Framing the Tanjung Piai By-Election in Multilingual Malaysian Newspapers

Abstract

This chapter analyses how multilingual mainstream Malaysian newspapers reported the Tanjung Piai by-election of November 2019. The Tanjung Piai parliamentary seat became vacant after the death of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Member of Parliament. Barisan Nasional (BN) held the seat previously but lost it to PH in the 2018 general elections. This by-election was important because it indicated the people’s confidence in PH and the Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. This chapter uses framing theory to explain how the media structure their delivery of news, promoting interpretations of events by selecting certain facts. Frames appearing in the media are important when they resonate with the audience’s strongly held perceptions. Articles in Harian Metro, Malaysiakini, The Star and Sin Chew Daily are analysed to determine the intensity of coverage, the predominant sources, the frames and the valence of the articles towards PH and Mahathir Mohamad. The analysis reveals that BN’s resounding victory is a strong indication of the people’s disappointment with the government and their efforts at reforms. The voters protested PH with an intention to ‘teach it a lesson’ by voting for BN’s candidate.