Contact

• workRoom EA65
  Malaysia Campus
  Jalan Broga
  43500 Semenyih
  Selangor Darul Ehsan
  Malaysia
• work+6 (03) 8924 8705
• Gayathry.Venkiteswaran@nottingham.edu.my

Biography

Gayathry Venkiteswaran is Assistant Professor at the School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ of Nottingham Malaysia. Among the courses she teaches or has taught are Political Communication, Propaganda and Public Relations; Gender, Sexuality and Media; Digital Communications and Media; and Communication Technologies for undergraduates. She is also convenor for the final year projects (dissertation). She has a PhD on the topic of media reforms in Southeast Asia from the 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ of Nottingham Malaysia, and an MA in International Relations from the Australian National 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ (ANU).

Gayathry has over 20 years of experience as a journalist, editor, media activist, researcher and media educator, working in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. She was previously the Executive Director of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance, a not-for-profit network of media freedom and journalists' organisations in the region to promote press freedom and freedom of expression. Prior to that, she headed the Malaysian Centre for Independent Journalism, during which she and her team successfully campaigned for the enactment of the Freedom of Information laws in Selangor and Penang; ran an independent online radio station; conducted citizen journalism training and activities to promote media literacy among the public; and engagement with various stakeholders on mainstreaming rights to press freedom and freedom of expression. Gayathry has published several articles and book chapters, among them, the use of the ICTs by civil society in the case of the Sg. Selangor Dam campaign, gendering the study of the internet, media freedom and journalists safety in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, freedom of association and assembly online and freedom of expression and religion online in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Pakistan, and co-edited a publication on media in transition in Myanmar.

Expertise Summary

Gayathry's area of expertise and research includes freedom of expression, media freedom and right to information, media in Southeast Asia, media and politics, media reforms, digital rights and governance, media and feminism, media law and ethics, journalism as a profession, organising and mobilising for media rights, newsroom structures and practices, and civic space.

Teaching Summary

Modules taught/convened:

1. Culture, Film and Media Dissertation
2. Gender, Sexuality and Media
3. Political Communication, Public Relations and Propaganda
4. Media and Communications Theory

Co-teaching:

NAA module convenor:

1. Fact checking of news and information
2. Student Media (Ignite)

PG Supervision:

Phd:

1. Saiful Azhar Shaharun (Participatory Communication, Power and Inequality: The Housing Policy Dynamics in Malaysia)
2. Jing Yang (Interrogating Contemporary China's Digital Soft Power: TikTok and the Perceptions of the Malaysian Chinese Audiences)
3. Ma Qingyu (Idol Fandom Community in Modern China: Passion, Identity, and Cultural Participation) - secondary supervisor

MRes:

1. Deborah Steele (Rethinking climate change coverage by Malaysian newsrooms)

188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ Summary

188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ the media, moral panics and identities through the lens of polarisation and populism in Malaysia and Germany - co-researcher 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ on public and stakeholder perceptions of media role… read more

Current 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@

1. 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ the media, moral panics and identities through the lens of polarisation and populism in Malaysia and Germany - co-researcher
2. 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ on public and stakeholder perceptions of media role in reporting corruption - a project supported by the Allianz Centre for Governance

Past 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@

Publications

Venkiteswaran, G., Lim, S. and Naidu, W. (2023). Voting & Shopping: evaluating media & technology companies in Malaysia in the context of elections & e-commerce. A report produced by the Digital Asia Hub, supported by Ranking Digital Rights. URL: https://cijmalaysia.net/voting-shopping-evaluating-media-technology-companies-in-malaysia-in-the-context-of-elections-e-commerce/

Venkiteswaran, G. (2022). "Four ways Southeast Asian journalists are under digital attack," 360info published in https://malaysiakini.com/columns/619990 (2 May 2022)

Venkiteswaran, G. (2021). "High Stakes for Media and Expression with Media Coup", E-International Relations (9 March, 2021). URL: https://www.e-ir.info/2021/03/09/high-stakes-for-media-and-expression-with-myanmar-coup/

Venkiteswaran, G. (2021). "Southeast Asia in the Global Digital War", Directions Blog. EU Institute for Strategic Studies (8 March 2021). URL: https://directionsblog.eu/southeast-asia-in-the-global-digital-war/

Venkiteswaran, G. (2020). "Media Reforms and Politics in Malaysia" in Bandung Journal of the Global South, 7, 279-291.

Venkiteswaran, G. (2020). All the news that's fit to fake. In Wong, K. (Ed.) Rebirth: Reformasi, Resistance, and Hope in New Malaysia. Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ Development Centre.

Venkiteswaran, G. (2019). Press Freedom in Malaysia: An awakening for the media? In Kingston, J. and Burrett, T. (Eds.) Press Freedom in Asia. Routledge.

Brooten, L., McElhone, J. and Venkiteswaran, G. (2019). (Eds.) Myanmar Media in Transition, Legacies, Challenges and Change. Singapore: ISEAS.

George, C. and Venkiteswaran, G. (2019). Media and Power in Southeast Asia. Cambridge Elements Series on Politics and Society in Southeast Asia. Cambridge 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ Press.

Venkiteswaran, G. (2018). Rethinking Media Reform in Southeast Asia: Promoting a Participatory Approach for a More Democratic Media. Perspectives Asia: Digital Asia (1 Feb 2018), pp.11-14. Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung.

Venkiteswaran, G. (October 2017). 'Let the mob do the job': How the proponents of hatred are threatening freedom of expression and religion online in Asia. A report commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications.

Venkiteswaran, G. (March 2016). Freedom of assembly and association online in India, Malaysia and Pakistan: Trends, challenges and recommendations. A report commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications.

Nain, Z. and Venkiteswaran, G. (2016). "Local media and digital frontiers: The Malaysian conundrum" in Media Development, 3/2016. World Association for Christian Communication.

Venkiteswaran, G. (2016, May 18). Malaysia: A trend towards censorship and control. Report for the Southeast Asian Press Alliance. <https://www.seapa.org/a-trend-toward-censorship-and-control/>

Jensen, H., Kee, J.SM., Randhawa, S. and Venkiteswaran, G. (2011). Sexing the Internet: Censorship, Surveillance and the Body Politic(s) of Malaysia in Diebert, R., Palfrey, J., Rohozinski, R., and Zittrain, J. (eds) Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace. MIT Press.

Randhawa, S. and Venkiteswaran, G. (2011). Civil society use of media and ICT: A case study of SOS Selangor Campaign in Yeoh, S.G (ed) Media, Culture and Society in Malaysia. Routledge.

188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ projects

1. Young voters' exposure to and the use of social media in the 15th general elections in Malaysia (2022) supported by internal UNM grants (RM21,300)
2. "Rising from the Ashes: Malaysia's Media Coming out of a Pandemic" (April - October 2021). Funded by the Malaysia Reform Initiative (MARI) Small Grants Program (USD25,077)
3. Promoting digital media literacy among youths in Selangor, Malaysia (Oct 2019-April 2021), supported by De La Salle 188体育网址_188体育在线-【唯一授权网站】@ (Democracy Discourse Series) (RM60,000)
4. Watching the Watchdog 2 - Monitoring of the media coverage of the GE14 general elections (2018), funder by the Open Society Foundations and Bersih dan Adil Network Sdn Bhd (USD28,452)