INTRODUCTION
Online learning from home is not a that much of a challenge for majority of students
nowadays; all they require is just a comfortable desk and a proper chair, but for a specific course of
students, namely architecture students; it may be the opposite, especially in drawing sketches and
making models, as the latter have access to a proper, spacious and well-ventilated architecture
studio environment in their campus. The approach to use a design studio in the classroom will
progress to a point where students' practice can generate creative ideas. Students have the
imagination to choose design materials, determine the quality of room, and respond to meaning and
purpose in the design outcomes in the workshop (Kesseiba, 2017).
Architecture students' tools and equipment on campus are somewhat different from what
they have at home, even though they have adjustable desks and chairs. However, their own room
in their houses generally is too small for them to do model work and paintings. This is due to the
regulation by Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia (LAM) states that a standard workspace for any architecture
students would be 5.2m2 (MAPSM, 2017) a size that would be a bit tremendous to have that extra
amount of space inside any standard room, as usually it comes with beds, drawers or any other
wardrobes which already packed the room. A chair with this feature can be used by a variety of
students of various body sizes (Ansari et al., 2018). Adjustability of the footrest, backrest, armrests,
and desk are some of the ergonomic features of this chair. The height of the equipment and the
location of the body are critical for the comfort and wellbeing of students when studying. According
to Al-Hinai et al., (2018), the mentioned flexible chair can be upgraded with additional functionalities
such as spinning rotation, wheels on the legs for simple movement from one location to another, and
so on, to provide users with higher comfort and additional functional needs to the students. Since
the state of the furniture is in accordance with the anthropometric human body norm issued by
industrial designers, ergonomic classroom or studio furniture motivates and focuses students'
attention during lectures or studying.
In this pandemic era with a new norm, we can only rely on the furniture and household items
available in our house in order to have a personal learning area, or study-from-home (SFH) space.
The aim of Ozkan et al., (2017)'s thesis was to understand the spatial arrangement of the said
research area so that it meets the students' needs and requirements, serves as a venue for different
events, and offers facilities for a variety of uses in term of affordance, on a continuous basis rather
than at specific times of the year.
When doing online learning, students' needs should be considered not only in terms of chair
and desk facilities, but also in terms of student behaviours in order to achieve comfortable
ergonomics when SFH. According to Mueller and Hassenzahl (2010), this resulted in expectations
of overall seating comfort that were consistent with the chairs' true ergonomic style. Students' ease
in SFH can be measured by their personal workspace. The students’ bodily position in front of the
screen often aids learning by providing concentration and attention. According to Davis et. Al (2020)
If the results of using a newly bought chair or identifying a suitable sitting workstation at home is not
practicable, alternating between a poor-sitting workspace and a standing workspace is the next best
option. This indeed presents that the need for a suitable workspace is in dire for students or even
anybody who works at home, while providing the next best alternative methods to prolong the period
of working hours of excruciatingly work-at-home (WFH) and SFH. Despite the fact that these
mentioned architecture students have insufficient facility for SFH, learning architecture must be
continued in order for students to accomplish their objective of online learning on campus. This is
what most architecture students in Malaysia had to face in order to flatten the pandemic curve and
to reduce any spread of the virus.
The future design of learning spaces, in order to facilitate the changing pedagogical practices
needed to support a mass higher education system with its greater student diversity (Temple, 2007).
For instance, in UiTM Perak Branch, for architecture students are on campus, Design subjects, which
is the major subject, are taught in the studio while other minor subjects are taught in the lecture hall
44
or classroom. Abdullah et al. (2011) included an analysis of the culture of architectural learning in
the studio room, stating that learning facilities should be included in the architecture and planning
approach. According to (Kumar & Kumar, 2017), discomfort in one's status may have a negative
impact on one's overall health and job results.
METHODOLOGY
Respondents and location: Sketched survey of anthropometric and ergonomic drawing of
the spaces used by students for SFH. The respondents are two architecture students who SFH
remotely from the comfort of their own homes which started at the beginning of the Movement
Control Order (MCO) by the government in 2020. A comparison was made for two separate
architecture student's workspaces in their own houses. Illustrations of the students’ workspaces are
sketched out in order to observe the anthropometric and ergonomic features of the mentioned area.
These drawings depict the furniture of students that implement SFH.
For this study, there are two subjects that will be used to examine the space that the subjects
use for their study, as both of these subjects are currently pursuing architecture course in UiTM
Perak Branch. The first subject would be Student A, who lived in Kajang, Selangor. He lived in a
two-storey semi-detached house, which he shared with his parents and both of his younger brothers.
Being the eldest, he is given a small room for himself, that he transforms into a working space, as
both of his younger brothers are still in middle school. The room that he uses is a 4.5m x 3m room
(approx. 15’ x 10’) with a well-ventilated window, proper daylight and an A/C.
For the second subject would be Student B, who lived in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur. He also
lived with his parents and three other siblings: two sisters and a younger brother. Three of them are
studying in university, but due to the pandemic, are forced to SFH, meanwhile his brother is still in
middle school. Due to large family members, all three university siblings had to share one single
study room together, which brought in a whole different aspect and perspective as each three of
them are pursuing different courses in three different universities. The room that the student shares
with his siblings is 3m x 2m (approx. 10’ x 6.5’) with no window, some mechanical lighting fixtures
and an A/C as well. All of the comparative and descriptive analysis are discussed in the next chapter.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The outcomes are discussed from a personal point of view expressed regarding the
anthropometric and ergonomic aspects of the architectural students’ workspaces. There are two
drawings that illustrate the environment of SFH as well as the ergonomic study of the students SFH.
The focus is on the student's workability spaces and circumstances in terms of studying architecture
and the extra works that come with it in a room of their house that is well-packed with furniture.
Students' ergonomics at their workspace are also discussed, including whether they are comfortable,
easy to use, and safety.
Workspace at Home
For this paper, the first selected student; student A, has two study tables; one Japanese table
and one study table, a chair, two bookshelves, and a two-seater sofa in the room for his workspace.
As for student B, his workspace is a bit smaller than the later, consisting of a small table and standard
size chairs, as well as one larger Japanese table, available in the study area. Due to the small size
of this space, it is not possible to further add more furniture.
The study focused on how these architecture students use spaces available at home for SFH
and ergonomics, as well as whether they feel comfortable or uneasy sharing space with other
households. Figure 1 and 2 depicts the drawings of the Student A’s room. Both figures illustrate
human figures having activities in each functional workspace. This room's furniture is rearranged in
45
certain order to allow maximise use of space. If there are more than three people using this area,
the central furniture can be relocated near the wall or in the corner for more space in the middle.
Student A's workspace area has an opening window for ventilation and proper illumination for
students to use for SFH.
Figure 1: Floor Plan Student A Figure 2: Section Student A
Figure 3 and 4 also depicts the drawings of the Student B’s room. The room is smaller
compared to student A, with very limited ventilation coming from the doorway. Since the room is so
compact, for the purpose of SFH, no more than three adults can be accommodated in one single
period. Because of the compact and narrow room, the furniture is to be rearranged to allow for
maximum use of capacity for the Student B.
Figure 3: Floor Plan Student B Figure 4: Section Student B
Comparative spaces of workspace
For Student A, having a larger space does play a huge role in providing a suitable workspace
area. The gap distance between each furniture is wide enough for not only leg room space, but also
for circulation within the room area. With two different desks with different height and seating
postures, this enables Student A to alternate position while doing his work or could also provide a
different desk with different tasks, such as sketching and online works on the seating desk space,
46
and model making and drafting drawings on the Japanese table. This allows Student A to work
efficiently in terms of tasks given to him and would be able to prolong his ability to SFH even longer.
Although Student A has a smaller desk set up for his computers, in author’s personal opinion, it still
serves the purpose as the student does not necessarily require a larger desk as he would still have
some small space left on the desk to do some writing or sketching works, while all the bigger portion
of the task can be done on the Japanese table on the ground. And having an even bigger area in
front of the sofa would mean that he can utilise the space for different activities, or simply just having
a relaxation moment or break before catching up on his work.
As for Student B, when using his computer for his online study, it would not disturb much as
simply because he had a larger space on the table, providing a sufficient amount of area to do other
writing or drawing works there. But if he needs a bigger space for drafting or model making, he would
need to share the space on the Japanese table, along with his two sisters. This would create an
unpleasant environment not only for him, but towards her sisters as well as he had to share a smaller
portion of the table; while her sisters may get distracted from the amount of excessive materials
laying around when he is working on the models. This would create discomfort for all three of them
as they had to share their workspace together in a tight space room.
Comparative surrounding environment of workspace
In terms of the surrounding environment of the workspace, Student A has the best
environment out of the two comparisons, as not only he has the bigger space; he also has functional
window openings that allow natural daylight to enter as well as a proper ventilated area. Without the
use of the ceiling fan or the A/C, the room itself has a good wind flow as the openings are large
enough for humidity to spread around and faster wind speed flowing throughout the room. The
author’s personal thought is that having this kind of extra space for work along with the proper
ventilation and lighting available, allows the student to have better motivation and sharper focus to
do his assignments.
Student B would not have the same luxury compared to the later, as he had a worse condition
for the SFH environment. Not only is there the small space issue, but the major gap between the
other comparisons would also be the availability of proper openings to let the air flow and daylight to
pass through as well. Being that the rooms were previously renovated for different kinds of purposes,
student B had to accept the fact that this is the only available room that can be transformed into a
study room for all of his siblings. With just constant illumination from the lighting fixtures, as well as
having to use A/C throughout his entire SFH, the author’s notion is that the student may not perform
as well as the Student A. He may have difficulty in term of critical thinking, lack of space to do his
work, and also the constant distraction coming from his two sisters. This would be a disaster if the
SFH prolongs until the end of his study.
CONCLUSION
Overall, the usage of workspace in terms of manoeuvrability, furniture placement, as well as
lighting and ventilation, is very significant in the comfort of SFH during these MCOs lockdown period,
according to the discussion of architectural student from illustration of Student A and Student B.
Since there is no comparable to studio workspace in campus which is built for architecture students
with intention of good ventilation and sufficient lighting throughout the whole day, it is critical for the
architecture student who practice SFH to have the best available workspace within their homes to
facilitate on learning of the course.
Based on the authors’ observations, both students have their fair share in terms of
workspace, but much of it is towards Student A, as he has the largest space between the two
subjects, and he is not required to share the space with anyone. Not only that, he also has a sufficient
47
amount of workspace area, bigger than the LAM’s standard regulation requirements for an
architecture student’s individual workspace. This allows him to fully utilise the area for every type of
tasks and purposes needed to complete his assignment. With proper daylighting openings and also
for ventilations such as a fan and an A/C, this further allows the student to have an adequate comfort
in terms of illumination and fresh air per hour rate, which would prolong his working hours without
having any ache or bad postures. As for Student B, not only did he have smaller spaces, he had to
share it with his other siblings as well. This would not only give discomfort for all the users, but also
shortens the period of working hours he would sufficiently have before starts to feel fatigue and
stress. The minimal openings and the constant lighting from the mechanical fixture would further
abbreviate his crunch time of online study. Therefore, in the authors' personal opinion, it can be
described that the anthropometric and ergonomics of the space would highly manipulate one
architecture student's working credibility in performing well for his tasks. This can be applied not only
for architecture students, but also to any courses that would adopt different kinds of work other than
a conventional desk-use study, like music, physical education and other wide variety of courses.
