On June 17, 2010, a group of 23 students of Feature Writing class, MCH 303, were given the chance to visit Malaysia’s most established online news website organization, Malaysia Kini. The meeting was organized by MCH 303 lecturer, the experienced journalist, Mr Krishnamoorthy.
The students were greeted by Mr Steven Gan, the founder and editor-in-chief of Malaysia Kini. Mr Gan shared with the students the history of Malaysia Kini and how it has developed itself over time.
Malaysia Kini was founded in 1999, when Malaysians were already turning to alternative media for information. Steven Gan came up with the idea of establishing a professional journalist based website, which provides factual and unbiased information to readers.
Malaysia Kini is one of three online news sites in the world that makes money through subscription, which makes up 60% of its revenue. Malaysia Kini’s mission for 2010 is to gain RM 2.2 million from subscribers alone. The money is just enough to sustain the site. Malaysia Kini is mostly subscribed by individuals, who would get passwords to access the site. Now, even universities and colleges can have unlimited access to Malaysia Kini, when they pay a subscription fee of RM 1000.
Malaysia Kini consisted of five different sections; English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and Community Kini. There are a total of 35 journalists in Malaysia Kini, with 15 being in the English section. All the journalists work together in a big room and they help each other, in order to bring the readers with factual and fair news.
A year and a half ago, Malaysia Kini started to train citizen journalists. About 15 to 20 future citizen journalists participated and the training was organized during five weekends. Participants were taught about video editing, journalism skills and ethics.
If you’re interested in interning at Malaysia Kini, they would be happy to have you. However, they are selective. To become a Malaysia Kini intern, you need to be the best of the best journalist.
For more info about the Malaysia Kini click HERE
- Aimi Wan -
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