- 期刊
How to Kill A Giant: Media Reports on Anwar Ibrahim in GE10 and Mahathir Mohamad in GE14 in Malaysia
摘要
Opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan's (PH) stunning general election victory in the Malaysian 14^(th) general election (GE14) held on 9^(th) May 2018 was beyond general expectation. Leading up to the GE14, Mahathir Mohamad - the former Malaysian Prime Minister, and the PH prime ministerial candidate - attracted a lot of media attention and criticisms from his former allies in UMNO and BN. Malaysian mainstream newspapers went all out to kill off Mahathir's political ambition, by giving him a taste of his own medicine. Before the 10^(th) general election (GE10) in 1999, Mahathir sacked his then Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and mainstream media were then tasked to destroy Anwar politically. This paper would first focus on the coverage of the New Straits Times and The Star on Mahathir leading up to the GE14, and on Anwar leading up to the GE10. Both men were part of the ruling coalition in the late 20^(th) century before they turned opposition. One month of news reports from both newspapers prior to the elections were collected for analysis. In the discussion, the results showed a link to their political image cultivated by both men over the years. To understand the slant of the news coverage, one has to look into the ownership of the media, and the interests they serve during the period under study.