Architecture students are classified as a studio-based course who use different types of
furniture than other regular students as they require a set of adjustable drafting tables and a height-
adjustable chair to match the height of those activities that use the desk. It becomes more difficult
and inconvenient to carry out architectural work at home if the workspace not only does not have
adjustable height or suitable chairs, but also has to be shared with other family members who would
also be learning and working. It is already a great challenge for architecture students to learn via
online, but with proper tools and flexible sets of furniture, such as desks and chairs, it could make
the architecture students study longer hours uninterrupted. The use of ergonomic chairs and desks
will offer good results in learning and function at home, even with the limited room space. Since the
average room has a fixed space area, the area is not expandable nor flexible space; but with proper
management and suitable arrangement of existing furniture that would allow a safer, healthier
workspace environment.
REFERENCES
Abdullah, N. A. G., Beh, S. C., Tahir, M. M., Che Ani, A. I., & Tawil, N. M. (2011). Architecture design
studio culture and learning spaces: A holistic approach to the design and planning of learning
facilities. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 27–32.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.03.044
Al-Hinai, N., Al-Kindi, M., & Shamsuzzoha, A. (2018). An ergonomic student chair design and
engineering for classroom environment. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and
Robotics Research, 7(5), 534–543. https://doi.org/10.18178/ijmerr.7.5.534-543
Ansari, S., Nikpay, A., & Varmazyar, S. (2018). Design and Development of an Ergonomic Chair for
Students in Educational Settings. Health Scope, In Press (In Press).
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Davis, K. G., Kotowski, S. E., Daniel, D., Gerding, T., Naylor, J., & Syck, M. (2020). The Home Office:
Ergonomic Lessons From the “New Normal.” Ergonomics in Design, 28(4), 4–10.
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Students; Challenges and Aspirations. Journal of Advance in Social Science and Humanities,
August 2017, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.15520/jassh38240
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Kumar, S. M. R. A. J., & Kumar, C. N. (2017). Design of Workstations for Computer Users: A Review.
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(2017). Impact of the Architectural Design Process on Students Performance in Design
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236–252. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-017-0041-0
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Thapa, S., Singh, R., Bundele, M., Thapa, S., Thadathil, G., & Kr. Jakhar, Y. (2020). Study of thermal
comfort in the residents of different climatic regions of India—Effect of the COVID-19
lockdown. Indoor Air, November 2020, 899–917. https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12778
Vischer, J. (2007). The concept of environmental comfort in workplace performance “O conceito de
conforto ambiental no desempenho do ambiente de trabalho.” Ambiente Construido, Porto
Alegre, 7(1), 21–34. http://www.gret.umontreal.ca/images/The Concept of Environmental
Comfort in Workplace Performance.pdf
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Etika Kewartawanan dalam Pelaporan Berita Portal di
Malaysia
Marasida Omar
Fakulti Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
[email protected]
Dr. Shahrul Nazmi Sannusi
Fakulti Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRAK
Isu tentang etika kewartawanan seringkali diperdebatkan khususnya dalam kalangan
pengamal media dalam talian. Berbeza dengan media konvensional yang memiliki sistem
pengampang (gatekeeper) bagi memastikan setiap wartawan perlu menghasilkan sesuatu
berita berasaskan garis panduan etika, portal berita pula tidak memiliki sistem pengamalan
etika kewartawanan yang jelas. Permasalahan yang wujud dalam kajian ini, iaitu tiada
pengampang atau gatekeeper. Fokus kajian ini adalah untuk melihat dan memahami tentang
sejauh mana kefahaman dan penggunaan Kod Etika Kewartawanan Malaysia dalam
pelaporan berita yang dilaporkan oleh portal berita ini. Kini, terdapat banyak portal berita di
Malaysia diwujudkan oleh wartawan bukan dari media arus perdana yang menyajikan berita-
berita kemasyarakatan. Maka kajian ini dijalankan untuk melihat sejauhmana media bukan
arus perdana ini mengadaptasi Kod Etika Kewartawanan Malaysia dalam amalan kerja harian
mereka. Portal berita terpilih adalah Siakap Keli, Oh Bulan, Sirap Limau, Lobak Merah dan
Roti Kaya. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah temubual mendalam yang melibatkan lima orang
informan iaitu wartawan-wartawan daripada portal berita tersebut. Hasil kajian mendapati
amalan pengampang (gatekeeper) yang diamalkan oleh editor bagi setiap portal berita untuk
mengenal pasti kesahihan berita yang dilaporkan sebelum memuat naik dalam portal berita.
Dalam konteks penerbitan di media sosial pula, portal berita ini juga akan menulis berita
mengikut Prosedur Operasi Standard (SOP) Facebook dalam setiap pelaporan.
Kesimpulannya, kajian ini mendapati wartawan portal berita juga mempunyai garis panduan
yang ditetapkan oleh editor atau organisasi masing-masing mengikut keperluan selagi ia tidak
melanggar undang-undang dan etika kewartawanan.
Kata kunci: etika kewartawanan, portal berita, wartawan, sosial media, media bukan
arus perdana.
PENGENALAN
Media konvensional merupakan media cetak yang menerbitkan berita untuk
pembacaan masyarakat. Berita yang dikeluarkan melalui media konvensional ini
mengetengahkan unsur kandungan 5W 1H iaitu (What, Who, When, Where, Why dan How).
Selain itu, berita media konvensional ini mempunyai pembingkaian yang berbeza mengikut
50
keperluan akhbar itu sendiri. Akhbar berita bercetak juga akan mengeluarkan intipati yang
padat dan jelas tentang sesuatu berita yang disampaikan. Selain itu, berita yang disampaikan
juga merupakan satu berita yang tepat dan sahih untuk dikongsi dengan orang lain. Hal ini
kerana, berita yang dikeluarkan tersebut menepati kriteria yang diamalkan oleh wartawan.
Menurut Shahrul Nazmi & Normah (2015), perkembangan teknologi yang semakin
meluas memberikan kesan yang besar terhadap landskap industri penerbitan akhbar di
Negara ini. Perkara ini berlaku disebabkan oleh perkembangan teknologi yang mula
berkembang sejak dekad 1980-an dan 1990-an. Oleh yang demikian, perubahan teknologi
yang semakin canggih ini mampu untuk menggabungkan ciri–ciri telekomunikasi
konvensional yang bersifat besar dengan teknologi komputer yang mempunyai pelbagai ciri-
ciri interaktif. Ciri–ciri interaktif yang dimaksudkan ialah, melalui penggunaan teknologi ini
dapat menjadikan platform tersebut lebih menarik berbanding sebelum ini. Oleh yang
demikian, disebabkan berlakunya penggabungan terhadap dua teknologi iaitu media
konvensional dan media komputer telah mencipta satu inovasi yang baharu. Kewujudan
pelbagai saluran yang sangat interaktif disebabkan oleh kemunculan teknologi internet yang
turut menyumbang kepada perubahan dalam kehidupan sosial masyarakat. Justeru itu,
terdapat persaingan yang berlaku di antara media konvensional dan media komputer
disebabkan berlaku perubahan tumpuan masyarakat untuk menggunakan media teknologi
disebabkan kepelbagaian yang dimiliki tersebut.
Di samping itu, kepesatan teknologi media ini memberikan kesan yang besar terhadap
media konvensional kerana media teknologi ini mempunyai akses yang sangat luas terhadap
golongan muda. Peningkatan dalam capaian internet dan kebolehgunaan capaian internet
dengan menggunakan telefon pintar juga lebih mempercepatkan proses untuk mendapatkan
maklumat dengan lebih cepat. Selaras dengan perkembangan media teknologi yang semakin
berkembang media konvensional seperti surat khabar juga semakin luput mengikut peredaran
masa. Menurut Serena (2019), wartawan warga telah mengganggu sistem berita media
kerana mencabar kebenaran dan maklumat yang dikeluarkan oleh media arus perdana. Oleh
yang demikian, berlaku kontroversi yang banyak berkaitan dengan wartawan warga ini
disebabkan golongan wartawan warga ini mengeluarkan berita mengikut cara mereka
melaporkan sesuatu isu. Selain itu, wartawan warga ini dikatakan salah satu agen perubahan
yang aktif dalam menyumbang maklumat terhadap masyarakat. Hal ini kerana, melalui
sekeping gambar yang berada di kawasan sekeliling mereka boleh menyampaikan isu
tersebut sehingga ramai yang turut berkongsi tentang perkara tersebut.
Kebiasaannya, ramai masyarakat akan memuat naik sesuatu perkara yang berlaku
dalam kehidupan seharian dalam akaun media sosial milik persendirian. Melalui media yang
dimuatnaik tersebut terdapat individu lain seperti kawan atau keluarga terdekat akan turut
membuat perkongsian di media sosial. Setelah media tersebut menjadi perkongsian, perkara
ini akan membuka peluang kepada wartawan warga untuk membuat penulisan. Oleh yang
demikian, peranan wartawan warga tersebut adalah membuat penulisan semula media
tersebut sehingga tular dan diketahui oleh ramai.
Prado (2017) menyatakan bahawa kehadiran pegawai sumber kurang mengeluarkan
cerita kerana wartawan warga berpendapat bahawa akses terhadap sumber rasmi adalah
sukar kerana sumber rasmi ini tidak melihat wartawan warga sebagai penyampai berita yang
sah disebabkan tidak melakukan temubual kepada sumber atau badan yang berkuasa
.Carpenter (2010) menyatakan bahawa wartawan warga juga menyokong terhadap sistem
maklumat kerana kepelbagaian yang meliputi pelbagai topik yang besar melalui platform
rasmi dan menghubungkan kandungan di laman sesawang. Selain itu, gaya pelaporan
wartawan warga juga adalah bertentangan dengan cara pelaporan media arus perdana
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kerana mereka tidak bersetuju terhadap sesuatu peraturan tersebut. Menurut Chung et al.
(2018), wartawan warga juga adalah individu yang mencipta dan menyebarkan kandungan
yang berbentuk komuniti, terhadap diri sendiri melalui saluran media sosial.
Menurut Che Musa (2012), dunia kewartawanan mempunyai cabaran yang besar
sekiranya dibandingkan dengan zaman sebelumnya. Hal ini disebabkan oleh pada masa kini
masyarakat mengalami pelbagai perubahan yang berpunca daripada teknologi maklumat itu
sendiri. Tambahan pula, teknologi sekarang boleh menyampaikan maklumat dengan lebih
cepat berbanding dengan zaman dahulu yang serba kekurangan dengan informasi melalui
teknologi. Selain itu, didalam dunia kewartawanan ini memerlukan pengamal media yang
mempunyai sikap terbuka, tidak memihak kepada sebelah pihak dan perlu mengamalkan
sikap positif dalam menjalankan tanggungjawab yang diamanahkan.
