Media framing of environmental and waste issues in the New Straits Times and The Sun

Siti Aishah, Chu Abdullah (2014) Media framing of environmental and waste issues in the New Straits Times and The Sun. Asian Academic Research Journal of Multidisciplinary, 1 (27). pp. 517-534. ISSN 2319-2801

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Abstract

Human beings generate waste everyday in their lives. Due to population growth and the increasing economic activities in Malaysia, more waste will be generated, and in the long run, if poorly managed will affect our environment, health, and economy. Thus, the media have a role as information transmitter and educator to the public; exposing and creating awareness among the public regarding environmental issues inclusive of waste control and management issues. This study reports on the findings of content analysis in the quantitative and qualitative aspects where news report and the way of news reporting on environmental, particularly waste issues were explored in two selected local English newspapers. Newspaper articles on the issue of environment which were published in the New Straits Times (NST) and The Sun (TS) from 2003 to 2007 were compiled and analyzed based on a coding protocol. Later, waste-related articles which were identified from the compilation of environmental articles were taken for in-depth analysis to determine the presence of Entman’s four framing functions. Results show that the coverage of waste issues in the NST and TS mostly focused on Entman’s framing functions of suggesting solutions and defining problems. Results also found that there is other applicable framing function, such as stating consequences, as well as focusing on the negative tone of frame. Therefore, the media were to some extent performing the role of information transmitter and educator to the public by framing problem definitions, cause diagnoses, moral judgments, solution suggestions and consequence statements with regards to waste issues.

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