone the Malaysian government. Utusan Malaysia Terkini has been criticized heavily for publishing very little articles on foreign news. Also held for publishing irresponsible articles and accusing other parties of things not committed, Utusan Malaysia Terkini  has been held as the sole newspaper for reporting news only for the ruling government party which is the United Malays National Organization. Utusan Malaysia Terkini also had to face a number of lawsuits mostly because of its defamatory coverage of news.