Kemunculan teknologi yang semakin berkembang maju ini dan kepelbagaian media
baharu ini mengambil alih peranan dalam penyampaian berita daripada arus perdana mesin
cetak. Menurut Yahya (2017), masyarakat beralih terhadap media elektronik dan media
massa disebabkan oleh terdapat sekatan dalam media tradisional. Oleh yang demikian,
setelah beralih kepada media elektronik pertukaran maklumat tersebut semakin cepat dapat
mengurangkan keterbatasan dalam mengakses informasi baru. Media elektronik adalah
merujuk kepada televisyen, radio, internet, media sosial. Media elektronik ini merupakan
platform untuk masyarakat mendapatkan maklumat. Sebagai contoh, media sosial yang akan
mengeluarkan maklumat adalah seperti facebook, twitter, blog dan lain–lain dan disebabkan
media sosial ini wujudnya wartawan warga. Wartawan warga ini merupakan individu yang
tidak mempunyai profesional dalam dunia kewartawanan. Oleh yang demikian, individu ini
juga tidak mengamalkan etika kewartawanan seperti yang dipraktikkan oleh wartawan dalam
arus perdana.
Oleh yang demikian, kajian ini akan melihat terhadap media yang menyampaikan
maklumat menerusi laman sesawang yang mudah untuk diakses dalam kalangan masyarakat
di semua peringkat umur. Media yang akan difokuskan seperti portal berita yang memberikan
input kepada masyarakat selain daripada media arus perdana atau mainstream media. Portal
berita seperti Siakap Keli, Oh Bulan, Sirap Limau, Lobak Merah dan Roti Kaya, merupakan
satu platform untuk masyarakat mendapatkan maklumat yang sedang berlaku di kawasan
sekeliling dengan lebih cepat. Selain itu, melalui media-media ini maklumat akan mudah
tersebar kerana netizen akan lebih cepat berkongsi maklumat tersebut. Selain itu, media
seperti portal berita merupakan media yang tidak dikuasai, tidak dikawal oleh mana–mana
organisasi dan parti politik dalam menyampaikan maklumat. Oleh yang demikian, portal berita
ini tidak dimiliki oleh organisasi yang berkepentingan dalam pentadbiran sesebuah Negara.
KESIMPULAN
Kesimpulan, pengkaji mendapati bahawa setiap organisasi portal berita media bukan
arus perdana seperti Siakap Keli, Oh Bulan, Sirap Limau, Lobak Merah dan Roti Kaya ini
mempunyai garis panduan yang telah ditetapkan oleh organisasi dan juga Prosedur Operasi
Standard (SOP) Facebook. Hasil kajian mendapati portal berita ini tidak mengikuti amalan
Etika Kewartawanan Malaysia yang diamalkan oleh wartawan arus perdana. Hal ini, mereka
berpendapat bahawa perlu mengikuti perkembangan teknologi yang semakin bergerak pantas
dalam mendapatkan dan menyampaikan maklumat.
Selain itu, wartawan portal berita juga berpendapat bahawa portal berita mereka
adalah lebih santai dan bebas daripada terikat terhadap mana-mana pihak dalam dalam
mengeluarkan sesuatu isu. Walaupun demikian, portal-portal berita ini masih melalui proses
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penapisan pada setiap berita yang akan disajikan kepada khalayak. Jadi disebabkan itu,
setiap portal berita ini mempunyai editor yang akan menyemak dan mengemaskini setiap
berita yang akan disiarkan untuk bacaan masyarakat.
RUJUKAN
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Editors’ Views. Journalism, 19(12), 1694–1712.
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from the Global South. Global Media and Communication, 13(2), 87–104.
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(March): 1–25.
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of Communication Jilid 31(2): 687–701.
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Journal of Social Science and Humanities. e-Bangi 14(7).
53
Framing Responsibility in Pandemic: A Content Analysis of
COVID-19 Coverage in Chinese Media
Weilun Ju
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities,
The National University of Malaysia.
[email protected]
Shahrul Nazmi Sannusi
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities,
The National University of Malaysia.
[email protected]
Emma Mohamad
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities,
The National University of Malaysia.
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
This study aims to explore how Chinese main media define and allocate individual and social
responsibilities in the COVID-19 issue during the pandemic. Specifically, by analyzing the news
frame in specific reports, it is possible to reasonably explain the Chinese media’s guidance and
construction of public discourse during the pandemic, as well as the emphasis on different
attributes of the COVID-19 issue. Therefore, a quantitative content analysis method will be
conducted to measure specific frame type and frame function, together with the significant
relationship between the two. People’s Daily (N=1528) and China Daily (N=669) COVID-19 reports
in 2020 will be used as research objects for quantitative analysis. The results show that People’s
Daily and China Daily are more biased towards thematic frame to emphasize the systematic role of
society and government in addressing measures and response to the epidemic, rather than the
episodic frame. This has prompted the public to pay more attention to the power of cooperation
and effectively restrain discrimination and prejudice against individuals, which is conducive to the
formation of synergy in Chinese society during the pandemic to jointly prevent the spread of the
virus. At the same time, People’s Daily emphasized more on solutions than China Daily, and China
Daily emphasized more on defining issues more than People’s Daily. It is noted that this research
still has shortcomings. The research objects are only concentrated on print media, and there is no
analysis for framing of healthy discourse in TV media or online media. Future research can focus
on comparing the frame differences between different media types during the pandemic.
Keywords: news frame; COVID-19; pandemic; public health.
INTRODUCTION
In 2020, the novel coronavirus spread rapidly from China to all parts of the world, which not
only caused severe damage to the global economy, but also affected the normal lives of billions of
people, and brought large-scale panic and conflict. According to the latest Weekly Epidemiological
Update data of the World Health Organization, the current pandemic has caused more than three
million deaths, and the total number of confirmed cases has reached more than 100 million, of
which the total confirmed number in China has reached over 100,000 (WHO 2021). These
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astonishing figures have also aroused public and media attention and attention to public health
issues. However, it is worth noting that although China was the first country to have an outbreak, it
was also the country that was the fastest and effective to contain the worsening of the epidemic.
China has won a huge victory in this fight against the virus and won unanimous praise from all
countries in the world. This is inseparable from the guidance of mass media on public health
discourse.
News media, as the main channel for the public to obtain health information, “can shape
the public opinions about” health risk by “emphasizing certain features in their coverage, such
as…who is responsible for addressing it, and what groups are affected” (Gollust & Lantz 2009:
1091). When the media conveys health information to the public, news frames cannot be bypassed.
The news frame is an explanatory standard by which the media highlights and excludes objective
facts and constructs popular discourse. Research confirms that in health issues, specific news
frames can have a very different effect on the public (Barry, Brescoll, & Gollust 2013; Frederick,
Saguy, Sandhu, & Mann 2015). When the media in the COVID-19 issue is always based on
individual stories and examples, and overemphasizes that the behavior of an individual or group is
the main cause of the crisis, this will prompt the public to stay focused on the individual level.
When the epidemic spreads indiscriminately around the world, the public will “sometimes cope with
their fears by blaming new disease outbreaks on someone, or some group of people, who live
outside of their own social sphere” (McCauley, Minsky, & Viswanath 2013 : 1). Then the
stigmatization and discrimination of individuals by the public was born. This phenomenon is not
conducive to the public correct understanding and response to the pandemic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the media always select and use specific news frame to
construct discourse and spread it to the public. Therefore, this study aims to examine and explore
how the mainstream media in China uses the news frame to determine the redistribution of
responsibilities in the COVID-19 issue, so as to reasonably guide public discourse in the pandemic.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical Framework
Frame theory is the basis of empirical frame research. Gitlin (1980: 7) believed that “media
frames are persistent patterns of cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis,
and exclusion”. In other words, the frame is the emphasis and exclusion of the media. Through the
frame, media can emphasize the facts that they want to emphasize, and omit the facts that they
want to omit. Furthermore, Entman (1993) further proposed that “To frame is to select some
aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text” (Entman 1993:
52). The media can “promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation,
and/or treatment recommendation for the item described” (Entman 1993: 52). Therefore, while
defining the frame definition, Entman (1993) also determined the function of news frame.
Frame function is actually different perspectives and attributes of specific issues. It is
mainly divided into four parts: defining problems, diagnosing causes, making moral judgments, and
suggesting remedies (Entman 1993). Entman (1993: 52) believes that defining problems refers to
“determine what a causal agent is doing with what costs and benefits”; diagnosing causes refers to
“identify the forces creating the problem”; making moral judgments refers to “evaluate causal
agents and their effects”; and suggesting remedies refer to “offer and justify treatments for the
problems and predict their likely effects”. The four frame functions complement each other and
form a complete news frame. However, it is worth noting that in specific frame, not every function
exists. Entman’s (1993) discussion on the frame and its function provides a solid theoretical basis
for the empirical frame research.
In addition to frame function, Iyengar’s (1991) dichotomy of frame typology has also made
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a great contribution to the development of frame theory. Iyengar (1991) divided the news frame
into episodic frame and thematic frame, and pointed out that “The episodic frame depicts public
issues in terms of concrete instances or specific events...The thematic news frame, in contrast,
places public issues in some general or abstract context” (Iyengar & Simon 1993: 369). In other
words, the former mainly emphasizes the individual behaviors or instances in the issue, while the
latter focuses on more systematic and public factors, such as various social organizations.
Iyengar (1991) compared these two framing types in depth, and further concluded that the
difference between the episodic frame and thematic frame in the report would cause the
redistribution of individual and social responsibilities in public discourse. If the media overuse the
episodic frame to emphasize the responsibility of individual behavior in a particular issue, the
public will be more inclined to believe that the individual is the source of the problem. In turn, it can
also lead to public discrimination and prejudice against specific individuals or groups. Conversely,
if the report puts more systematic and abstract social factors in the first place, then the public will
pay more attention to the role of the government or other public organizations, rather than
individual levels. It can be seen that thematic frame is more conducive to constructing cooperative
discourse.
In summary, since the birth of the concept of frame, scholars have conducted intense
discussions on the frame. Among them, frame function and frame typology are the most
representative results of frame theory. Frame function mainly involves the attributes and
perspectives of public issues, while frame typology focuses on the context and effects of public
discourse. In order to explore how the Chinese media constructs and guides public health
discourse through the news frame during the pandemic, this study uses frame function and frame
typology as theoretical framework to explain the redistribution of responsibility for the epidemic.
Past Studies
Frame Type
Following Iyengar’s (1991) research, many scholars focused on health issues and analyzed
the frame type and responsibilities of specific public health issues.
On the one hand, there are relatively few studies on the frame type and responsibility
allocation in infectious disease reports. In other words, there are still loopholes in the study of
frame typology on infectious disease issues. For example, in reports on West Nile virus and avian
influenza, the US media emphasizes “societal efficacy” instead of “personal efficacy” (Evensen &
Clarke 2012: 408). Comparing with non-communicable diseases coverage, in infectious disease
coverage, thematic frame may be popular. Thematic frame can reduce stigma by emphasizing
social responsibility and social synergy. If the media overemphasize individual responsibility and
lead to individual bias, then stigma will arise. This also proves social factors have been considered
as the most significant roles to the health crises in the infectious diseases issues.
