In Other Words: Ideas On Journalism, Social Science and Society is based on selected articles based on the themes of journalism, communications and social science, published in the New Straits Times (NST) and the New Sunday Times (Learning Curve) between 2012 and 2015. The articles are part of the author's occasional and regular columns in the newspapers covering the broader realm of ideas, history, intellectual life and the universities 'Media' since the appearance of the Internet, have hijacked 'journalism'. Here the author develops a particular perspective on journalism, the newspaper and certain facets of social science and communication studies. Some has its genesis in earlier thought, others a reworking of ideas presented and published elsewhere. It reflects the author's sociological orientation on journalism.

This book therefore serves as a small contribution to the pedestrian discourse about journalism in Malaysia. There is poverty in conceptualizing and theorizing on journalism amongst academics in journalism, communication and media studies, and the broader social science and the humanities in Malaysian campuses. Some decades back there was this popular thinking amongst certain journalism school academics that we can teach journalism in "two days". One does not need a degree in journalism but the author would suggest that one needs to go through the university to become a better journalist. Anyone can be a journalist. And those who jump into the "profession" after school would always claim to be more proficient, with the ultimate sense of news, and a flair for writing, boasting on speed and accuracy, compared to fresh graduates. But do we remember truth to be in the picture?

Contents

 Preface

Foreword

Part 1 Journalism: Views, Concept, Expression

1. Reclaiming Journalism

2. Journalism: Science, Art and Deadlines

3. Educating the Scribe in Malaysia

4. "Kajian Sebaran Am": The First 40 Years

5. Celebrating the Scribe in All Forms

6. The "Bricoleur" in the Journalist

Part 2 The News: Arguably Defined

7. May Good News Bear Prosperity

8. The Anatomy of Information

9. We ourselves are the News

Part 3 Social Science and Intellectual Production

10. Practice and Consumption of Social Science in Malaysia

11. Nasi Padang and the Consumption of Origins

12. The Man in the Baghdad Café Revisited

13. Unique, not Necessarily Universal

14. Journey of Social Science in Malaysia

15. The Ferment in Communication Studies

16. No Final Word: Future of Communication Studies

17. Non-Western Communication Theories: Revisiting the Debate

Part 4 The Newspaper

18. To Offend and to be Offended

19. We Don't Have to Burn Dailies, Only Build on Them

20. ASEAN Must Have a Newspaper"

Part 5 Journalizing Self and other

21. Examining Goenawan Mohamad

22. The "Petite Historie" of Rosihan Anwar

23. Destiny in the Writing

24. Dr M Has Come Full Cycle

25. Making a Date with the other

Afterword

Index

About the Author