Media Usage Patterns among Chinese Voters: In Preparation for the 14th Malaysian General Election (GE14)

Abstract

The growing popularity of networked media has given opportunities for the people in this democratic society to search for diverse information and compare information with other sources of information, thereafter making their choice to whom they want to elect and to which information they think is reliable. Notwithstanding the influential power of networked media in elections, among people who have access to this media, there are still people who just rely on traditional media or use both at the same time for information seeking. This study seeks to explore the media usage pattern of Chinese voters in Peninsular Malaysia in preparing the Malaysian 14 th General Election. 10 focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted in seven states, namely Selangor, Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Melaka, Johor Bahru, Kota Bahru and Terengganu. A total of 95 informants of whom were eligible Chinese voters, ranging in age from 21 to 65, were invited to participate in the FGDs. The result shows that social media especially Facebook is the prominent communication and entertainment tool as well as the source of information used by majority of informants from the seven states. Our result also shows that traditional media will not be replaced by networked media, at least, at this point in time as our informants still use traditional media to verify the reliability of news on social media occasionally. The researchers suggest that strategic and effective communication plan with should be planned and implemented by using both media (i.e., traditional and social media) in coming GE14.

The Use of WhatsApp on Political Marketing Agenda in Malaysia Politics

“…Because most of the previous research very much focusing on the impact of Facebook (Chang & Tham, 2016;Leng Ho, 2012) and Twitter (Faizal Kasmani, Sabran, & Adzrah Ramle, 2014;Rosyidah Muhamad, 2015) on electoral results in Malaysia, this study, however, will discuss on the impact of WhatsApp on elections outcome. Therefore, this study is to embark on the influencing factor of WhatsApp in political marketing and party campaigning strategy in the wake of GE 14.…”

Media Agenda in Politics: How Malaysian RTM Radio Stations Cover 14th General Election

“…Acknowledging the overwhelming growth of networked media and technological changes in information delivery systems such as the Internet and social media in providing valuable information to the public especially during the general election, Malaysians consumed "a lot more" news and information than before. The proliferation of social media has allowed searching for diverse information and thereafter make their choice to which information they think is reliable (Chang and Tham, 2016). The notable social media such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube and blog, are among the most used, regardless of frequency.…”

“…The notable social media such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube and blog, are among the most used, regardless of frequency. Chang and Tham (2016) found that social media especially Facebook was the prominent communication and entertainment tool as well as the source of information used by the majority of Chinese informants from the seven states in Malaysia. However, the majority of informants in the study also concurred that they are still using traditional media for information seeking mainly because they are concerned about the reliability and validity of news on social media, especially on Facebook.…”