Watching the Watchdog 2.0 Bernama

Section 1: Coverage of Political Parties and Coalitions 1.1 Volume of Coverage of Parties & Coalitions Figure 1: Volume of Coverage of Political Parties & Coalitions

USNO 0.00 0.00 PBRS 0.00 0.11 LDP 0.11 0.11 IKATAN 0.16 0.21 PRS 0.21 0.21 PBB 0.21 0.21 PSM 0.27 0.53 UPKO 0.58 0.58 MIC 0.80 0.80 Other 0.90 1.54 PPBM 1.64 1.70 Warisan 1.86 4.61 PAS 5.78 6.63 PH 6.73 7.37 BN 41.25 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00

• BN received the most coverage (41.25%), followed by UMNO (7.37%) and PH (6.73%). Figure 2: Volume of Coverage of Political Parties & Coalitions: Government vs. Opposition vs. Independent/Other

GS 24.23

Independent 2.35

PH 16.37

BN 57.05

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00

• Once parties/coalitions’ coverage volumes are combined, BN received the highest level of coverage (57.05%), followed by PH (16.37%) and GS (24.23%).

1.2 Tone of Coverage of Political Parties & Coalitions Figure 3: Raw Tonal Coverage Volume of Political Parties & Coalitions Attacked Positive 12% 14%

Negative 4%

Neutral 70% • The Neutral tone was used the most (70%), followed by Positive (14%) and Attacked (12%).

Figure 4.1: Attacked Political Party & Coalition Coverage

STAR 0.00 USNO 0.00 LDP 0.00 Other 0.00 AMANAH 0.00 UPKO 0.00 UMNO 0.00 SUPP 0.00 SAPP 0.00 PSM 0.00 PRM 0.00 PRS 0.00 PPBM 0.00 PDP 0.00 PCM 0.00 PBS 0.00 PBRS 0.00 PBB 0.00 MIC 0.00 MCA 0.00 IKATAN 0.00 Gerakan 0.00 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.00 PAS 0.86 BN 1.29 PKR 2.16 Warisan 3.88 PH 5.17 DAP 13.36 0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00

• DAP received the most Attacked coverage (13.36%), followed by PH (5.17%). • Note: Some data was removed as a result of coding difficulties (The Government and The Opposition).

Figure 4.2: Negative Political Party & Coalition Coverage

STAR 0.00 USNO 0.00 LDP 0.00 Other 0.00 AMANAH 0.00 UPKO 0.00 SUPP 0.00 SAPP 0.00 PSM 0.00 PRM 0.00 PRS 0.00 PDP 0.00 PCM 0.00 PBRS 0.00 PBB 0.00 MIC 0.00 MCA 0.00 IKATAN 0.00 Gerakan 0.00 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.00 PBS 2.30 Warisan 3.45 PH 5.75 UMNO 6.90 PPBM 6.90 PAS 9.20 DAP 9.20 PKR 12.64 BN 18.39 0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00

• BN received the most Negative coverage (18.39%), followed by PKR (12.64%) and DAP and PAS (9.20%).

Figure 5.1: Positive Political Party & Coalition Coverage

STAR 0.00 USNO 0.00 LDP 0.00 AMANAH 0.00 UPKO 0.00 SUPP 0.00 SAPP 0.00 PSM 0.00 PRM 0.00 PRS 0.00 PPBM 0.00 PDP 0.00 PCM 0.00 PBS 0.00 PBRS 0.00 PBB 0.00 IKATAN 0.00 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.00 Warisan 0.73 Other 0.73 MCA 0.73 Gerakan 0.73 DAP 0.73 PKR 1.83 MIC 1.83 PAS 2.56 UMNO 4.76 PH 8.42 BN 70.70 0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00

• BN received the most positive coverage (70.70%), followed by PH (8.42%) and UMNO (4.76%).