On the other hand, the excessive bias towards episodic frames in media health reports can
make individual responsibilities more prominent, which in turn leads to the public’s prejudice
against specific individuals and the concealment of social responsibilities. According to Chang,
Schulz, and Cheong (2020: 8), “Chinese newspapers have generally exacerbated metabolic
diseases by emphasizing individual behavioral risk factors”. The excessive bias of the media on
the episodic frame can increase the risk of disease. Furthermore, regarding obesity, Kim and Willis
(2007) confirmed that the American media used episodic frames more often in obesity reports.
Subsequently, Barry et al. (2013) also pointed out that the use of individualized descriptions of
obese children by the media can reduce public’s expectations on individualized prevention. In
other words, “Individualized depictions led to lower support for obesity prevention policies toward
overweight children” (Barry et al. 2013: 343). According to McGinty et al. (2014: 410), regarding
mental illness reports in the American media, the episodic frame is more adopted and “describing
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specific shooting events by persons with SMI (serious mental illness)”. Similarly, in the American
media reports on autism, McKeever (2013: 231) believes that the media is more biased towards
individual responsibility and episodic frame, which “is not typically associated with holding the
government, organizations, or society responsible for large-scale policy change” (McKeever 2013:
231).
Frame Function
There is still a big gap in frame function research focusing on health issues. In frame
research on health issues, only Gounder and Ameer (2017) used Entman’s (1993) frame function
as an analysis variable when exploring the frame of diabetes reports in the New Zealand print
media, and studied the definition and redistribution of responsibilities of diabetes by episodic frame
and thematic frame. “Media promote diabetes as an individual’s burden of disease”, and “A
minority of articles defined diabetes as a societal problem” (Gounder & Ameer 2017: 106). In
response to Type 2 diabetes solutions, New Zealand’s news media mainly emphasize individual
efforts. Therefore, episodic frames are extremely significant in the resolution of diabetes. Once
“individual frames are dominant over the structural frame in diabetes discourse” (Gounder & Ameer
2017: 106), the public will also turn their attention to individual behavior and one-sidedly believe
that the individual is the main force in treating and defeating diabetes. If the media blindly limit the
health crisis to individual issues, this media practice can conceal the government’s responsibilities
and cause prejudice and discrimination, and even stigmatization.
Summary
First of all, there are still gaps in the research on the frame typology of COVID-19 issue. In
other words, little is known about the frame type in COVID-19 issue and the resulting distribution of
responsibilities. According to Iyengar (1991), news frames popular in reports can be divided into
episodic frame and thematic frame. The so-called episodic frame refers to the focus of the issue on
individual instances or individual stories, which will prompt the public to believe that individual
behavior is the main cause of the problem, and individuals must work hard for the solution of
specific issues. This will lead to inevitable discrimination and division. In contrast, thematic frame
will start from the system level, emphasizing more on the power of social organizations and
collectives. At present, the relevant literature mainly focuses on the frame typology research of
non-communicable diseases (Barry, Jarlenski, Grob, Schlesinger, & Gollust 2011; Barry et al. 2013;
Chang et al. 2020; McGinty, Webster, Jarlenski, & Barry 2014; McKeever 2013), while ignoring the
discourse construction in the COVID-19 issue. Therefore, a framework is needed to be developed
to explore what the specific framing type is in the COVID-19 issue and its redistribution of
responsibilities to individuals and society.
Secondly, there are also gaps in the current cross-research on frame function and frame
typology. What remains unknown is how the framing function in particular issue affects the media’s
choice of frame type. Specifically, the media’s choice of specific frame type and the distribution of
responsibilities may vary due to different frame functions. However, there is almost no relevant
literature to explore the cross-relationship between the two. Most of the literature still simply stays
on the frame types of relatively healthy issues, and does not explore the difference of the frame
types in different frame functions. Therefore, in order to make up for this research gap, a
framework is also needed to be developed in order to explore the media’s bias towards specific
frame functions in the COVID-19 issue, and how different frame functions distribute responsibilities
by affecting specific frame types in the pandemic.
At the same time, this research proposes the following research questions:
Research Question 1: Which frame type do the media prefer to construct epidemic discourse in
COVID-19 coverage?
Research Question 2: Which frame function does the media prefer in COVID-19 coverage?
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Research Question 3: How do different frame functions affect the choice of specific frame types in
COVID-19 coverage?
METHODOLOGY
Research Approach
This research mainly uses quantitative content analysis to construct and code the COVID-
19 reports of Chinese media, to describe and explore from a statistical perspective how specific
media define and assign responsibilities during the pandemic. Therefore, from the perspective of
research paradigm, this research belongs to the positivism paradigm; from the perspective of
research methodology, this research belongs to quantitative research; and from the perspective of
research purpose, this research mainly focuses on descriptive research and exploratory research.
Research Sample
Data Collection
In order to better explore and compare the news frame of Chinese media during the
pandemic, People’s Daily and China Daily will be selected as samples for this study. The selection
of samples is a crucial link in quantitative research. Media, especially the print media, “plays an
important role in public awareness and education with respect to these issues” (Goodyear-Smith,
Petousis-Harris, Vanlaar, Turner, & Ram 2007: 769). Although network technology and new media
have had a huge impact on the development of the newspaper industry, but as China’s largest
party media, the People’s Daily is still the most authoritative, influential, and representative print
media. “Its impact on Chinese press coverage of issues/events deemed sensitive by the
government is still great” (Luther & Zhou 2005: 862). China Daily is the most representative
English media in Chinese external communication field. It is a window for the Chinese people to
understand the world and the world to understand China, so it has a special regional influence and
huge readership. Its impact on the Chinese people cannot be underestimated. Therefore, People’s
Daily and China Daily will be identified as representing Chinese mainstream media.
For data collection, the People’s Daily Graphic Database (1946-2021) will be used to
collect the information in People’s Daily, and the samples of China Daily will be collected from
CHINADAILY.COM.CN. The time span of the research sample will be determined to be from
January 2020 to December 2020. In the database, “COVID-19”, “coronavirus”, “novel coronavirus”,
“vaccine”, “epidemic”, and “pandemic” will be used as search keywords for more precise collection.
Focusing on the above keywords, 5,740 articles in People’s Daily were retrieved, and 1,309
articles in China Daily were retrieved. However, articles that do not meet the subject of this article
will be deleted. The final number of articles counted was determined to be 1,528 (People’s Daily)
and 669 (China Daily). Therefore, the analysis unit of this study is each news article on COVID-19
issues in People’s Daily and China Daily in 2020.
Sampling
This study first used stratified sampling to select the reported materials (95% confidence
level, 5% sampling error), due to the large population size, in order to better compare news
framing in different media. The collected articles are sorted from the oldest in the order of
publication time, with a total of 2,197 articles. The report materials are divided into two groups
(People’s Daily and China Daily). The sample size is determined to be 330. According to the
proportion between the population size and the sample size, there are 229 (People’s Daily) and
101 (China Daily) in the sample. Then use systematic sampling in each group, the sampling
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interval is 6, the first sample number is set to 1, then the second sample number is 7, and so on
until the number of samples meets the above requirements. Therefore, the selected 229 (People’s
Daily) and 101 (China Daily) articles will be used as the analysis samples for this study.
Coding
Category Construction
The coding work mainly involves frame type and frame function. This research developed a
frame codebook, as shown in Table 1. In this codebook, two levels of coding are carried out for
each category. The first level category includes (1) Frame Type; and (2) Frame Function. The
secondary coding is carried out on the basis of the primary coding. The first level Frame Type
includes (1) Episodic Frame (if it exists, assign a value of 1); and (2) Thematic Frame (if it exists,
assign a value of 2). The first level Frame Function includes (1) Defining Problems (if it exists, it is
assigned a value of 1; if it does not exist, it is assigned a value of 0); Diagnosing Causes (if it
exists, it is assigned a value of 1; and if it does not exist, it is assigned a value of 0 ); Making Moral
Judgments (if it exists, it is assigned a value of 1; if it does not exist, it is assigned a value of 0);
and Suggesting Remedies (if it exists, it is assigned a value of 1; and if it does not exist, it is
assigned a value of 0). The coding rules for specific categories are shown in Table 1.
Inter-Coder Reliability
Two well-trained coders need to independently code according to the existing frame
codebook. Kappa statistics (κ) is used to analyze inter-coder reliability coefficients in this research.
The reliability is reliable if kappa statistics is from 0.61 to 0.8; and the reliability is called “almost
perfect” (Landis & Koch 1977: 371) if it is above 0.81. If the coding reliability does not meet the
requirements, the two coders will negotiate and re-encode further. In this study, 10% of the articles
were randomly selected from the analysis samples of People’s Daily (N=229) and China Daily
(N=101) to test the reliability between coders. The coding reliability of Defining Problems is κ =
.766 (p = .000), the coding reliability of Diagnosing Causes is κ = .718 (p = .000), and the coding
reliability of Making Moral Judgments is κ = .798 (p = .000), and the coding reliability of Suggesting
Remedies is κ = .926 (p = .000), and the coding reliability of Frame Type is κ = .784 (p = .000). It
can be seen that the range of the coding reliability of each item is between 0.6 and 1, which all
meet the reliability requirements and can be formally coded.
Table 1 Frame Codebook
Frame Definition Frame Type Definition
Function (Value)
(Value)
Defining To emphasize what the Episodic (1) Media emphasize on
Problems (1) issue subject did and what individual actions or
consequences stories on specific
Diagnosing issues.
Causes (2) To emphasize what is the Thematic (2) Media pays more
root cause or cause of the attention to public
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issue social factors in
specific issues.
Making Moral To evaluate the subject’s
Judgments (3) behavior
Suggesting To emphasize how to deal
Remedies (4) with and resolve issues
Data Analysis
Based on research questions, the data analysis mainly includes two aspects: First, it is
necessary to perform descriptive statistics on the analysis samples of People’s Daily and China
Daily to determine the frequency and percentage of frame type and frame function. The higher the
frequency or the proportion, the more the media prefers the corresponding frame type and function.
Secondly, this research also needs to analyze and test the differences between different frame
functions and frame types. According to the nature of these two variables, both are categorical
variables. To compare the relationship between categorical variables, it’s necessary to use the chi-
square test.
RESULTS
First of all, this research needs to separately count the frequency and proportion of specific
frame type and each frame function in the report samples of People’s Daily (N=229) and China
Daily (N=101) to determine the frame bias of different media on the COVID-19 issue. In Table 2,
for the frame type bias, 39 articles (11.8%) use episodic frame, and 291 articles (88.1%) involve
thematic frame. This shows that Chinese media tend to use thematic frame to emphasize
collective social responsibility during the pandemic. For frame function, there are 77 articles
(23.3%) related to defining problems, only 7 articles (2.1%) related to diagnosing causes, 38
articles (11.5%) related to making moral judgments, and 238 articles (72.1%) related to suggesting
remedies. It can be seen that the Chinese media mainly guide public health discourse on
measures to address and respond to COVID-19.
