The Construction of Non-Communicable Diseases in Malaysian Newsprint Media

Abstract

Non-communicable disease prevalence rates have increased significantly in Malaysia for the past decades, in parallel with rises in many other middle-income countries. However, little attention has been directed at exploring the information available to the public on NCDs, and how it is constructed. Drawing on a social constructionism approach, news media are understood as organisations that produce meanings about the world through news reports, presenting through various media outlets. This thesis examines the construction of NCDs in Malaysian newsprint media, at a time of heightened awareness of their burden on population health. The study employed three multi-method studies. First, a content analysis of NCD and other health issues was conducted in a sample article of mainstream newspapers in Malaysia. Subsequently, NCD-related news was subject to a thematic analysis to explore the dominant frames used in presenting NCD related content. The final study involves a series of in-depth key informant interviews with journalists in Malaysia to examine the factors that influence the construction of NCD and other health issues in the news. Findings from the analysis of the news content revealed that NCD is an important news agenda in the Malaysian newsprint media, with an emphasis on cancer. Malaysian newspapers reporting tended to overemphasise individual or behavioural determinant and interventions to manage or respond to the chronic disease. Newspapers positively portrayed the role of government and other stakeholders in managing NCD issues. Through the journalists' perspective, the study revealed that the journalists viewed their primary role as a disseminator of health information. Nonetheless, their work is heavily influenced by the news media routines and government agency. The research is the first of its kind to examine the construction of NCD news in Malaysian mainstream media. The findings of the study demonstrated areas in which coverage could be improved through the understanding of the NCD complexity by the news producers.