Figure 5.2: Neutral Political Party & Coalition Coverage

USNO 0.00 PCM 0.00 PBRS 0.00 STAR 0.15 LDP 0.15 SAPP 0.15 IKATAN 0.23 PRM 0.30 PRS 0.30 PDP 0.30 PBB 0.30 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.30 PSM 0.38 PBS 0.68 SUPP 0.76 UPKO 0.84 MIC 0.84 Gerakan 1.06 Other 1.21 Warisan 1.82 PPBM 1.97 AMANAH 2.13 MCA 2.35 DAP 3.64 PH 6.76 PAS 7.21 PKR 8.05 UMNO 9.26 BN 43.13 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00 50.00

• BN received the most Neutral coverage (43.13%), followed by UMNO (9.26 %) and PKR (8.05%).

Figure 6: Tone of Coverage of Political Parties & Coalitions: Government vs. Opposition vs. Independent/Other

24.36 25.00 GS 27.59 19.35

3.35 2.50 Independent 0.00 0.00

19.14 17.50 PH 18.39 19.35

53.15 55.00 BN 54.02 61.29

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00

Neutral Positive Negative Attacked

• Overall BN received the most coverage for all the tones.

Section 2: Coverage of Politicians and Political Figures 2.1 Volume of Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures Figure 7: Volume of Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Shafie Apdal 1.39

Anwar Ibrahim 1.65

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi 3.74

Najib Razak 12.60

Mahathir Mohamad 17.98

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00

• Only the top 5 most mentioned politicians are shown on this graph. • Out of these 5, Mahathir Mohamad received the most mentions by a significant proportion (17.98%), followed by Najib Razak (12.60%).

Figure 8: Volume of Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures: Government vs. Opposition vs. Independent/Other

BN 20%

Others 53%

PH 26%

GS 1% • When the mentions of individual politicians and political figures are combined and merged into their respective coalitions, we can see that coverage of figures from both major coalitions is skewed towards Independent/ Others (53%).

2.2 Volume of the Use of Politicians & Political Figures as Sources Figure 9: Volume of the Use of Politicians & Political Figures as Sources

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil 1.44

Salleh Said Keruak 1.80

Mahathir Mohamad 3.44

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi 14.63

Najib Razak 40.55

0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 45.00

• Only the top 5 most mentioned politicians are shown on this graph. • Out of these 5, Najib Razak received the most mentions by majority (40.55%), followed by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (14.63%).

Figure 10: Volume of the Use of Politicians & Political Figures As Sources: Government vs. Opposition vs. Independent/Other

Others 31%

GS BN 1% 62% PH 6%

• When the mentions of individual politicians and political figures are combined and merged into their respective coalitions, we can see that coverage of figures from both major coalitions is skewed towards Independent/ Others (62%).

2.3 Tone of Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures Figure 11: Raw Tonal Coverage Volume of Politicians & Political Figures Attacked Positive 9% 14% Negative 7%

Neutral 70% • Of all the tonal categories used in the coverage of politicians and political figures, the positive category was used the most often (70%), followed by the positive category (14%).

Figure 12.1: Negative Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Hadi Awang 2.56

Mah Siew Kong 3.85

Liow Tiong Lai 5.13

Najib Razak 11.54

Mahathir Mohamad 34.62

0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00

• In terms of the tone of mentions of politicians and political figures, Mahathir Mohamad received the most negative coverage (34.62%), followed by Najib Razak (11.54%).

Figure 12.2: Attacked Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Nga Kor Ming 1.89

Lim Kit Siang 1.89

Tony Pua 2.83

Najib Razak 2.83

Shafie Apdal 6.60

Mahathir Mohamad 59.43

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00

• Mahathir Mohamad received the most attacked coverage (59.43%) followed by Shafie Apdal (6.6%).

Figure 13.1: Positive Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil 1.31

Tony Pua 1.31

Anwar Ibrahim 3.92

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi 15.03

Mahathir Mohamad 24.84

Najib Razak 26.14

0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00

• In terms of the tone of mentions of politicians and political figures, Najib Razak received the most positive coverage (26.14%) followed by Mahathir Mohamad who received the second highest positive coverage (24.84%).

Figure 13.2: Neutral Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Anwar Ibrahim 1.49

Musa Aman 1.86

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi 2.35

Mahathir Mohamad 9.67

Najib Razak 11.03

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00

• Najib Razak received the most neutral coverage (11.03%) followed by Mahathir Mohamad (9.67%).

