The Malaysian Media Council: Will Self-Regulation Work?

After the 2018 General Election, the incoming coalition made numerous institutional reform pledges, including the establishment of a Malaysian media council to self-govern the press. Nevertheless, the concept is not new as it was initially proposed in 1973. Following stakeholders’ discussions over the past few years, it was decided that a self-regulatory media council should be formed. This is a critical step towards restoring the country’s long-suffering press freedom that had been stifled by press regulations. Hence, it is necessary to study the self-regulatory paradigm as Malaysia is moving towards the formation of a self-regulatory media council to govern its press. The United Kingdom’s vast experience with media self-regulation may help Malaysian policymakers decide whether to adopt a self-regulatory approach to governance or not. The authors in this study used textual analysis of legislation and case law and secondary data from existing works to examine the proposal of establishing a self-regulatory Malaysian media council.