An analysis of mainstream Malaysian English newspaper coverage of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad's (1MDB) financial crisis before and after Malaysia's 2018 14th General Election is presented in this study. Content analysis was used to undertake a quantitative analysis of news stories from four mainstream English newspapers, namely The Star, New Straits Times, The Edge, and The Sun. A total of 1,362 articles were analysed for the presence of value frames of Conflict, Economic Consequences, Responsibility, Human Interest and Morality introduced by (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000). The findings reveal that there were significant differences in the use of the five generic frames in all of the four English mainstream newspapers following General Election 14. In particular, Conflict frames were found to have declined significantly in the period following the elections. In addition, there were also statistically significant interaction effect between newspaper and main sources indicating that the influence of the political actors is more significant than the effect of the media in determining the framing of the articles. The changes raise questions on the effectiveness of Malaysia’s media reform plans which were introduced following the 14th General Election.
Abbott, J., & Givens, J. (2015). Strategic Censorship in a Hybrid Authoritarian Regime? Differential Bias in Malaysia's Online and Print Media. Journal of East Asian Studies, 15(3), 455-478. DOI: 10.1017/S1598240800009140
Andsager, J. L. (2000). How Interest Groups Attempt to Shape Public Opinion with Competing News Frames. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 77(3), 577–592. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900007700308
Baharin, M. I., Waheed, M., Ghazali, A. H. A., & Ahmad, A. M. T. (2020). Framing Analyses of Malaysia's Media Outlets and Editorial Decisions Concerning Frame Preferences after the 2008 General Election. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities. 28. 1311-1334.
Bartholome, G., Lecheler, S., & de Vreese, C. (2015). Manufacturing Conflict? How Journalists Intervene in the Conflict Frame Building Process. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 20(4), 438–457. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161215595514
Bruggemann, M. (2014), Between Frame Setting and Frame Sending: How Journalists Contribute to News Frames. Commun Theor, 24: 61-82.
https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12027
Carvalho, J. P., & Cooksey, C. E. (2007). Exploring the effects of negative publicity: News coverage and public perceptions of a university. Public Relations Review, 33(2), 233-235.
Danielian, L. H., & Page, B. I. (1994). The Heavenly Chorus: Interest Group Voices on TV News. American Journal of Political Science, 38(4), 1056–1078. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111732
De Vreese, C. H. (2005). News framing: Theory and typology. Information design journal & document design, 13(1).
Dreijere, V. (2013). How did the media report the crisis? Analysis of the Latvian national daily press. SSE Riga.
Entman, R. M. (1993), Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43, 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x
Entman, R. M. (2004). Projections of power: Framing news, public opinion, and US foreign policy. University of Chicago Press.
Entman, R. M. (2007), Framing Bias: Media in the Distribution of Power. Journal of Communication, 57, 163-173. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00336.x
Fong, Y. L., & Kit, L. W. (2017). Framing the cow-head protest: A comparative analysis of The Star and Malaysiakini. SEARCH: The Journal of the South East Asia Research Centre for Communications and Humanities, 9(1), 71-96.
Fong, Y. L., & Koon, J. H. G. (2019). The South China Sea dispute and war/peace journalism: A framing analysis of a Malaysian newspaper. KOME: An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry, 7(2), 17-36.
Fong, Y. L., & Ponnan, R. (2019). Framing the bilateral relations between Malaysia and China: The news coverage of flight MH370.
Fong, Y., Ponnan, R., & De Rycker, A. (2020). Different Countries, Different Perspectives: A Comparative Analysis of the South China Sea Disputes Coverage by Malaysian and Chinese Newspapers. China Report. 56. 39-59. 10.1177/0009445519895627.
Gamson, W. A., & Modigliani, A. (1989). Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A Constructionist Approach. American Journal of Sociology, 95, 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1086/229213
Gans, H. J. (1979). Deciding what’s news: story suitability. Society, 16(3), 65-77.
Gitlin, T. (1980) The Whole World Is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Ghazali, A. H. A. (2012). Perkaitan faktor keperluan dan kepercayaan terhadap akhbar dengan penerimaan remaja (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Putra Malaysia).
Ghazali, A. H. A., & Rahmawati Nurdin, S. N. (2016). Credible Online News? Yes or No. Journalism, 6(6), 323-329.
International Federation of Journalists. (2018). Fighting for media reform in the 'new Malaysia': Situation report launched / IFJ. https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/press-freedom/article/fighting-for-media-reform-in-the-new-malaysia-situation-report-launched.html
Linstrom, M., & Marais, W. (2012). Qualitative news frame analysis: a methodology.
Lim, J., & Seo, H. (2009). Frame Flow between Government and the News Media and its Effects on the Public: Framing of North Korea. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 21, 204-223.
