An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers

The paper describes an agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers. The specific aspects examined were the framing of the national day news in episodic or thematic terms, quotation of sources, and priming strategies. The theoretical framework of the study was the...

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Main Author: Ting, Su Hie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/1/20551-65551-1-PB.pdf
id ukm-12854
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-128542019-05-06T21:41:08Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/ An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers Ting, Su Hie The paper describes an agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers. The specific aspects examined were the framing of the national day news in episodic or thematic terms, quotation of sources, and priming strategies. The theoretical framework of the study was the agenda-setting theory on how the salience attached to issues is influenced by the mass media. The media discourse data analyzed were 48 news articles related to national day that were published on 31 August 2016 in four newspapers. Textual analysis of the headlines and articles were conducted. The results showed that the national day articles were mainly in episodic frames, reporting particularly parades and events or competitions where the national flag is displayed. The thematic frames were mainly on the ordinary Malaysians’ experiences as well as those with links to the 1957 events. The newspapers deemed politicians as the most important source to quote for newsworthiness. The politicians played an important role in priming the readers or the Malaysians to appreciate what they have. One priming strategy was to bring up positive values on unity in diversity, patriotism and freedom which had been achieved due to the sacrifices of past Malaysians. The other priming strategy was mentioning or showing symbols of national identity, particularly the national flag and sometimes the national anthem, to invoke feelings of patriotism. The findings suggest that the Malaysian newspapers tell readers what and how to think about national identity and ethnic relations. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/1/20551-65551-1-PB.pdf Ting, Su Hie (2017) An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 23 (4). pp. 41-55. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1059
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description The paper describes an agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers. The specific aspects examined were the framing of the national day news in episodic or thematic terms, quotation of sources, and priming strategies. The theoretical framework of the study was the agenda-setting theory on how the salience attached to issues is influenced by the mass media. The media discourse data analyzed were 48 news articles related to national day that were published on 31 August 2016 in four newspapers. Textual analysis of the headlines and articles were conducted. The results showed that the national day articles were mainly in episodic frames, reporting particularly parades and events or competitions where the national flag is displayed. The thematic frames were mainly on the ordinary Malaysians’ experiences as well as those with links to the 1957 events. The newspapers deemed politicians as the most important source to quote for newsworthiness. The politicians played an important role in priming the readers or the Malaysians to appreciate what they have. One priming strategy was to bring up positive values on unity in diversity, patriotism and freedom which had been achieved due to the sacrifices of past Malaysians. The other priming strategy was mentioning or showing symbols of national identity, particularly the national flag and sometimes the national anthem, to invoke feelings of patriotism. The findings suggest that the Malaysian newspapers tell readers what and how to think about national identity and ethnic relations.
format Article
author Ting, Su Hie
spellingShingle Ting, Su Hie
An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers
author_facet Ting, Su Hie
author_sort Ting, Su Hie
title An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers
title_short An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers
title_full An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers
title_fullStr An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers
title_full_unstemmed An agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers
title_sort agenda-setting study of national day coverage in state and national newspapers
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2017
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12854/1/20551-65551-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T20:03:32Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T20:03:32Z
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