Another news portal has been launched today, bringing more excitement to the local media. The Nut Graph news site begins publishing today – finally!

And what better timing to go online than on the eve of the nomination day for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary by-election, which could be the by-election on the Malaysian political landscape for a while.

Two senior editors, CIndy Tham and Jacqueline Ann Surin are behind the portal The Nut Graph which takes over from their earlier proto-type MalaysiaVotes, a simple election news site cobbled together in a matter of days to cover the 12th General Election.

Those few weeks were exciting indeed for the entire nation, culminating in the results on polling day on 8 March 2008. The longstanding balance of power between who formed the ruling government and who formed the opposition shifted significantly as voters made their stand at the ballot box, ushering in a two-party or multi-party system.

It was also a good learning experience for them as they put it. The Nut Graph, is a name inspired by a term in journalism which means the point of the story in a nutshell. "Graph" is short for paragraph while "nut" refers to the kernel or main point of the story. After all, the main reason any of us would read an article or view a documentary is to see what is the point or significance of a news development or an issue, they reasoned.

"Through the stories we publish, we hope to be able to make sense of the politics and pop culture around us, which we think are indicators of the health of our democracy and of where the nation is heading," said Tham.

"Well, the name also has a wacky and irreverent ring to it, which reflects our hope to be able to see the humour or irony in some situations.

We are launching with a few features and basic site facilities. More, including the disabled-friendly facility, will be rolled out over the next few months." (MySinchew)