Warfare of Media & Information

We are indeed in media and information warfare.

Right now blogging has become a subject of academic discussion. All of a sudden bloggers and blogging  have become the focus of intensive attack from certain political parties and politicians.

On 16-17^th August 2007, Center for Media and Information Warfare (CMIWS), University Technology MARA (UiTM) organized an International Conference entitled “Media and Information Warfare: A Global Challenge in the 21^st Century”.

The conference took place at Hotel Palace of the Golden Houses, a 6-star hotel.

While promoting ideas, thought and information exchange among academics, non- academics experts, researchers and bloggers who are involved directly and indirectly in these field, participants were having discussion in the nice hotel, but outside war had been declared on bloggers.

 

Prior to this international conference, on the 24 July, CMIWS organized a seminar titled “Media and Technology – Bloggers Issues and Challenges in the 21^st Century”.

It was held at 5 star Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam.Kadir Jasin, Steven Gan, Zaharin Yassin (Sang Kelembai) and various academics were invited to share their view and thought.Information is the life blood of the 21^st century.

With the advent of the new media such as the internet, the role of the media has taken a new form in which journalists are no longer the sole providers of information, nor either can they any longer be the most important channels for public information and persuasion. Today, it seems anyone on the street can be both editor and reporter. If we are concerned about information exchange between information and news exchange, current affairs, then we should ask what impact this will have on the credibility of communication in the 21^st century.

What about the relationship between the state and the traditional mass media and new media, like blogger?  

For many, the word ‘warfare’ conjures up all sort of negative connotations and not palatable to the taste. ‘War’ to a military general denotes primarily a game of winning and loosing. Either you kill or be killed.

I accepted that the propagation of values and belief systems starts with words of propagators.

This propagation of values by a propagator may not always be successful because the receiver of the messages may also have their own values and belief systems.

If both ideas are not congruent, conflicts may arrive especially concerning religious values.

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of beginning.