Watching the Watchdog 2.0 8TV

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 SAPP 0.00 0.00 PBS 0.00 0.00 UPKO 0.23 0.23 STAR 0.34 0.34 PDP 0.34 0.34 Warisan 0.45 0.68 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.68 1.13 PSM 1.35 1.35 PPBM 1.46 2.03 Other 2.25 2.48 The Government 3.04 3.15 UMNO 3.83 4.50 PAS 7.55 8.56 PH 13.63 14.19 BN 25.90 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 • BN received the most coverage (25.90%), followed by DAP (14.19%) and PH (13.63%).

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Figure 2: Volume of Coverage of Political Parties & Coalitions: Government vs. Opposition vs. Independent/Other

Independent 3.89

GS 9.54

BN 47.93

PH 38.64

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 (47.93%), followed by PH (38.64%) and GS (9.54%).

1.2 Tone of Coverage of Political Parties & Coalitions Figure 3: Raw Tonal Coverage Volume of Political Parties & Coalitions Attacked Positive 5% 12%

Negative 11%

Neutral 72%

• The Neutral tone was used the most (72%), followed by Positive (12%) and Negative (11%)

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Figure 4.1: Attacked Political Party & Coalition Coverage

STAR 0.00 USNO 0.00 Warisan 0.00 LDP 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 PAS 0.00 MCA 0.00 IKATAN 0.00 Gerakan 0.00 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.00 The Government 4.35 Other 4.35 AMANAH 4.35 PKR 4.35 MIC 4.35 The Opposition 13.04 PH 15.22 BN 15.22 DAP 34.78 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00 • DAP was attacked the most (34.78%), followed by BN and PH (15.22%).

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Figure 4.2: Negative Political Party & Coalition Coverage

STAR 0.00 USNO 0.00 The Government 0.00 Warisan 0.00 LDP 0.00 UPKO 0.00 SUPP 0.00 SAPP 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 AMANAH 1.87 PSM 1.87 PRM 1.87 MIC 2.80 The Opposition 3.74 Gerakan 3.74 Other 6.54 PKR 6.54 UMNO 8.41 PH 8.41 PAS 8.41 MCA 10.28 DAP 10.28 BN 25.23 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 • BN received the most negative coverage (25.23%), followed by DAP and MCA (10.28%) respectively.

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Figure 5.1: Positive Political Party & Coalition Coverage

STAR 0.00 USNO 0.00 Warisan 0.00 LDP 0.00 AMANAH 0.00 UPKO 0.00 SUPP 0.00 SAPP 0.00 PRS 0.00 PDP 0.00 PCM 0.00 PBS 0.00 PBRS 0.00 MIC 0.00 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.00 The Opposition 1.77 Gerakan 1.77 Other 2.65 PPBM 2.65 PBB 2.65 IKATAN 2.65 PKR 3.54 UMNO 4.42 PSM 4.42 PRM 4.42 PAS 5.31 The Government 7.08 MCA 7.08 DAP 7.96 PH 10.62 BN 30.97 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 • BN received the most positive coverage (30.97%), followed by PH (10.62%) and DAP (7.96%).

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Figure 5.2: Neutral Political Party & Coalition Coverage

USNO 0.00 LDP 0.00 SAPP 0.00 PRS 0.00 PBS 0.00 PBRS 0.00 PBB 0.00 UPKO 0.32 PCM 0.32 STAR 0.48 SUPP 0.48 PDP 0.48 Warisan 0.65 IKATAN 0.65 Gagasan Sejahtera 0.81 PSM 1.13 AMANAH 1.29 MIC 1.29 Other 1.62 PPBM 1.78 The Opposition 1.94 PRM 2.10 The Government 2.58 UMNO 3.55 Gerakan 3.72 PKR 4.68 PAS 8.40 MCA 8.89 DAP 12.44 PH 15.19 BN 25.20 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 • BN received the most Neutral coverage (25.20%), followed by PH (15.19%) and DAP (12.44%).

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

10.29 9.00 GS 9.18 0.00

4.22 10.00 Independent 4.08 0.00

39.63 28.00 PH 31.63 76.32

45.87 53.00 BN 55.10 23.68

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00

Neutral Positive Negative Attacked

• PH received the most Attacked coverage, while BN received the most coverage for Neutral, Positive, and Negative.

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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

Teng Chang Yeow 2.40

Lim Guan Eng 2.40

Liow Tiong Lai 4.91

Mahathir Mohamad 5.14

Najib Razak 9.13

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 9.00 10.00 Coverage Volume

• Only the top 5 most mentioned politicians are shown on this graph. • Out of these 5, Najib Razak received the most mentions by a significant proportion (9.13%), followed by Mahathir Mohamad (5.14%).

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

BN 24%

Others PH 62% 14%

GS 0%

• 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 Others (62%).

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

Mahathir Mohamad 2.24

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi 2.24

Teng Chang Yeow 3.92

Liow Tiong Lai 7.00

Najib Razak 10.08

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00

• Only the top 5 most mentioned politicians are shown on this graph. • Out of these 5, Najib Razak received the most mentions by a significant proportion (10.08%), followed by Muhyiddin Yassin (7.00%).