McLeod, D. M., & Detenber, B. H. (1999). Framing effects of television news coverage of social protest. Journal of Communication, 49(3), 3-23.
Matthes, J. (2009). What's in a Frame? A Content Analysis of Media Framing Studies in the World's Leading Communication Journals, 1990-2005. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 86. 349-367. 10.1177/107769900908600206.
McNair, B. (2009). Journalism’s screen test. British Journalism Review, 20(1), 7–9. https://doi.org/10.1177/09564748090200010202
McManus, J. H. (1994). Market-driven journalism : let the citizen beware?. Sage Publications.
Mohd-Zaini, M. N. (2017). Frame contention in different types of media ownership - a comparison between the star online and sinar online’s media coverage on 2017 budget Journal of Media Media and Information Warfare. 9, 139-178.
Moniruzzaman, M., & Farzana, K. F. (2018). Malaysia’14th General Election: End of an epoch, and beginning of a new?. Intellectual Discourse, 26(1), 207-228.
Neuman, W. R., Just, M. R., & Crigler, A. N. (1992). Common knowledge: News and the construction of political meaning. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Ng, J. (2015). Malaysia panel wants Najib Razak to explain $700 million donation. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/malaysia-panel-wants-najib-to-explain-700-million-donation-1438788718
Nisbet, M. C., Brossard, D. & Kroepsch, A. (2003). Framing Science: The Stem Cell Controversy in an Age of Press/Politics. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 8(2), 36–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1081180X02251047
Park, C. S. (2012). How the media frame political corruption: Episodic and thematic frame stories found in Illinois newspapers. In Paper Originally Prepared for the Ethics and Reform Symposium on Illinois Government (September 27-28, 2012).
Kee, C. P., Salman, A., Nie, K. S., Yaakop, M. R. M., Adisa, R. M., & Hoong, O. C. (2017). The agenda setting function of English newspapers during the 13th general election. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 33(2), 27-39. 10.17576/JKMJC-2017-3302-03.
Raghu, A., & Ngui, Y. (2015). Update 2-Malaysia's 1MDB missed $563 mln loan payment due end-Dec. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/malaysia-1mdb-debt-idUSL3N0UL3LK20150106
Roslan, M. B. (2021). Is there no media freedom in Malaysia? BERNAMA. https://web15.bernama.com/en/features/news.php?id=1958053
Sani, M. A. M. (2014). Malaysia’s 13th General Election: Political Partisanship in the Mainstream Print Media. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 24(1), 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1326365X14539186
Schudson, M. (2001). The objectivity norm in American journalism*. Journalism, 2(2), 149–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/146488490100200201
Semetko, H. A., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2000). Framing European politics: A content analysis of press and television news. Journal of communication, 50(2), 93-109.
Scheufele, D. (1999), Framing as a theory of media effects. Journal of Communication, 49: 103-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1999.tb02784.x
Shoemaker, P. J., & Reese, S. D. (1996). Mediating the message (pp. 781-795). White Plains, NY: Longman.
Strömbäck, J., & Nord, L. W. (2006). Do Politicians Lead the Tango?: A Study of the Relationship between Swedish Journalists and their Political Sources in the Context of Election Campaigns. European Journal of Communication, 21(2), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323105064043
Tewksbury, D., & Scheufele, D. A. (2019). News framing theory and research. In Media effects (pp. 51-68). Routledge.
Ting, S. H., Murudi, T., & Chuah, K. M. (2020). Framing of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal: Politicising by mainstream and alternative newspapers before and after change of government. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 12(2), 91-110.
Tuchman, G. (1978). Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality. Social Forces. 59. 10.2307/2578016.
Wright, T., & Brown, K. (2015). Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal: Political Intrigue, Billions Missing and International Scrutny. Wall Street Journal.
Wolfsfeld, G. (1997). Promoting Peace through the News Media:: Some Initial Lessons from the Oslo Peace Process. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 2(4), 52–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1081180X97002004005
Yang, L. F., & De Rycker, A. (2017). From theft to racist brawl: The framing of Low Yat incident by Malaysian newspapers. Asian Journal of Communication, 27(6), 631-647, 10.1080/01292986.2017.1294191
You, J. W. (2018). Testing the three-way interaction effect of academic stress, academic self-efficacy, and task value on persistence in learning among Korean college students. Higher Education, 76(5), 921-935.
In-Text Citation: (Ahmad et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Ahmad, A., Ghazali, A. H. A., Zawawi, J. W. M., & Yaakup, H. S. (2022). A Closer Look at 1MDB Framing in Malaysian Mainstream English Newspapers Before and After GE-14. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 12(13), 230–243.
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