At the same time, it is also necessary to separately count the biases of different media to
the frame. In this study, the media was used as the basis for vertical grouping, and the proportion
and frequency of frame type and function were counted. It can be seen from Table 3 that in the
People’s Daily (N=229), there are 41 articles (17.9%) containing defining problems, 29 articles
(12.7%) involving making moral judgments, 185 articles (80.8%) using suggesting remedies, and
does not involve diagnosing causes. The articles using episodic frame and thematic frame have 33
(14.4%) and 196 (85.6%) articles respectively. In China Daily (N=101), there are 36 articles (35.6%)
containing defining problems, 9 articles (9.0%) involving making moral judgments, and 53 articles
(52.5%) using suggesting remedies, and only 7 (7.0%) involved diagnosing causes. The articles
using episodic frame and thematic frame have 6 (6.0%) and 95 (94.1%) respectively. Therefore, it
can be clearly seen that the People’s Daily and China Daily in their reports mainly emphasize the
resolution of the pandemic or the collective responsibility of the whole society, rather than the
individual responsibility. In order to compare the difference in frame bias between the two more
specifically, this study conducted a chi-square test on the difference between different media and
frames. After inspection, the difference between media and frame type is statistically significant (χ2
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[d.f. = 1] = 4.046, p = .044). The difference between media and defining problem is statistically
significant (χ2 [d.f. = 1] = 11.358, p = .001). And the difference between media and diagnosing
causes is statistically significant (χ2 [d.f. = 1] = 13.049, p = .000). The difference between media
and making moral judgments is no statistically significant (χ2 [d.f. = 1] = .635, p = .425). However,
the difference between the media and suggesting remedies is statistically significant (χ2 [d.f. = 1] =
26.549, p = .000). Therefore, this shows that People’s Daily and China Daily have obvious
differences in the use of frame types, and the two also have obvious differences in defining
problems, diagnosing causes, and suggesting remedies. Compared with China Daily, People’s
Daily is more inclined to report on COVID-19 solutions; and in defining problems, China Daily pays
more attention than People’s Daily.
Table 2 Frame Type and Frame Function in COVID-19 Reports
Frame Type (N=330)
Episodic frame Thematic frame
Frequency 39 (11.8%) 291 (88.1%)
Frame Function (N=330)
Defining Diagnosing Making moral Suggesting
problems causes judgments remedies
Frequency 77 (23.3%) 7 (2.1%) 38 (11.5%) 238 (72.1%)
Note: The sum of the proportions of each item in the frame function is greater than 1, because in some
reports, multiple frame functions are used at the same time.
Table 3 Frame Type and Frame Function of COVID-19 Reports in People’s Daily and China Daily
People’s Daily (N=229) China Daily (N=101)
Frame Type 33 (14.4%) 6 (6.0%)
Episodic Frame 196 (85.6%) 95 (94.1%)
Thematic Frame
Frame Function 41 (17.9%) 36 (35.6%)
0 (13.7%) 7 (7.0%)
Defining Problems
Diagnosing Causes
Making Moral Judgments 29 (12.7) 9 (9.0%)
Suggesting Remedies 185 (80.8%) 53 (52.5%)
Note: The sum of the proportions of each item in the frame function is greater than 1, because in some
reports, multiple frame functions are used at the same time.
Finally, this research also needs to analyze the differences of specific frame types in
different frame functions. Specifically, the chi-square test is used to explain the difference in the
media’s bias towards episodic frame or thematic frame in different frame functions to solve
research question 3. It can be seen from Table 4 that there are only 2 articles (2.6%) used episodic
frames in articles involving defining problems, far less than thematic frames (n=75, 97.4%). The
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articles involving diagnostic causes are all thematic frame (n=7, 100%). Thematic frames are still
the main article concerning making moral judgments (n=34, 89.5%), while there are only 4 articles
(10.5%) in episodic frames. In articles involving suggesting remedies, thematic frame is still the
main one (n=202, 84.9%), far exceeding the episodic frame (n=36, 15.1%). The chi-square test
shows that there is significant association between defining problems and frame type (χ2 [d.f. = 1]
= 7.080, p = .008). There is no significant association between diagnosing causes and frame type
(χ2 [d.f. = 1] = .150, p = .699). And there is no significant association between making moral
judgments and frame type (χ2 [d.f. = 1] = .000, p = 1.000). However there is significant association
between suggesting remedies and frame type (χ2 [d.f. = 1] = 7.861, p = .005).
It can be seen that only defining problems and suggesting remedies are significantly related
to Frame Type. In other words, the defining problems and suggesting remedies of the Chinese
media in the COVID-19 issue can be biased towards the thematic frame to emphasize the main
role of the social responsibility of the macro system in the public discourse during the pandemic.
Table 4 Cross Table of Frame Function and Frame Type in COVID-19 Reports
Frame Function
Defining Diagnosing Making moral Suggesting
Frame Type problems causes judgments remedies
Episodic frame 2 (2.6%) 0 4 (10.5%) 36 (15.1%)
Thematic frame 75 (97.4%) 7 (100%) 34 (89.5%) 202 (84.9%)
Total 77 7 38 238
DISCUSSION
News frame is a powerful tool for the media to guide and construct public health discourse.
The Chinese people and society can form a synergy in a severe pandemic and effectively control
the large-scale spread of the virus, which is inseparable from the Chinese mainstream media’s
guidance of public discourse. This research mainly explores the specific news frame types and
functions in Chinese mainstream media regarding COVID-19 issue to explain the definition and
distribution of responsibility for public health discourse during the pandemic. Through data analysis,
it can be seen that People’s Daily and China Daily both emphasize social responsibility in the
epidemic, and pay attention to the key role of systematic social joint forces in fighting the epidemic.
And when defining the nature of COVID-19 issue and reporting solutions, Chinese media always
emphasize social responsibility. People’s Daily and China Daily have obvious differences in the
use of frame types, and compared with China Daily, People’s Daily is more inclined to report on
COVID-19 solutions; and in defining the issues, China Daily pays more attention than People’s
Daily. It is still worth noting that the media’s emphasis on social responsibility does not mean that
the role of individuals is not significant, nor does it mean that the media does not tell individual
stories, but that the roles of individuals in the pandemic are synergistic, and individuals are not
mutually independent.
At present, the public in the pandemic is no longer unrelated and separated individuals.
The large-scale spread of the coronavirus reflects the role of the consciousness for community of
common destiny. No individual can survive this severe pandemic alone. It is impossible to fight the
epidemic by relying solely on the strength of individuals. Therefore, during the pandemic, the
Chinese media focused on thematic frame to emphasize collective social responsibility and social
power, and emphasized that the cooperation of the whole society is an important role in fighting
the epidemic. This can effectively shift the public focus from discrimination and prejudice against
individuals to social factors, thereby forming social synergy more quickly during the pandemic, and
more effectively exerting collective forces to overcome the epidemic. It can be seen from this that
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the bias of media to the news frame during the pandemic can not only guide public health
discourse, but also play an irreplaceable role of public opinion in controlling the epidemic.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
First of all, the results of this research on the frame of COVID-19 issue cannot be
generalized to the frame of all issues. Compared with other issues (e.g. political issues and
economic issues), public health issues still have particularities. The conclusions of this study on
the epidemic news frame cannot be applied to other issues. In the frame research on others,
specific issues still need to be analyzed in detail. Secondly, this research does not involve frame
comparisons between different media types. Specifically, the object of this study is limited to
mainstream newspapers in China, and the epidemic news frame in other media, such as television
media or social media, is not analyzed. Iyengar (1991) once pointed out that compared with print
media, television media tends to favor the episodic frame than thematic frame and emphasizes
individual responsibility in specific issues. However, in response to the COVID-19 issue, the frame
type between television media and print media, and whether there is a difference in the distribution
of responsibilities in health discourse is what this study lacks. Future research can focus on
comparing the specific differences in the epidemic news frame among different media types.
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64
From ‘Darek’ to ‘Rantau’: The Architecture Morphology of
Minangkabau Traditional House
Mohamad Hanif Abdul Wahab
Faculty of Architecture, Planning and Surveying
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
[email protected]
Azizi Bahauddin
School of Housing, Building and Planning
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
[email protected]
Nor Aniswati Awang Lah
Department of Interior Design
Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA Rembau, Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Minangkabau territory encompasses a central region known as darek (inland) in West
Sumatra towards rantau (border) in the Eastern Minangkabau of Riau and Negeri Sembilan,
Malaysia. The spread of Minangkabau territory due to merantau (migration) activity has led to the
variations of Minangkabau house. Due to the phenomenon, this research is aimed to explore the
spatial morphology that structures the house form in Minangkabau territory. Qualitative research
methods were applied during data collection that included site observation, interview, and measured
drawing. Six case studies were selected for this paper based on the historical merantau events from
Luhak Lima Puluh Kota in West Sumatra to Kampar in Riau and Rembau in Negeri Sembilan. This
process captured the spatial morphology of the Minangkabau traditional house due to the evolution
and variation of the architecture. The study found the darek house is built permanent and long-lasting
as a reminder of their origin. The difference can be seen in rantau where the house was built as a
temporary structure in small units and able to be dismantled to be moved and assembled for space
extension and for creating a new space. The formation of the spatial morphology of Minangkabau
architecture is like the process of merantau. As the substantial matrilineal customary holdings in
darek are increasingly loosened in rantau had led to the evolution of the spatial morphology of
Minangkabau architecture. The rantau houses in Kampar and Rembau are assimilated with the local
architecture and no longer follow the Minangkabau method.
Keywords: Merantau¶0LQDQJNDEDXarchitecture, morphology.
INTRODUCTION
Alam Minangkabau or Minangkabau territory refers to an old kingdom located in West
Sumatra, Indonesia. In 14th to the 15th century, its sovereignty ranged between the Kingdom of
Palembang and the Siak river in the east and between the Kingdom of Manjuto and the Singkel river
in the west of Sumatra, Indonesia (Radjo Panghoeloe, 1985; Vries, 1937) to Rembau, Negeri
Sembilan (Favre, 1849). The formation of the Minangkabau territory is known as the pemekaran
nagari (the expansion of the state) (Kato, 2005) occurs through the process of merantau or migration.
65
Figure 1: The maps of darek or Minangkabau asli (motherland) and the Minangkabau rantau
colonies. Source: Kato, (1982); Naim, (1979) edited by Hardono, (2015)
Merantau has led to the process of cultural acculturation that forms the architecture evolution
in darek and rantau (Ismail, Surat, Raja Shahminan, & Yunus, 2014). Darek is the epicentre of
Minangkabau asli (motherland) located at Bukit Barisan range in West Sumatra as shown in Figure
1. Darek consists of 3 earliest regions known as the luhak nan tigo. The first area founded is Luhak
Tanah Datar where Pariangan Padang Panjang was the oldest nagari or settlement, it was followed
by Luhak Agam and Luhak Lima Puluh Kota.
Across the border of darek is the rantau, a colonies region that preserves the political,
economic and cultural ties with the luhak nan tigo in darek (Mansoer, Imran, Safwan, Idris, & Buchari,
1970). There are 3 rantau regions namely Rantau Luhak Tanah Datar, Rantau Luhak Agam and
Rantau Luhak Lima Puluh Kota. Rantau has its own economic and cultural development. It is based
on the "Pangkal Tanah'' custom in darek with the combination of local regulations under the law of
"Kato Mupakaik" (Mansoer et al., 1970; Radjo Panghoeloe, 1985).
