MalaysiaKini is currently working on a community news site, KomunitiKini, to provide news and information on communities across Malaysia. The local news situation in Malaysia is a microcosm of the national news situation, but only with fewer dedicated traditional news outlets. All of the local mainstream media is associated with a constituent party of the ruling coalition. Local or regional newspapers are relatively limited and coverage tends to focus on crime with limited reporting on community issues. Independent voices or community activism is restricted to online.

Over the past weekend (2-3 October 2010) in Kuala Lumpur a conference featuring over 100 active participants in new media gathered in Kuala Lumpur to share local media dynamics, their views on freedom of the press and individual expression and the impacts of new and social media on their work.

The Asia China New Media Conference, hosted by MalaysiaKini’s Chinese Service and sponsored by Open Society Institute and the University of Hong Kong’s Center for Journalism and Media Studies, gathered over one hundred journalists, bloggers and academics to discuss the current state of new

As part of developing sustainable business models for online media, I have tried to catch-up with what Reg Chua is thinking about the structure of journalism at his blog “(Re)Structuring Journalism”.

The last few weeks have been a bit slow in Malaysia as the country celebrates the end of Ramadan and the festive season of Hari Raya. During the slow time, I have written a few things for other blogs on the work and situation at MalaysiaKini, as they get posted I will cross post them.

Recently, the MalaysiaKini citizen journalist program kicked into expansion mode with a three-day “train the trainers” workshop in Kuala Lumpur.