University Technology Mara (UITM)
, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Associate. Prof. Dr. Sara Chinnasamy; a well-known political & social media analyst in Malaysia that’s actively engaged in local and international political and new media discussion. Most of her political and new media research works are published on a weekly basis in major local newspapers and broadcast media. Author of Routledge Book ‘New Media Political Engagement & Participation in Malaysia’, her work deals with new media politics and how impacting voters’ voting decision-makings. Mainstream media, print and television broadcast often, requires critical analysis on the latest political situations with public appearances in national radios, TV news and TV Live Talks Shows. These media appearances are trilingual; they had been carried out either in English, Bahasa Malaysia or even in Tamil and Chinese languages. Started her media career as TV News Journalist at a young age, few of her news reports were recognised by the Malaysian Ministry of Information as the best special reports. In 2013, she completed her doctorate in new media politics at the University of Adelaide, Australia. She was receiver of the Australian University Adelaide’s DR Stranks Travel Fellowships Grant Award in 2011. In her research work she integrated her experiences of broadcast journalist and described examples of how developing countries use Western theories especially in media connections and conflicts. She was also attached as Political & Social Media Analyst under the Malaysian Prime Minister Office, Special Implementation Division at the Federal Government Administrative Centre, Putrajaya. At present, she is Visiting Professor at the School of Culture & Communication, the University of Melbourne. She involved in Australian Research Council Discovery Project on the transnationalization of public sphere and global digital policies. Her recent work on ‘Disinformation and Online Information Manipulation in Southeast Asia’ had attracted Australian Media to emphasis on this issue such as The Pulse FM, Mitchell Front Page Program and Byte Into It on 3RRR Digital.
Media Communication & Consumption, Research Methodologies, Media Laws and Ethics, Media & Democracy, International Politics, Qualitative Approaches, Political Communication, New Media and Communication Policies and Asia Media System