Oct 16, 2000
'The Star' hit by readership drop since 1998
6.10pm, MON: Top-selling English-language newspaper, The Star, suffered a 6.3 percent decline in its readership since mid-1998, according to a market research firm.
AC Nielsen's findings on media index for 1999 and 2000 also show that all mainstream newspapers, with the sole exception of Tamil-language daily Malaysia Nanban, have been hit by a drop in readership over the past two years.
The Nielsen results are derived from continual interviewing of a representative cross-section sample of the adult population in Malaysia between July 1998 and June 2000.
MCA Youth yesterday chided Time magazine for "inaccurate reporting" in a recent article on the rise of online media, Cracks in the system, according to a report in The Star today.
The international magazine reported that the readership of The Star, which is partly owned by MCA's investment arm Huaren Foundation, has dropped by 6.3 percent. MCA Youth's international affairs bureau chief Fam Lee Ee claimed that on the contrary, it has gained 5.4 percent since September last year.
Malaysiakini reported last Tuesday that only two of the 14 mainstream papers surveyed by Nielsen - The Star and Chinese-language Guang Ming Daily - recorded slight increases in daily readership in 1999, by 5.4 percent and 11.8 percent respectively (Mainstream papers readership plunged, says report, Oct 10).
However, the Time article is based on Nielsen's survey over a two-year period, from June 1988 to July 2000.
In its Oct 16 edition, Time said that Nielsen also found that since 1988, the readership of major newspapers such as English-language New Straits Times has dropped 27 percent, while Malay-language Berita Harian plunged 30 percent and Utusan Malaysia fell 27 percent.
Fam has criticised the magazine for getting its facts wrong and also questioned its motive in writing the report.
Falling readership
Source: AC Neilsen Mid Year Media Index, Sept 1999 & 2000
Newspaper
1998
'000
2000
'000
Variance
The Star
1,090
1,021
-6.3
New Straits Times
750
491
-34.5
Malay Mail
241
105
-56.4
Sun
227
145
-35.7
Sin Chew Jit Poh
862
847
-1.7
China Press
582
507
-12.9
Nanyang
614
496
-19.2
Kwong Wah
272
268
-14.7
Guang Ming
254
228
-10.2
Berita Harian
1,993
1,404
-29.5
Utusan Malaysia
1,946
1,420
-27
Harian Metro
594
370
-37.7
Nanban
155
174
+12.3
Tamil Nesan
136
101
-25.7
Credibility gap
According to Time, one of the factors leading to a plunge in mainstream newspapers' readership is the prevalence of self-censorship, especially in the reporting of the arrest and the trials of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Media observers believe that the sharp fall of readership - along with a rise in the readership of independent news websites - indicates the lost of credibility among the established media, most of which are linked to the ruling coalition.
Fam also took Asiaweek magazine to task for claiming an increase in the readership of The Sun.
In its Oct 6 article, Malaysians turn to The Sun, Asiaweek said that The Sun is the winner in newspaper circulation war. It attributed this to the newspaper's assuming the middle ground vacated by the mainstream press.
However, the Nielsen's surveys found that The Sun's readership has dropped 35.7 percent since 1998.
COUNTERBALANCE.ANYWHERE.ANYTIME.ANYBODY.ANYONE.COM
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Messenger - Talk while you surf! It's FREE.
