Trend Pembingkaian Tema Politik, Ekonomi dan Sosial dalam Berita Pilihan Raya Kecil di Malaysia sejak tahun 1987

Framing Trend of Political, Economic and Social Themes in By-election News in Malaysia since 1987

Abstract

Media and democracy are important aspects in the development of a society of a country. Audience gains information through media, express and give opinion over issues which have been framed by journalists. Therefore, themes play important roles in the dissemination of information through media, especially news related to elections. This article aims to identify and analyze framing trends towards political news, economic, and social theme in the newspapers during the election campaign period. The study used a content analysis method. The unit of analysis was obtained through the Malaysian mainstream newspapers, which are Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian. The election years are chosen based on the total of by-elections. The years selected are 1987, 1997 and 2014. The study has found that in overall, the reporters have framed the political theme more compared to the economic and social themes. The selection of sub-theme from the main theme in general has revealed that the political reporters were more focus on the politicians themselves rather than the politicians’ machinery, politics and elections based on the highest frequency data obtained for selected years. In contrast with the economic theme, the journalists have focused on the people economic development. However, in 2014, the sub-theme was the basic supplies. As for the social theme, the journalists have framed only on safety element compared to other elements under this theme.