Lesson Learnt from the Framing and Priming of the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) Project in Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian
Keywords:
environmental issue, agenda setting, news salience, content analysis, Chinese newspaper, Malay newspaperAbstract
This study examines how the Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project is framed and primed in Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian. PSR creates highly polarised public discourse where media coverage often shapes public perceptions of environmental, socio-economic and political consequences. Thus, the study aims to compare the selected and salient aspects of land reclamation issues among the newspapers. News articles sampled from 1 January 2016 to 31 October 2018. Anchored by framing and priming theories, the content analysis reveals that Sin Chew Daily predominantly frames the PSR project in terms of development progress, economic benefits and modernization, priming readers to view it as a catalyst for regional growth. In contrast, Sinar Harian frequently highlights environmental risks, fishermen’s livelihoods and community concerns, thus priming readers to prioritise socio-environmental impacts. Nevertheless, some similarities were also found, particularly in how both media saliently framed the PSR as a political agenda, which reflects an agenda-setting effect. This can be explained by their patterns of source usage and the influence of media ownership. The study contributes to framing and priming theory by demonstrating how linguistic, cultural and audience-oriented editorial practices shape divergent issue salience, offering insights into how Malaysian media construct contested environmental developments.
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