Figure 14: Tone of Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures: Government vs. Opposition vs. Independent/Other Attacked 22.02 Neutral 64.57

Negative 35.80 Others Positive 27.56 Attacked 0.00 Neutral 0.49 GS Negative 2.47 Positive 0.00 Attacked 74.31 Neutral 17.28 PH Negative 40.74 Positive 30.13 Attacked 3.67 Neutral 17.65

BN Negative 20.99 Positive 42.31 0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00

Overall, PH received the highest attacked and negative coverage. Independent/ Others parties received the highest neutral coverage and whereas BN received the most positive coverage.

2.4 Tone of the Use of Politicians & Political Figures As Sources: Attack Politics or Negative Campaigning Figure 15: Attack Politics: Which Politicians and Political Figures Employ 'Attack Politics' Most Often?

Liow Tiong Lai 1.80

S. Subramaniam 2.10

Salleh Said Keruak 3.60

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi 14.71

Najib Razak 63.66

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00

• This graph is weighted to show attack politics as a proportion of overall use as source. • Najib Razak was the politicians most likely to engage in attack politics (63.66%), followed by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (14.71%).

Figure 16: Attack Politics: Which Coalition Employs Attack Politics Most Often?

Others 29%

GS 1% PH BN 5% 65%

• This graph is weighted to show attack politics as a proportion of overall use as source. • Overall, BN (65%) coalition politicians engaged in attack politics more often than Independent/ Others parties (29%).

Section 3: Coverage of Issues 3.1. Volume of Media Coverage of Policy Issues vs Non-Policy Issues Figure 17: Coverage of Policy vs Non-Policy Issues

Policy Issues 31%

Non-policy Issues 69%

Note: Non-policy issues received more coverage than Policy issues.

Figure 18: Policy Issues National Oppressive Legislation Religion Security 5% 0% Foreign1% Policy 4% Vision Education 30% 4%

Economy/Develop ment 56% Note: Economy/Development was the most reported topic, followed by Vision and Oppressive Legislation.

Figure 18.1: Breakdown of Vision/Policy/Programme Other TN50 NEP Transformasi 12% 2% 2% 3% GG Manifesto 2%

PH Manifesto 11%

BN Manifesto 68%

Note: BN Manifesto received the most coverage, followed by PH Manifesto. Gagasan Manifesto received the least coverage of the three sides.

Figure 18.2: Breakdown of Economy/Development Issues Other 1MDB Welfare 15% 6% 1% Unemployment 13%

Poverty Housing 1% 11%

Growth 23% Infrastructure 21% Inflation/GST FTA 7% 2% Note: Growth was the most covered topic, followed by Infrastructure and Unemployment.

Figure 19: Non-Policy Issues Ethnicity Religion 7% 1% Electioneering Democracy & 27% Human Rights 13%

Socioeconomic sectors Gender 10% 3% Mudslinging 2%

Territory 37% Note: Territory was the largest, but primarily due to the fact that any news piece that mentioned anyone from any territory was tagged with the “Territory” tag – so there may have been overlap of the data with other categories.

Figure 19.1: Breakdown of Socioeconomic Sectors Middle class/Professionals Working class 1% 9% Other Civil service 26% 1%

Military and police 25%

Cost of living 7%

Rural 6% Urban 2% FELDA 16% Plantation/estate workers 7%

Note: Military and police received the most coverage, followed by FELDA, and the Working class.

Figure 19.2: Breakdown of Territory Issues

Semenanjung/Sabah/Sarawak 15

Bangsa Johor 0

Sabah Independence 0

Sarawak Independence 0

Terengganu 40

Selangor 61

Sarawak 42

Sabah 138

Penang 28

Perlis 43

Perak 99

Pahang 67

Negeri Sembilan 24

Malacca 13

Kelantan 24

Kedah 53

Johor 44

Putrajaya 15

Labuan 0

Kuala Lumpur 15

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Note: Sabah received the most coverage, followed by Perak, and Pahang. Sarawak/Sabah Independence did not receive any coverage.