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

30%

61%

8%

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 Others (61%).

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2.3 Tone of Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures Figure 11: Raw Tonal Coverage Volume of Politicians & Political Figures Attacked Positive Negative 5% 9% 10%

Neutral 76% • Of all the tonal categories used in the coverage of politicians and political figures, the neutral category was used the most often (76%), followed by the negative category (10%).

Figure 12.1: Negative Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Rosmah Mansor 2.44

Teng Chang Yeow 2.44

Liow Tiong Lai 4.88

Najib Razak 8.54

Mahathir Mohamad 9.76

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00

• In terms of the tone of mentions of politicians and political figures, Mahathir Mohamad received the most negative (9.76 %) followed by Najib Razak (8.54%).

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Figure 12.2: Attacked Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Anwar Ibrahim 2.86

Wee Ka Siong 2.86

Liow Tiong Lai 2.86

Najib Razak 2.86

Hew Kuan Yau 5.71

Azmin Ali 5.71

Lim Guan Eng 8.57

Mahathir Mohamad 14.29

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00

• In terms of the tone of mentions of politicians and political figures, Mahathir Mohamad received the most attacked (14.29%) followed by Lim Guan Eng (8.57%).

Figure 13.1: Positive Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Mah Siew Kong 4.05

Mahathir Mohamad 4.05

Chong Sin Woon 8.11

Liow Tiong Lai 10.81

Najib Razak 18.92

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00

• In terms of the tone of mentions of politicians and political figures, Najib Razak received the most positive (18.92%) followed by Liow Tiong Lai (10.81%).

Figure 13.2: Neutral Coverage of Politicians & Political Figures

Mah Siew Kong 2.28

Lim Guan Eng 2.44

Mahathir Mohamad 2.93

Liow Tiong Lai 4.56

Najib Razak 7.49

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00

• In terms of the tone of mentions of politicians and political figures, Najib Razak received the most neutral (7.49%) followed by Liow Tiong Lai (4.56%).

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

Attacked 20.00 Neutral 0.00

Negative 3.23 Others Positive 0.00 Attacked 0.00 Neutral 1.65 GS Negative 0.00 Positive 4.44 Attacked 20.00 Neutral 42.56 PH Negative 32.26 Positive 26.67 Attacked 60.00 Neutral 55.79

BN Negative 64.52 Positive 68.89

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 • Overall, BN received the most attacks, positive, negative, and neutral coverage.

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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 4.44

Chong Sin Woon 4.44

Mahathir Mohamad 6.67

Teng Chang Yeow 8.89

Najib Razak 24.44

0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00

• 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 (24.44%), followed by Teng Chang Yeow (8.89%) then Mahathir Mohamad (6.67%).

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

Others 35%

BN 52%

GS 0% PH 13%

• This graph is weighted to show attack politics as a proportion of overall use as source. • Overall, BN (52.08%) coalition politicians engaged in attack politics more often than independent/ others (35.42%) and PH (12.5%).

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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 24%

Non-policy Issues 76%

Note: More coverage of non-policy issues than policy issues (more than 3x).

Figure 18: Policy Issues

Oppressive Religion National Security Legislation 2% 5% 2% Foreign Policy 6% Vision 27%

Education 15%

Environment Economy/Develop 9% ment 34% Note: Economy/Development was the most covered, while Religion and Oppressive Legislation was the least.

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Figure 18.1: Breakdown of Vision/Policy/Programme

Other 18%

PH Manifesto 14%

BN Manifesto 68%

Note: 8TV only covered the BN Manifesto and the PH Manifesto. BN Manifesto received the highest amount of coverage. All the rest were included in the “Others” section. No mention of expected policies/vision such as TN50, 1Malaysia, or NEP/Bumiputeralism.

Figure 18.2: Breakdown of Economy/Development Issues Other 1MDB Recession 5% 7% 3% Welfare 3% Housing Unemployment 20% 2% Poverty 4%

Growth 25%

Infrastructure 29% Inflation/GST 2% Note: GST was not a major issue as expected. Infrastructure was the highest, followed by Housing and Growth.

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Figure 19: Non-Policy Issues Ethnicity Electioneering 12% Religion 21% 1% Democracy & Human Rights 4% Gender 2% Socioeconomic Sectors Mudslinging 7% 1%

Territory 52% 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 Issues Cost of living Other Working class Rural 3% 3% 7% Civil service 8% 5% Urban 5%

Senior Citizens/Retirees 15%

Plantation/estate Military and police workers 47% 7%

Note: Military and police issues received the most coverage, followed by Senior Citizens/Retirees/

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Figure 19.2: Breakdown of Territory Issues

Semenanjung/Sabah/Sarawak 0 Bangsa Johor 0 Sabah Independence 0 Sarawak Independence 0 Terengganu 15 Selangor 25 Sarawak 8 Sabah 14 Penang 35 Perlis 0 Perak 30 Pahang 36 Negeri Sembilan 24 Malacca 7 Kelantan 2 Kedah 11 Johor 50 Putrajaya 7 Labuan 3 Kuala Lumpur 9

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Note: Issues pertaining to the state of Johor, Pahang, and Penang received the most coverage. Sabah/Sarawak Independence received no coverage.

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