Media Framing on 2018 General Election: A Comparative Content Analysis on Newspapers Coverage Toward Political Parties in Malaysia

This article explores the mainstream media favorability towards political parties in the context of newspaper coverage in Malaysia during the 14th general election in 2018 (GE-14). The newspapers selected for this study are three Malay, two English, two Mandarin and two Tamil newspapers namely: 'Utusan Malaysia,' 'Berita Harian', 'Sinar Harian', 'New Straits Times', 'The Star', 'Nanyang Siang Pau', 'Sin Chew Daily', 'Nanban' and 'Osai'. The background of the newspapers was explored in order to understand the ownerships and approaches in covering the news about GE-14. This study was carried out in two separate phases, in which the data were derived from both periods before and after the GE-14. The data were classified into few categories based on reports on Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (PH), Gagasan Sejahtera (GS) through the frequencies and percentages of the positive, negative, and neutral forms of coverage. The result of this study implies that in 2018, most of the mainstream media reporting was pro-government, which attributed to the linkage to political parties. Surprisingly, the unprecedented victory of the opposition can be seen to relate to the growth of positive coverage towards Pakatan Harapan, subsequently after the general election. Through content analysis of these selected newspapers, the author discussed gender-related coverage and general issues during the chosen period of the study. Keywords: Mainstream media, media ownership, political partisanship, general election, Malaysia.

“I Know Which Devil I Write for”: Two Types of Autonomy Among Czech Journalists Remaining in and Leaving the Prime Minister's Newspapers

This paper examines two different understandings of professional autonomy among journalists currently and formerly working at Mafra, a Czech media house acquired in 2013 by Andrej Babiš, who in 2017 became the Czech Prime Minister. We build on existing research of local trends in media ownership and journalistic autonomy to ask the following questions: What differentiated the experience of journalists who exited the organization after the ownership change from that of those who stayed put? How did the two groups understand professional journalistic autonomy? Based on the thematic analysis of twenty semistructured interviews with ten journalists who stayed in the media house after Babiš's acquisition and ten journalists who left, we argue that in the journalists’ narratives, the two decisions reflect two different notions of autonomy: autonomy-as-a-practice and autonomy-as-a-value. While our findings add to the scarce empirical research on journalists’ lived experiences of the region's mediascape marked by growing comingling and concentration of political, economic and media power, we also suggest that the autonomy-as-a-practice and journalists’ agency should be further studied as a possible way how to perform and promote journalistic autonomy even in illiberalizing contexts—in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.

Transnationalisation revisited through the Netflix Original: An analysis of investment strategies in Europe

Players in the European market have developed a series of transnational collaborations and practices in the cross-border production and distribution of audio-visual content, media ownership, regulation and audience reception. Transnational subscription video-on-demand platforms have also visibly increased their investments in original content, in their attempt to expand and maintain their international subscriber bases. Among them, Netflix has been particularly active in investing in European markets. This article traces the evolution of Netflix investments in European original scripted series produced between 2012 and 2020 and analyses the platform’s investment strategies in European markets through the lens of transnational television theory. The findings point to various elements of transnationalisation, placing European originals at the intersection between local and global, through market dynamics, strategic collaborations and content with transnational appeal. The findings also confirm the growing importance of rights retention and premium content offerings through the increase of big-budget commissions, particularly in developed European markets.

HOW ARE PUBLIC SPHERES TRANSNATIONAL? COMPARING NEWS AND SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS DURING THE MADRID CLIMATE TALKS

In this study, we explore two parallel but related networks of discourse that arose during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations of 2019 in Madrid: one produced by news media coverage of the talks; the other by Twitter users who shared news content about the talks. As these networks disseminated information about the UNFCCC’s 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25), we see them as key channels of communication for a potentially transnational public sphere of dialogue and dissent, even if the existence or efficacy of such a transnational sphere is a matter of great debate (Fraser, 2007). Our aim is to compare the internal (within network) and external (across networks) homogeneity and homogeneity of these two networks in terms of structure (e.g., language, geographic groups, etc.), dominant topics, and sentiments. We find that a potential for the emergence of transnational public spheres lies in contradictory currents of homogeneity and heterogeneity in transnational networks related to 1) the social capital of certain actors; 2) institutional infrastructures such as U.N. processes; 3) media ownership structures; 4) different cultural practices.

