Introduction: The way in which information in news are curated or framed have a significant impact on how information is being processed by public or defined in a specific perspective. This study aims to content analyze the trends of online mainstream news coverage on cancer before the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) and secondly, to determine the framing approach of news coverage on cancer before COVID-19. Materials and Methods: Quantitative framing analysis on two Malaysian mainstream online newspapers were done and the analysis were employed to focus on how the content was framed, noting the catch phrases, keywords, examples, source listings, metaphors, images, and photos for the duration of six months from 1st June 2019 until 31st December 2019. A total of 836 news coverage on cancer before the spread of COVID-19 within the said duration were analysed. Results: Finding shows that The Star covers more news on cancer at 86.12%, compared to the New Straits Times at 13.88% at the end of the six months of 2019 before COVID-19 truly gained the media’s attention and coverage. Aside from that, The Star and New Straits Times focused on the human interest as a news value when covering topics on cancer. Conclusion: This result provides insight on how topics on cancer were covered by the media prior to the spread of COVID-19 to help gain a better understanding in future research during the spread of COVID-19, whether news on cancer were drowned out against that of news on the COVID-19 virus.
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In-Text Citation: (Yassin et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Yassin, Y. M., Mahpuz, M., Dimyati, N. I. M., Khan, N. A. M. N., & Hamzah, M. (2022). A Framing Analysis of Online Mainstream News Coverage on Cancer Before the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). International Journal of Academic in Research Business and Social Sciences, 12(12), 1371– 1377.
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