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the large number of Minangkabau people especially, in the
region of Luhak Lima Puluh Kota migrated towards the east (H. Datoek Toeah, 1989). They passed
through the river and lush valley areas in Kampar Kiri, Kampar Kanan, Bangkinang, Rokan district
in Riau and further crossed the Strait of Malacca to Negeri Sembilan. These five districts were united
under the region of Rantau Luhak Lima Puluh Kota, also known as the Minangkabau Timur (Aryanti,
2014; Mansoer et al., 1970). The geographical surroundings of rantau, which was located on the
banks of the river and the estuary, had generated a more profitable economy than the darek in the
highlands of Bukit Barisan.
The evolution of the Minangkabau house from darek to rantau was parallel to the
development of the merantau activity in the 14th to the 15th century. The variation happened in the
design of traditional Minangkabau houses due to regional factors such as customary law and
geographical environment (Ismail, Yunus, & Surat, 2016) within the darek and rantau. Cultural
66
assimilation, the way of life, custom and religious beliefs also played a role in realizing the various
designs of the house. The Minangkabau traditional houses in darek were built by ninik-mamak or
mother's brother and inhabited by kemenakan or niece of the suku or clan. It was not practised in
rantau where the houses were built by buapak or chief of suku for the youngest daughter in the
family which were assimilated from the local customs.
Therefore, this morphological study aims to study the spatial evolution of the traditional
Minangkabau house that exists in both areas. Through ethnographic and phenomenological
methods, factors such as lifestyle differences, local cultures, customs and environments in the darek
and rantau were assessed. It discovered the meaning of internal physical features such as form, and
space arrangement. Six case studies were selected for analysis at selected locations
commencement of merantau process from the epicentre of Minangkabau asli in darek, West
Sumatra, with a stopover in Kampar, Riau and ending in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. The data were
analyzed based on the architectural drawing of the house by considering the location, surroundings,
the size of the building, the space form, the spatial openings, the spatial dividers, and the spatial
hierarchies.
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
Luhak (Darek) and rantau are tied to matrilineal custom and are considered as one. This
unity cannot be divided by geographical or governmental boundaries. It's like the proverb ‡EORRGLV
WKLFNHU WKDQ ZDWHU· VR WUXH LQ WlKuhHaFkDaVnHdRraI ntau. With that, luhak (darek) and rantau
together formed the Alam Minangkabau. However, the strong matrilineal custom practice in darek is
increasingly forgotten in rantau. The role of the buapak is more pronounced and prominent in rantau
compared to the role of the ninik-mamak in darek with the name given and the property is in the heir
by the father to a daughter and not to the kemenakan or niece as were practiced in darek (Mansoer
et al., 1970).
The same thing happens to the Minangkabau traditional house. Its design rules were
changing when it moved away from the darek territory. The customary law was no longer affecting
the rule of design. In contrast, the custom of "Pangkal Tanah" combined with "Kato Mupakaik"
formed the new design concept for the Minangkabau traditional house. The rantau house is still
practising the matrilineal custom but built for a family and nor for a clan. Therefore, this morphological
research examines the evolution of the spatial design of the Minangkabau traditional house that
exists in both regions.
A field survey was conducted in West Sumatra, Riau and Negeri Sembilan to see the
evolution of the Minangkabau house based on the pattern of merantau movement. The study will
assess the changes in the form, space, and function of the Minangkabau traditional house that exists
in the darek and the rantau although both communities come from the same culture (Hardono &
Bahauddin, 2012).
METHODOLOGY
This research utilized a qualitative method that relies on ethnography and phenomenology
documentation based on the merantau movement activities from darek in West Sumatra to rantau
in Riau and Negeri Sembilan. Data were obtained through observations, architectural
documentation, and interviews with the Minangkabau cultural experts. Architectural documentation
is indispensable to record the evolution of the Minangkabau traditional house. Therefore,
background research on few identified case studies were conducted before further work could occur.
Nonetheless, the absence of preferred information required the research to rely on literature sources.
This research included a few non-structured interviews with a few traditional Minangkabau house
owners. This procedure was carried out simultaneously with the visual information accumulation on
67
the traditional houses and the ways of living. Six case studies were selected for this paper based on
the historical merantau events from Luhak Lima Puluh Kota in West Sumatra to Kampar in Riau and
Rembau in Negeri Sembilan. It was to see the impact of the environmental and regional factors on
the development of the Minangkabau traditional house. This process captured the spatial
morphology of the Minangkabau traditional house due to the evolution and variation of the
architecture.
LITERATURE REVIEW – THE MINANGKABAU TRADITIONAL HOUSE IN DAREK
The traditional house of Minangkabau is a matrilineal ceremonial house. It was built for a
clan by the ninik-mamak or mother's uncle and inhabited by kemenakan or niece. Generally, the
whole house is a restricted area for men except for a certain time of activities such as sleeping and
eating. It is said that the earlier form of Minangkabau traditional architecture during primordial age is
uncomplicated and straightforward design (Couto & Darwis, 2010; Holt, 1967; James C. Snyder,
1984; Waterson, 1990). The house form is a rectangular shape and erected with the support of
columns (Couto, 1998; Darwis, 1981; Darwis & Couto, 2008; Syamsul Asri, 1996; Usman, 1985).
The division of space is based on horizontal and vertical lines. The horizontal line is called
lanja, the line from the pangkal (base) to the hujung (end) of the house. The vertical line is called
bilik or rooms, the line the front to the rear of the house (Hardono, 2015; Widya, 2001). The number
of bilik is odd and can be added from 3 to 5, 7 and 9 depending on the number of the niece inhabited
in a house (Figure 2 (a)). There are four types of space known as the balai, labuah, bandua, and
bilik. The balai and labuah located at the front and centre of the lanja are more widely used as a
meeting place whereas bilik or rooms are arranged in the last line as a sleeping place for nieces.
The design variation of the Minangkabau traditional house was affected by the customary law of
Bodi Caniago and Koto Piliang and the location of luhak or region. Besides, the types of houses are
divided into three categories of ownerships, as stated in Table 1:
Table 1: The types and characteristics of Minangkabau traditional houses.
Source: (Syamsul Asri, 2004)
No. Types of Houses Ownership Characteristic
1 Rumah Adat The houses built with shared resources (communal) and built on
(House of Customary) inheritance land and live in large family communities.
2 Rumah Penghulu This house is owned by ninik-mamak (head of a clan). Used for
(House of Head of Clan) community meetings, property affairs, and customary law
customization.
3 Rumah Raja The houses built for 'princesses' and 'kings' descendants
(House of King/Nobility) of Minangkabau rulers since ancient times or noble descent. Used
for community meetings, property affairs, and customary law
customization.
.
68
The Minangkabau traditional house of Bodi Caniago is known as a Gadang house (Navis,
1984). It was built for deliberation with the value of equality and similarity (Pelajaran Adat
Minangkabau (Sejarah dan Budaya), 1987). The value emitted on the horizontal floor design was
without any spatial hierarchy such as a porch and a verandah. The rectangular shape of architecture
emphasized a simple and minimal type of design.
The Minangkabau traditional house of Koto Piliang is known as the Si Tinjau Laut house or
Barangjueng or the porch house (Navis, 1984). It refers to the features of the porch located at the
hujung (end) and the pangkal (base) of the house. The porch floor is built elevated and higher so
that its residents can explore the surroundings from the roof of the house (Syamsul Asri, 2004). The
elevated floor level also illustrates the autocratic style of Koto Piliang's coherence and linked to the
social pyramid structure of the Hinduism (Pelajaran Adat Minangkabau (Sejarah dan Budaya), 1987;
Zaidin Bakry, 1986).
Figure 2: The layout plan of the Minangkabau traditional house in darek (a) the Bodi Caniago type
and (b) the Koto Piliang type. Source: Hardono, (2015)
69
Concurrently in Figure 3 shown the house based on luhak has a different pattern of space
such as the pucuk house of Sangkaran Gadiang. The pucuk is the head of all penghulu or leader in
Limo Kaum, the Bodi Caniago central area. It is built with 4 lanja with anjung or porch located at both
sides of the house. The tukang rumah or builders came from Sungai Jambu where Koto Piliang's
custom influenced it. This house was built for the noble descent from Koto Piliang or Bodi Caniago
or the head customary of Koto Piliang (Syamsul Asri, 2004).
Figure 3: The layout plan of the Minangkabau traditional house based on the location of luhak or
region. Source: Syamsul Asri, (2004)
The Beranjuang house is also known as the Raja or King house, built differently than the
typical penghulu house. It has an anjung or porch at both sides of the house. It only has 3 lanja –
the balai (hall), the bandua (passage) and the bilik (room). Meanwhile, Bapaserek house, also known
as the Penghulu house, has 5 ruang and serves as a place for ceremonies activity. At the rear part
is the location for the bilik or rooms in odd numbers. At the pangkal side is the dapur or kitchen with
a door for cleaning purposes. The Surambi Aceh house is the house for the ruler who is not
mentioned in the customary law. It is regarded as an evolutionary house with the influence of Aceh's
house with the addition of a serambi or foyer at the front of the stairs.
70
Figure 4: The evolution of spatial morphology of Minangkabau traditional house in darek. Source:
Darwis and Couto, (2008)
Darwis and Couto studies in 2008 explained the spatial morphology formation process of the
Minangkabau house in darek as shown in Figure 4. It started with the earlier form of the house in
Lareh Nan Panjang (Figure 4-P1) at Pariangan Padang Panjang, Luhak Tanah Datar. This house is
a rectangular shape with five ruang and four lanja and built with 30 poles (Couto & Darwis, 2010;
Syamsul Asri, 2004). The first phase of evolution is the addition of ruang from 5 to 7 and 9 due to
the increasing numbers of occupants in the house (Figure 4-P2). It is also transformed into a
Beranjung house for the penghulu, and the noble descendants known as Raja or Adat (Customs)
house (Figure 4-P3). Beranjung house also varies with the addition of a serambi or foyer at the front
stair area (Figure 4-P4).
71
Subsequently, the earlier house (Figure 4-P1) has formed three ruang variation types of the
house (Figure 4-P5) due to the reduced numbers of the occupants. It probably happened because
of the merantau factor, especially towards Luhak Lima Puluh Kota. The design variation continues
with the addition of the rumah tangga (Figure 4-P6) or porch then the anjung (Figure4-P7) or foyer.
The Figure 4-P5 house is occurrence the final phase of the variation process in darek. It forms two
different spatial morphologies with the addition of the dapur (Figure 4-P8) at the rear of the house in
Luhak Agam. While in Luhak Lima Puluh Kota, the addition of an anjung and the dapur happened at
the hujung or left side of the Figure 4-P9 house.
According to Figure 4, the Figure 4-P5 house is the first phase of the design evolution at
Luhak Lima Puluh Kota. The uses of the column decreased from 30 poles to 20 poles as well as the
number of rooms from 5 to 3. Therefore, the Figure 4-P5 house was used as a subject for comparison
with the case studies in Kampar, Riau and Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. The objective is to see the
morphological changes of the Minangkabau house in darek and rantau.
