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“We Just Write What We Think Is Newsy”: an Analysis on Newsworthiness Constructions in Malaysian Newspapers

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“We Just Write What We Think Is Newsy”: an Analysis on Newsworthiness Constructions in Malaysian Newspapers “We just write what we think is newsy”: An Analysis on Newsworthiness Constructions in Malaysian Newspapers SITI SURIANI OTHMAN A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 2012 i This work is the intellectual property of the author (Note: if there are other owners of the IP, as a consequence of any statement issued under paragraph 12 of Section 14A, they must also be named here). You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non- commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed in the owner(s) of the Intellectual Property Rights.” ii Abstract Studies on newsworthiness have developed mainly into two ways of explaining how events become news. These approaches, which have been called object-driven and subject- driven news values, have contributed a lot in the quest for understanding news. Previous empirical studies on news have demonstrated that concepts used as abstractions of social practices, such as newsworthiness construction, suffer either from object-driven news values explanation about newsworthiness that seeks to locate news value in the news events themselves, or from subject-driven news values which see news making as being exclusively concerned with hidden motives that are often unbeknown even to the practitioners themselves. The practitioners are, therefore, forced to explain newsworthiness by invoking contexts that are already known; for example, in terms of editorial decisions based on political, cultural and/or organisational identities which are ‘external’ to immediate empirical encounters, because such identities are compositions of a range of contextual factors. Here, news studies have developed in a way that has created a rift between journalism theory and journalism practice, mainly because many researchers and theorists understand social actions only through modes of abstraction that have become disconnected from the practical intelligence of news making. Influenced by the Actor Network Theory (ANT), this study attempts to study newsworthiness construction from ‘intensive’ contexts in order to understand whether or not newsworthiness in Malaysian newspapers is a culturally-specific phenomenon. Concepts of ANT are deployed to study a range of qualitative data gathered from observations and ethnographic interviews that serve as a supplement to the weaknesses of both the aforementioned approaches. The case of Malaysia should make clear the extent to which a focus on intensive contexts enables us to explore the specificity of news making in six Malaysian newspapers, namely the New Straits Times (the NST), Berita Harian (BH), The Sun (TS), Sinar Harian (SH), Harakah (Hh) and XX (anonymous). The research reveals a heterogeneity in newsworthiness construction that it is more complex than simply assuming that newsworthiness is something ‘out there’ (such as newsworthiness criteria); instead, newsworthiness is an effect of accreditation of different interests. Thus, the collective identity of the newspapers is the effect of the critique on newsworthiness criteria. However, ANT allows identity to be scrutinised further by treating it as a virtual object. This study demonstrates that the distinct identity of the newspaper can be investigated by tracing the enrolment of the news angle. Besides identity, concepts such as readership remain important in studying newsworthiness construction and have also been scrutinised as a virtual object to retain its link to intrinsic contexts in order to explore the distance between the conception of readership and the actual reader. Although readership has mainly been examined under such abstractions, concepts in ANT allow the multiple associations with real readers to be traced. The heterogeneity and complexity of newsworthiness construction is also demonstrated in a case study about the smallest newspaper organisation in this study, which suggests that even the smallest organisations embrace complex associations of news practices that have global associations. iii Acknowledgements This thesis could never have been completed without the professional assistance of my supervisory team, Dr Olga Bailey, Professor Joost van Loon and Dr Emma Hemmingway. Their patience with me could never be repaid. Many thanks to Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia for granting me monetary aid to allow me to pursue my PhD and to enable me to conduct this research. To my husband, Marwan Tahir, I must thank him for the sacrifices he has made, leaving his job for four years to accompany me in this tough