Re-Visiting Tom O’Regan’s Australian Television Culture: Why Media Ownership, Regulation and Policy Still Matter

Almost 30 years after its publication, Tom O’Regan’s innovative and ambitious, multi-layered analysis of Australian television culture remains an important text for contemporary scholars of television studies, cultural and communications studies, and media industries. In this article, I re-visit the multiple lessons of value that we can take from Australian Television Culture and its distinctive analytical frameworks. Two of the book’s key areas of focus, media ownership structures, and media policy and regulation are explored further, including in work Tom and I would go on to do together.

News Deserts, Echo Chambers, Algorithmic Editors, and the Siren Call of Revenues

Chapter 1 traces monumental shifts in the news industry and in the communications technologies and companies that have brought about a new ecosystem of news. Failing business models for newspapers, changes in media ownership, and the rise of digital platforms have all drawn viewership or financial support away from legacy media—and local news in particular. The effects signify nothing short of a crisis in journalism, characterized by growing news deserts, the development of echo chambers, and concentrated media ownership. These shifts in the news ecosystem affect not only individuals and communities but also the very workings of the American system of government: They threaten the critical role of the press in American democracy—the only private industry expected and relied upon by the nation’s founders.

Television News Coverage of COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria: Missed Opportunities to Promote Health Due to Ownership and Politics

This study examined Television news coverage of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria from February 2020 to July 2020. The focus was on African Independent Television (AIT), a privately owned TV, and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), a government-owned TV. We also interviewed ( n = 30) participants to understand their view on media coverage of the pandemic. We found that the TV stations paid adequate attention to the issues of COVID-19. However, the private media allocated more prominence to the coverage of COVID-19. By implication, the private media had more COVID-19 stories telecasted on its headline which also appeared as the first headline in many cases. Furthermore, they had more stories that were aired 61 seconds and above. The findings also showed that the government media outlet cited more of government officials while the private media dueled more on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The private media had more negative tone stories, and most of its stories used visual and motion footages. Overall, our findings suggest that media ownership and politics play a large role in the coverage of COVID-19 in Nigeria. This has affected the attitude of the public as many of them no longer see the pandemic as something serious, but rather politically motivated virus to highlight the failings of the political party in power.

Analisis Framing Pemberitaan Siluet Pinokio Jokowi Pada Media Online Detik.Com Dan Suara.Com

This study aims to explain how online media framing sees an event being reported. And how is the influence of media ownership on online media behavior to keep a neutral and objective position on their news. The object of research is the coverage of "Pinocchio Jokowi Silhouette" on the cover of the 16-22 September 2019 edition of the Tempo Magazine in online media Detik.com and Suara.com. The research method used is a qualitative approach using the Zhong Pan and Geral M. Kosichi framing analysis method. The results showed that the framing of the two media were very different in their presentation. Detik.com framed the news on Siluet Pinocchio Jokowi which seemed less objective and tended to use a single response from the editor of Tempo Magazine and did not pay attention to the balance aspect in the selection of news sources, and showed an attitude of denial of Jokowi's insults. Meanwhile, Suara.com, in its framing, tends to be more objective because it considers other aspects that are more memorable to produce information that is in accordance with its social reality. There were also responses from several figures as sources who had no connection with Tempo Magazine. Although the next announcement, Suara.com was considered insulting Jokowi, which ended with Suara.com reporting to the Press Council. Keywords: Pinocchio Silhouette, Tempo Magazine, Framing Analysis

Can the media breed CEO overconfidence? A sociocognitive perspective in the Chinese context

PurposeAnchored in the role of a social arbiter, the purpose of this study is to examine whether and how media coverage has an impact on CEO overconfidence and further explore how media ownership and Confucianism affect the relationship in the Chinese context.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 1,492 Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2015, the study adopts random effects models to empirically analyze the effect of media coverage on CEO overconfidence and the roles of media ownership and Confucianism.FindingsThe paper finds that media coverage is significantly and positively associated with CEO overconfidence, and the positive relationship between media coverage and CEO overconfidence becomes stronger for state-controlled media. What is more, the influence of media coverage on CEO overconfidence is attenuated for those firms located in stronger Confucianism atmosphere. A further analysis reveals that different tenors of media coverage yield asymmetric effects.Originality/valueThe paper provides a new and solid support for the argument that media praise stimulates CEO overconfidence and increases the knowledge about under what conditions CEO overconfidence varies, broadly speaking which fosters the development of upper echelons theory (UET). Meanwhile, the results extend the literature on media effect and information processing. The findings are also beneficial to improve corporate decisions and government regulation on Chinese media systems.