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In Malaysia, Chinese vernacular education has been a highly contested and much debated political issue in the mass media. This study examines how Malaysian newspapers framed Chinese primary education for a 3-year period (2015–2017) which is before the 2018 election. Findings showed that, the proximity of election has led to a surge in news reporting about Chinese primary education. Political considerations remain central in mainstream newspapers’ reporting in which official sources are dominant in shaping public understanding of the issue. Alternative newspapers serve as a counter-establishment platform through active participation of readers in public debate. A responsibility frame dominates the news coverage of Chinese primary education in both types of newspapers. Nevertheless, the alternative newspapers tend to focus on the conflict aspect of the issue by foregrounding discord between ruling and opposition politicians as well as intra- Barisan Nasional (BN) disputes. Through human interest frame, the mainstream newspapers emotionalize the issue to obtain readers’ attention. This study concludes that varying reporting strategies adopted by Malaysian newspapers can impact readers’ evaluation of education policy issues. The implications of the findings and the limitations of the study are also discussed.

This study proposes to investigate and compare the coverage of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by Malaysian mainstream and alternative newspapers-The Star newspaper and Malaysiakini. The MH370 crisis in March 2014 is considered as the greatest aviation crisis in the history of Malaysia because of its magnitude and attracted massive local and international media coverage. It presented Malaysian authorities with a new form of challenge, resulting in various criticisms from aviation, media and crisis communication experts over how information regarding the crisis was handled by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) in particular, and the Malaysian government in general. On the other hand, the role of the media during a crisis is not only to provide information regarding the crisis, but also to act as the peoples' advocate by providing an avenue for public engagements and discussions. However, the ability of the media to play this role depends to a certain extent on ownership, and a large extent on the degree of freedom it enjoys in a country. Through quantitative content analysis, the study compares the framing of the crisis by the selected newspapers, the sources of information for their news stories, and slants of the news. The study found that the mainstream newspaper The Star provided general and limited viewpoints with a concentration on the human interest frame, while the alternative newspaper, Malaysiakini, had more critical news reports with a focus on the attribute of responsibility frame.

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The MH370 crisis which attracted global attention is considered one of the most perplexing disasters in aviation history by aviation experts. One of the highlights of the crisis was the alleged inability of Malaysian journalists to provide accurate information on the issue. Maximum news coverage, commentaries, expert views, and researches were carried out regarding the issue. However, most of them only focused on how Malaysian authorities handled the crisis. None ventured into Malaysian journalists’ perspectives particularly on their concerns regarding their coverage of the crisis. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the perspectives of journalists from the selected newspapers on their framing of the crisis, the alleged inconsistencies in their coverage, and the perceived lack of access to information. By giving journalists a voice to express their views on their performance, it is hoped that will deepen knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of press freedom, ownership, and control in the country. Through qualitative data analysis, the study found that MH370 news frames were greatly influenced by both internal and external factors, ranging from individuals to state levels. They include lack of experience in aviation news coverage on the part of the local Malaysian journalists; the internal gatekeeping process by the news editors of various newspapers which tend to undermine the work of journalists; and the seen and unseen restrictions experienced by journalists and media houses at the state level. References