Document Type : Research Article
Abstract
This study examined the visual portrayal of the Semenyih by-election campaign in Malaysia on 2nd March 2019. With the assistance of Rodriguez & Dimitrova (2011) model, two printed mainstream newspapers were selected for this research: 1) Berita Harian; 2) The Star. Main objective of this research is to identify the visual framing of election campaign during the campaign period and it were measured through few variables such as slants of visuals, placement or location of visuals, theme and messages portrayed by visuals, caption focus and the stand of visuals. This study was conducted starting from the nomination day on the 16 February 2019 until the election day. Through content analysis method, each visual from n=88 census, was coded based on mentioned variables. Data was measured through descriptive statistics and inferential analysis. Major finding revealed that most of the visuals were slanted to party and government team in Berita Harian dailies compared to The Star; focused on election information. Findings also figure out few differences between selected two dailies. This study contributes to a several lack of visual framing research during election period.
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