Media Portrayal on Global Climate Change: an Analysis of Malaysian Mainstream Newspapers

Abstract

The global climate change can affect human life and activities through the increasing amount of natural disasters, global warming and the melting of the icebergs. This study was conducted to analyze the Malaysian media’s coverage of global climate change in four Malaysian mainstream newspapers. The data for this study were collected for two years, beginning January 2008 to December 2010. A content analysis was conducted to identify the frequency of the articles related with global climate change and the trend of newspaper coverage and the frames of the articles. The findings for this study will provide an understanding about the ways Malaysian mainstream newspapers provide the coverage about global climate change and the public’s reactions. The findings also revealed that the coverage was influenced by other global events when the trend of newspaper coverage shows a dramatic surge in coverage during important events related to global climate change.