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Malaysia's Changing Media Environment and Youth Political Engagement — Student Voices from 2010

Rathore, Animesh S.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1459358726

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Mass Communication (Communication).
This dissertation explores the roles played by media toward political engagement and disengagement among students at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), an affirmative action university in Malaysia, during 2010. In doing so, this study examined perceptions regarding Malaysian media and politics, and the roles played by both mainstream mass media and online media in fostering political engagement and disengagement among UiTM students. The ethnographic fieldwork for this study was conducted during 2010—a critical year in Malaysia's political history, which preceded the repeal of the country's controversial laws including the Internal Security Act University and the University Colleges Act (UUCA). Before its repeal in 2012, UUCA banned university students and academicians from joining political parties, which presented a key challenge in obtaining informant feedback during the fieldwork. The findings revealed a distrust of mainstream media among many of the informants, including the politically engaged and the disengaged, during 2010. The alternative media online had helped disseminate oppositional messages and had encouraged both engagement and disengagement. Moreover, social media, including Facebook and Twitter, had led to an unprecedented form of engagement between youth and political leaders and issues, which, in turn, had led to enhanced interactions—hereby increasing student involvement in the country's political discourse. While both government controlled media and alternative media online had resulted in multiple political discourses, the overall environment for youth political engagement and disengagement was shaped by multiple factors, including parental influence, peer influence, role models, and establishment, along with media. Moreover, issues such as continued corruption in the country had contributed further to a distrust of mainstream media and political leaders, and had, thereby, contributed to the growing political disengagement among many UiTM students. The students’ reactions were later justified in government actions to resist a change in the country's political leadership.
Drew McDaniel (Advisor)
448 p.
Asian Studies; Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media
Malaysian media; political engagement; political disengagement; university students; online media; social media; Malaysia; student voices; UUCA; UiTM; 2010

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Citations

  • Rathore, A. S. (2016). Malaysia's Changing Media Environment and Youth Political Engagement — Student Voices from 2010 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1459358726

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Rathore, Animesh. Malaysia's Changing Media Environment and Youth Political Engagement — Student Voices from 2010. 2016. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1459358726.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Rathore, Animesh. "Malaysia's Changing Media Environment and Youth Political Engagement — Student Voices from 2010." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1459358726

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1459358726
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© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.