DATA ANALYSIS – THE COMPARISON OF SPATIAL MORPHOLOGY OF THE RANTAU
MINANGKABAU TRADITIONAL HOUSE
Based on the merantau movement patterns from Luhak Lima Puluh Kota, West Sumatra
towards Kampar in Riau and Rembau in Negeri Sembilan, six case studies contained three from
Kampar three from Rembau were compared with the Figure 4-P5 data to see the formation of
morphological variations of the houses. Data collection using qualitative methods depends on the
ethnographic and phenomenological documentation obtained through observation, architectural
GRFXPHQWDWLRQDQGRZQHUV¶LQWHUYLHZUHFRUGHGDVEHORZ
Table 2: Case study data for 6 Minangkabau houses in Kampar, Riau and Rembau, Negeri
Sembilan.
Information and floor plan of the house Observation and interview results
The Lontik Desa Pulau Belimbing house, Kuok, • The rectangular shape and the most basic form of
Kecamatan Bangkinang Barat, Kabupaten the Kampar lontik house.
Kampar, Riau, Sumatera Timur.
• The house is erected from the 15 poles and has one
staircase in front of the house.
• The spatial concept is divided into two parts namely
tungganai and sumando.
• Tungganai and sumando separated by timber wall
with an opening passage in between.
• Tungganai is located at the front and divided into two
areas, namely the ujung bawah area and the
pangkal rumah area. This space is a common area
where male guests will gather here when there is a
custom and religious ceremony.
• Sumando is located at the rear and reserved for
women. It is divided into two areas, namely the
peserok and the tengah ujung.
• Peserok is a gathering place for older women and
children. Under normal circumstances, this space is
used as a sleeping area for women and children
separated by hanging the mosquito net.
• The tengah ujung is the food preparation and dining
area.
72
The Lontik Haji Hamid house, Desa Pulau • Built by buapak and inherited by the youngest
Belimbing, Kuok, Kecamatan Bangkinang daughter in a clan.
Barat, Kabupaten Kampar, Riau, Sumatera
Timur. • It is the evolution of Kampar's lontik house.
• The house uses 23 pillars and is the variation of the
15 pillars of the lontik house.
• The spatial concept is divided into four parts, namely
tunganai, sumando, sulo pandan and pedapuan.
• Sulo pandan is a utility area to place daily
necessities and kitchen utensils.
• A stair at the sulo pandan is used by women guests.
• Pedapuan is a kitchen area. It functions as a place
to prepare food, to treat a female guest, a family
dining area and often used as a daughter's sleeping
area.
• The foyer is located in front of the house to prevent
heat and rain to the stairs.
The Lontiok Suku Bendang house, Desa • It is the evolution of Kampar's lontik house.
Tanjung, Kecamatan Kampar, Riau, Sumatera • The house is known as the Siompu custom house.
Timur. • This house is an evolution of the lontik house, but it
functions as a clan palace.
• According to ninik mamak Jalelo Bosir Datuk
Kampong Nan Tiga, the Siompu custom house is a
clan palace located in Tanjung Village for Domo,
Pitopang, Malay and Piliang clans. The same clan
as in darek, Minangkabau.
• The house functioning as a place of deliberation and
customary meetings of each clan.
• The concept of space is similar to the lontik house
with the addition of serambi tangga (foyer) and balai
adat (customary hall).
• Addition of space at the pangkal side of the house is
sulo pandan, pedapuan, utility room and pelantar
(platform).
7KH7HODSDN’DWR¶$NKLU8QGDQJ5HPEDX- NH • A rectangular shape and most basic form of the
14 house, Kampung Pulau Hanyut, Rembau, Negeri Sembilan traditional house.
The house has front and rear stairs and erected from
Negeri Sembilan • by 16 poles.
The spatial concept is divided into two areas:
• serambi (verandah) and tengah rumah (middle of the
house).
• Serambi and tengah rumah separated by timber wall
• with an opening passage in between.
Serambi is located at the front zone which is divided
into two areas the pangkal serambi and hujung
serambi. Serambi is a common space where male
73
The ethnography, phenomenology and the on-site observation result of various case studies
found the similarities in spatial design. The similarities found in the aspects of the space functionality,
the architectural elements, and the matrilineal custom system. The three aspects are compared to
the eccentric Minangkabau house (Figure 4-P5) to obtain the similarities characteristics as shown in
Table 3.
Table 3: The similarities of space functionality, the architectural elements, and the customary
system of the Minangkabau traditional house in darek and rantau.
The similarities of Darek Lontik Kampar house Rantau
space functionality,
the architectural Earlier Minangkabau Traditional Negeri Sembilan
elements, and the house (Figure 4-P5) house
customary system
The similarities of The whole house The sumando (peserok The tengah rumah (bilik
space functionality Balai and labuah and tengah ujung) and and kelongkong (kitchen)
Space for women's pedapuan (kitchen) The serambi (pangkal and
activities hujung) and the anjung.
The tungganai (ujung
A distinctive space bawah and pangkal
for male activeness rumah) and the balai adat
in the customary law
The architectural Between the rooms Between the sumando Between the serambi and
elements with rooms and rooms and the tungganai the tengah rumah
Wall separator with bandua.
The customary The house owns by The house owns by the The house owns by the
system the clan and in the heir family and in the heir to family and in the heir to the
Matrilineal custom to the kemenakan or the youngest daughter youngest daughter
niece
Despite that, there are differences between those selected houses. The darek house
designed more massive than the rantau house. It is because the house was purposely built for a
clan by ninik-mamak (uncle) and inhabited by their niece. In rantau, the house scale depends on the
number of family members. It is the buapak responsibility for all matters, including the building of the
75
The Figure 5-A house was the first phase of the architectural evolution in rantau Kampar. It
was evolved from the Figure 5-P5 darek house which can be considered as the reference model.
The Figure 5-A house lanja was reduced into 2 division areas, namely the sumando and the
tungganai. The sumando were included peserok and tengah ujung areas were planned for
household and female social activities. While the tungganai were included ujung bawah and pangkal
rumah areas were used for matrilineal ceremonial, religious practices, and male social activities.
Due to the needs of activities, the design variation continues with the addition of the sulo pandan
and pedapuan areas in the Figure 5-B house, then balai adat, room and pelantar in the Figure 5-C
house.
Subsequently, the Figure 5-A house was evolved in rantau Rembau after the expansion of
merantau. The Figure 5-D house maintained 2 division areas, namely the serambi and the tengah
rumah. The serambi was divided into two areas which were pangkal serambi and hujung serambi
for matrilineal ceremonial and male activities. The tengah rumah included kelongkong or dapur for
female activities. Due to the needs of activities, the design variation continues with the addition of
the anjung, room and pelantar areas in the Figure 5-E house then occurrence the final phase of the
variation process with the addition of the selang and rumah dapur in the Figure 5-F house.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research work was funded by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and Universiti
Teknologi MARA under grant Skim Latihan Akademik Bumiputera (SLAB). The authors would like
to acknowledge the contributions from Ir. Dr Sudirman Ismail (Universitas Bung Hatta, Padang), Ir.
Sudarmin and Mr Boby Samra (Universitas Lancang Kuning, Riau) for information and suggestions
relating to Minangkabau and Riau architecture.
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Aryanti, D. (2014). Typology of Padang Traditional Houses (Case Study: Kuranji and Pauh ), 1–8.
Couto, N. (1998). Makna dan Unsur-Unsur Visual pada Bangunan Rumah Gadang. Institut
Teknologi Bandung.
Couto, N., & Darwis, H. (2010). Morfologi Bentuk Bangunan Tradisi Minangkabau Sebagai Refleksi
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bangunan-tradisi.html
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Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia.
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Hardono, S. (2015). Pengaruh Matrilineal Pada Susun Atur Ruang Dalaman Rumah Tradisional
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9ULHV-GH(G:LQNOHU3ULQV¶$OJHPHHQH(QF\FORSDHGLH$PVWHUGDP(OVHYLHU
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79
IS THIS ORGANIZATION EFFECTIVE? EFFECTIVE
ORGANIZATION IN THE POST COVID SITUATION: FROM
THE EMPLOYEE’S PERSPECTIVE
Azfahanee Zakaria
Faculty of Business Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kedah, Malaysia.
[email protected]
Syed Mohammed Alhady Bin Syed Ahmad Alhady
Faculty of Information Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kedah, Malaysia.
[email protected]
Sarah Sabir Ahmad
Faculty of Business Management
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kedah, Malaysia.
[email protected]
Azlan Abdul Rahman
Language Studies Department
Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Kedah, Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 has changed the entire working arena and platform. It has forced drastic
change to all work processes, business flow as well as way of life. Nevertheless, leaders are
forced to attempt new strategies as organizational effectiveness has to remain the same. This
research aims to understand what are the criteria which makes an organization effective from
the employee’s perspective in this new working norm. This study adopts a qualitative study on
what is said as effective from the perspective of the employees in a university environment.
Ten employees comprising both academic and non-academic staff of a university of north
Malaysia would be involved with the study. Data for the study would be collected using the
interview and observation method.
Keywords: organization effectiveness, employee, qualitative study.
INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 has changed the entire working arena and platform. It has forced drastic
change to all work processes, business flow as well as way of life. Nevertheless, leaders in the
organization are forced to attempt new strategies as organizational effectiveness has to remain
the same. This research aims to understand what are the criteria which makes an organization
effective from the employee’s perspective in this new working norm.
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COVID 19 AND HOW IT STARTED
In December 2019, the 1st outbreak emerged in Wuhan, China. However, in other parts
of the world, some were curious, but some perceived it as just another outbreak. The outbreak
in Wuhan, China involved 66% of the staff in the wet market which leads to the notice by the
local health authority. Nevertheless, the virus has hit other provinces and cities in China as
well as other countries such as Thailand, Japan, United States and Korea (Wu, Yi-Chia; Chen,
Ching-Sunga; Chan, Yu-Jiun, 2020). In January 2020, the World Health Organization
confirmed the outbreak before it hits many other countries in the globe (Ain Umaira Md Shah
et al, 2020).
As for Malaysia, the first case was detected on 25th January 2020. Three Chinese
nationals who had a close contact with a person in Singapore visited Malaysia. All three were
treated in Hospital Sungai Buluh, Selangor. The Ministry of Health (MOH) proactively set up
guidelines and set up screening centers throughout Malaysia. Nonetheless, the 1st Malaysia
who was infected by COVID -19 was a Malaysian aged 41, who recently returned from
Singapore and later developed cough and fever. Then there were few cases, but the peak was
when there was a religious gathering in Seri Petaling, which led to an extensive rise in
numbers. Consequently, when the number of positive infected cases surpassed 553 on March
16th, 2020, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyuddin Yassin, announced a Movement
Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia, which started on 18th March 2020 for a duration of 14 days
and ended on 30th March 2020. Under the MCO nationwide, many regulations have been
implemented under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 ("the Act") to
prevent and curb the spread of COVID-19. However, the MCO was extended for a subsequent
number of times (Elengoe, 2020). The introduction of MCO was with the intention to stop the
spread of coronavirus. The initial two weeks of MCO, however, was extended three times till
June 9, 2020 (Hirschmann, 2021). The number did subside, and it was a joyous victory to all,
however, in late December 2020, the second wave started its roll.
