Chia Ting Ting

Company Director of FG Media, Head of Digital Marketing & Advertising Sales of Malaysiakini & KiniTV

Chia Ting Ting, the top advertising executive at Malaysia’s most popular online news portal, appreciates something that many press advocates overlook: independent journalism requires financial independence as well.

When Malaysiakini does a story on modern day slavery in Malaysia, for example, its newsroom is rightfully praised. Rarely acknowledged, however, are the staffs behind-the-scenes that create the breathing space for investigative and critical journalism.

For Ting Ting, building a strong, diversified revenue base is her way of fighting the government pressure and corporate soft censorship that wield the greatest threat to freedom of speech and information in Malaysia. And this is why Malaysiakini’s 300,000 daily visitors can trust what they read.

Malaysiakini was launched in 1999. Ting Ting joined the company in 2008 and started building the kind of revenue streams sought by online media companies around the world. By staying in tune with global developments in media and advertising and building relationships with mentors in the commercial advertising sector, Ting Ting has kept Malaysiakini in a position to challenge those in power.