journey, and always being there to provide moral support although sometimes he does not understand my work fully. My gratitude also goes to my parents Hajjah Mikalsum Abu Mansur and Haji Othman Abdul Ghani for their endless dua’, praying for my success so I can come back to Malaysia to continue my career as an academician, which is an ambition they know I have been dreaming of since I was young. To my sister Masura I must give thanks for assisting me with ‘future’ advices, which has reduced my anxiety over so many things about life especially pertaining to our future plans for the family. Finally, I want to thank all my friends at Nottingham Trent University for both their direct and indirect support while I was in the UK. I pray for your success too, and may you be granted success in your future undertakings. Any errors in this thesis are mine alone. iv Contents Page Table of Content v List of Pictures viii List of Tables ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 – MALAYSIA: BACKGROUND AND THE PRESS 13 1.1 Malaysia Before and After Independence 13 1.2 Current State of the Economy and Politics of Malaysia 15 1.3 Islam and Islamisation in Malaysia 19 1.4 The Press in Malaysia 21 1.4.1 The Notion of Asian Values 24 1.5 Restrictions on Publishing Newspapers in Malaysia and the 27 Freedom of the Press 1.6 Alternative Media in Malaysia 30 1.7 Conclusion 35 CHAPTER 2 – OBJECT-DRIVEN NEWS VALUES 36 2.0 Introduction 36 2.1 Object-Driven News Values and Galtung and Ruge’s (1965) News 37 Values Theory 2.2 Weaknesses of Galtung and Ruge’s News Values Theory 42 2.3 News Values and Online News 50 2.4 Conclusion 52 CHAPTER 3 – SUBJECT-DRIVEN NEWS VALUES 54 3.0 Introduction 54 3.1 Subjectivity in Newsworthiness Construction 55 3.2 Paradigms in News Studies 57 3.2.1 Political Economy Studies 57 3.2.2 Cultural Studies 64 3.2.3.1 Readership and Newsworthiness Construction 66 3.3 Organisational Studies 72 3.4 Alternative Media 76 3.5 Conclusion 81 v CHAPTER 4 – EXAMINING NEWSWORTHINESS CONSTRUCTION INFLUENCED BY ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY 4.0 Introduction 84 4.1 Background of Actor-Network Theory 85 4.2 The Establishment of Fact 89 4.3 The Process of Enrolment 92 4.4 Accounts 94 4.5 The Inherent Existence of the Wider Social Structure 97 4.6 The Contributions of ANT to News Studies 101 4.7 Examining Newsworthiness Construction Influenced by Actor- 116 Network Theory 4.8 Conclusion 120 CHAPTER 5 – THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEWS VALUES: FROM MATTERS OF FACTS TO MATTERS OF CONCERN (AN INVESTIGATION INTO AN ACCREDITATION PROCESS) 5.0 Introduction 124 5.1 Operationalisation 126 5.2 The Establishment of News Values 127 5.2.1 The Establishment of News Values at the NST and BH 128 5.2.2 The Establishment of News Values at Hh 136 5.2.3 The Establishment of News Values at TS 138 5.2.4 The Establishment of News Values at XX 143 5.2.5 The Establishment of News Values at SH 147 5.3 Conclusion 149 CHAPTER 6 – NEWS ANGLE: THE ENROLMENT OF NON-HUMAN ACTORS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEWSWORTHINESS 6.0 Introduction 152 6.1 Operationalisation 153 6.2 Stabilisation of SH Identity 155 6.2.1 The Inclusion and Exlcusion Process of Enrolment 155 6.2.2 Journalists as Mediators of Re-presentation 164 6.2.3 Words as Non-Human Actants that Differentiate a Newspaper 167 Angle with Another 6.3 ‘Community’ as a Virtual Object Resulted of News Practices at 169 SH 6.4 The Enrolment of SH in Lives of Readers 175 6.5 Conclusion 179 vi CHAPTER 7 – THE OBJECTIFICATION OF A VIRTUAL OBJECT: TAKING READERSHIP ‘INTO ACCOUNT’ IN NEWSWORTHINESS CONSTRUCTION 7.0 Introduction 182 7.1 Operationalisation 183 7.2 Print Newspapers 183 7.2.1 Great Distance from the Actual Readers 185 7.2.2 Double Understanding of Readership 197 7.2.3 Actualising the Readership Through Sales and Votes 204 7.2.4 Actualising the Readership Through Sales 207 7.2.5 Actualising the Readership Through Investigative Reporting 211 7.2.6 Actualising the Readership Through ‘Journalistic’ Mediators 215 7.3 Online Newspapers 220 7.3 Online Newspaper Types of Actualisation 220 7.3.1 Unique Browsers/Unique Visitor (UB/UV) Per Month 222 7.3.2 Direct Comments on Online News 227 7.4 Conclusion 233 CHAPTER 8 – THE ASSOCIATIONS OF AN OPPOSITION NEWSAPER AND THE STATE: A PRECARIOUS RELATIONSHIP 8.0 Introduction 236 8.1 Operationalisation 237 8.2 Overview of the Relationship Between Hh and the State 240 8.3 The Precarious Relationship Between Hh and the State 244 8.3.1 A Panoramic Analysis 245 8.3.2 An Oligoptic Analaysis 252 8.3.3 Plug-Ins 256 8.3.4 The Association Between Hh and the State: Connecting Sites 263 Within the Precarious Relationship 8.4 Conclusion 263 CONCLUSION 266 REFERENCES 292 NOTES 314 APPENDIX 326 vii LIST OF PICTURES Chapter 6 No.
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