With the announcement of MCO on the 16th of March 2020, many activities were forced
to stop, adhering to the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (Fan V. & Cheong R.,
2021). In turn, Regulations No. 1 restricts movement and gatherings nationwide. This includes
traveling nationwide, gathering for all purposes except for funerals were banned unless
necessary with approval from the authority. Besides, all educational institutions, may it be
higher institutions both private and public universities, schools, kindergartens were instructed
to be closed as well. All government and private premises were also instructed to close its
operation except for those involved in supplying essential services such as food, water,
electricity, oil, gas, fuel, banking, health, prisons, security and defense (Fan V. & Cheong R.,
2021). Subsequently, additional rules and restrictions were introduced with the intention to
protect and safeguard the citizens.
THE NEEDED CHANGE
However, the changes and the implementation introduced by the government under
the MCO, has forced many organizations and leaders to change the way on how business was
held before.
For some businesses, the employees were ordered to start to work from home,
whereas for some, the business operates with a minimal number of employees in the premises
(Fan V. & Cheong R., 2021).
Nevertheless, many organizations did have some challenges as many were
unprepared for the sudden change. Among the challenges faced was that some organizations
had no crisis planning and response guideline. Failure to have crisis planning has created a
non-prepared team to face the business crisis. Employees were unsure of what their task was
81
and how they should perform their daily activities in a new environment with unfamiliar
workspace and equipment. This also leads to many miscommunications and conflicts among
employees. Retailers and business owners face many short-term challenges, especially those
related to health and safety, tourism, the supply chain, the workforce, cash flow, consumer
demand, sales, and marketing (Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A., 2020). In fact, in several sectors,
the unemployment rate is very high and has been the highest ever since the 1930's.
Conversely, in the new norm of doing businesses and work, new opportunities and
situations arise. Among the new things which emerged was acceptance of digital transactions
and digital technology in most businesses. Besides, there is a steep strike in the online
communication, online business and online entertainment (Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A.,
2020). People have accepted the importance of social distancing which changes the behavior
and buying patterns of people. Many due to the restriction of social activities have started to
accept the fact that staying indoors is now very necessary. People have started to nest,
develop new skills, take better care of where they live and what they do. Some of the activities
or changes which many have successfully done were learning on how to bake and cook, focus
on getting healthier, read more and many more. There has also been an increase in purchases
of cleaning products, and more trash is being recycled. Therefore, organizational leaders need
to be alert and fast in identifying the changes needed in order to stay in business.
Nevertheless, for those organizations which have crisis planning and response
guidelines in place, this allows the management team and the employees to be more receptive
and prepared to handle the challenges and accept the changes. As mentioned by PwC Malta
(2020), organizations also need to ensure that they also have a contingency plan for all critical
roles in the organization. This is to ensure that all key roles in the organization would have a
continuity in its daily activities.
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
In discussing the issue of organizational effectiveness, let’s look at the impact of
organizational effectiveness to an organization’s productivity.
According to Talbot (2016), an organization would be effective if the organization is
able to get the most from its employee. In other words, employees play a significant role in an
organization. Besides, with the rapid change in the business environment where digital
transformation is now in the move, business competitiveness is on the rise and innovative
culture is being cultivated, organizations need to ensure that the business is running effectively
more than ever. Admittedly, this can be achieved in situations where employee engagement
is high and customers feedback is being taken seriously.
According to Mc. Shane S.L & Von Glinow M.A, (2015) an organization is considered
as effective when the organization is able to fulfill four criterias. The four criterias are: first, the
ability of an organization to fit in an open system, second, the organization cultivates
continuous learning, third the organization observes high-performance work practices and
fourth, the organization cares for its stakeholders.
In addition to the above, an organization is considered as effective when it is able to
balance the demands made by the owners itself, the employees, customers as well as the
stakeholders (Meraku A, 2017). And according to Meraku A, (2017), leaders play a vital role in
the orientation as well as the path of the organization in achieving its success. The qualities
mentioned and needed for leaders to be effective are honesty and integrity, competence and
credibility, inspiration and motivation, sense of humor, visionary, good communication skills
and the ability to treat followers equally.
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The above discussions are snapshots of what is said as an effective organization as a
whole. However, what seems as effective to external parties may not be considered or
perceived as effective to employees.
THE STUDY
This study is held to further understand what are the criteria which make an organization
effective from the employee’s perspective in this new working norm. This research adopts a
qualitative study where ten employees comprising both academic and non-academic staff of a
university in north Malaysia would be involved. The ten respondents would be interviewed with
open ended questions to allow the respondents to freely share their views on the questions
and issue itself. With the respondents’ permission, all interviews will be recorded and later be
analyzed before tabling it up to the management.
The result of this study would be used to further improve and strengthen the strategies
to enrich organizational effectiveness level by taking into consideration employees’ perception
and request. This is seen as necessary as with the current situation, the Covid19 outbreak is
still on the rise even after a year of its first existence in Malaysia and ideas from employees
need to be placed in the changes which the management may wish to do.
CONCLUSION
The measurement of organizational effectiveness varies from one researcher to
another. Hence, with agreeing that employees are the backbone of an organization., it is
necessary for the management to understand what an effective organization from their
perspective is. By incorporating their perception and expectation on what organizational
effectiveness to the strategies of the organization would increase their confidence in the
management which will contribute to higher retention in the organization.
REFERENCES
Ain Umaira Md Shah, Syafiqah Nur Azrie Safri, Rathedevi Thevadas, Nor Kamariah Noordin,
Azmawani Abd Rahman, Zamberi Sekawi, Aini Ideris, Mohamed Thariq Hameed
Sultan. (2020). COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia: Actions taken by the Malaysian
government. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 97, 108-116. doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.093.
Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on business and research. Journal
of business research, 117, 284–289. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.06.008
Elengoe, A. (2020). COVID-19 Outbreak in Malaysia. Osong Public Health and Research
Perspectives, 11(3), 93-100.
Fan V. & Cheong R. (2021, January 7). Malaysia: MCO, CMCO, RMCO, CMCO Again:
Regulations and SOPs. Retrieved May 15, 2021, from Mondaq : Connecting knowledge
and people: https://www.mondaq.com/operational-impacts-and-strategy/1022936/
mco-cmco-rmco-cmco-again-regulations-and-sops
Hirschmann, R. (2021). Movement and behavior during MCO period COVID-19 Malaysia 2020.
83
Meraku A. (2017, November). Role of Leadership in Organizational Effectiveness. Journal of
Economics, Business and Management, 5(11). doi:doi: 10.18178/joebm.2017.5.11.535
PwC Malta. (2020). Retrieved from COVID-19 Workforce Challenges & Tips:
https://www.pwc.com/mt/en/publications/humanresources/covid-19-workforce-
challenges/covid-19-workforce-challenges-and-tips-business-continuity.html
Talbot, L. (2016, December 7th). The Importance of Organizational Effectiveness to Success
in Fast Changing Markets. Retrieved from Questback:
https://www.questback.com/blog/the-importance-of-organizational-effectiveness-to-
success-in-fast-changing-markets/
Wu, Yi-Chia; Chen, Ching-Sunga; Chan, Yu-Jiun. (2020, February 8). The outbreak of COVID-
19: An overview. Journal of Chinese Medical Association, 217-220.
doi:10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000270
Wu, Yi-Chia; Chen, Ching-Sunga; Chan, Yu-Jiun. (n.d.). The outbreak of COVID-19: An
overview.
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Konsep Bias Media dalam Portal Berita atas Talian
Berdasarkan Teori Bias Media
Suhana binti Saad
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
[email protected]
Dr Shahrul Nazmi bin Sannusi
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRAK
Pada era digital, masyarakat Malaysia lebih tertumpu kepada internet dan media massa
berbanding dengan media cetak dan televisyen untuk mendapatkan berita. Laporan Berita Digital
tahun 2019 menunjukkan bahawa peningkatan rakyat Malaysia memperoleh berita secara dalam
talian dan di media sosial manakala berlaku penurunan peratusan dalam mendapatkan berita
melalui televisyen atau media cetak. The Malaysia Insight telah mendapat jutaan pengikut dan
perkongsian berbanding akhbar arus perdana seperti TV3, RTM, Harian Metro Online, Berita Harian
Online, Sinar Harian Online, Astro Awani, The Star Online, Malay Mail, New Straits Times dan
Bernama Online yang semakin lenyap pengaruhnya. Kemunculan portal berita atas talian ini mampu
menyebabkan masyarakat beralih kepada media alternatif yang dikatakan lebih seimbang
berbanding dengan media arus perdana. Kecenderungan masyarakat untuk tertumpu kepada media
massa adalah ekoran lonjakan teknologi semasa yang mendorong masyarakat mendapatkan berita
melalui media alternatif berbanding konvensional. Sehubungan itu, kemunculan media alternatif
dalam memenuhi kehendak masyarakat menyebabkan kredibiliti platform berita atas talian kajian ini
diragui samada didominasi oleh ideologi, pemilikan organisasi berita itu atau faktor lain. Oleh itu,
kajian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan satu penjelasan konsep bias yang terdapat dalam portal
berita atas talian di Malaysia berdasarkan Teori Bias Media. Justeru, dengan adanya kajian ini, ia
boleh memberi gambaran jelas untuk melihat sejauh mana organisasi media berita atas talian
memperlihatkan bias positif, bias negatif atau neutral secara jelas dan empirikal.
Kata Kunci: Bias media, media alternatif.
PENGENALAN
Institusi berita seringkali dikaitkan dengan pelaporan berita secara objektif sebagaimana
yang telah ditetapkan dalam etika kewartawanan. Etika kewartawanan dalam penulisan diwujudkan
untuk menjadi garis panduan kepada wartawan dalam menyampaikan berita. Oleh itu, pelaporan
berita yang dibuat harus objektif, seimbang dan bertanggungjawab (Faridah Ibrahim 2003; Lichter
2017) dalam melaporkan berita walaupun terdapat pertikaian di antara para sarjana mengenai
objektif pelaporan berita (Budak et al. 2016; Lichter 2017). Sehubungan itu, wartawan perlu
melaksanakan norma standard objektif yang menjadi garis panduan kepada wartawan. Sebagai
contoh, piawaian kewartawanan di Amerika Syarikat telah berubah dan beberapa transformasi
media dan politik telah berlaku, termasuk profesionalisme kewartawanan itu sendiri dan
pertumbuhan ideologi kiri di kalangan intelektual dan golongan elit (Al-Najjar 2019). Oleh itu, pada
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tahun 1960-an, telah berlaku perubahan dalam syarat-syarat untuk profesion kewartawanan yang
telah mempengaruhi orientasi ideologi wartawan di Amerika Syarikat. Sebagai contoh, pandangan
peribadi wartawan dalam mengutarakan sesuatu isu perang Amerika di Vietnam itu tidak boleh
digunakan sebaliknya wartawan perlu menulis bertunjangkan kepada ideologi arus perdana kiri
(Thorton, 2013). Maka, perubahan etika kewartawanan ini menyebabkan wujudnya, bias liberal yang
disebabkan oleh penurunan kuasa politik konservatif di Amerika Syarikat akibat daripada pergolakan
politik tetapi mereka tetap mempertahankan kritikan media dan tuduhan berat sebelah. Perubahan
ini telah menggugat etika kewartawanan yang menyajikan laporan berita yang berat sebelah, tidak
tepat, tidak seimbang dan tidak adil terhadap dunia persekitaran. Sehubungan itu, untuk melihat
sejauh mana wujudnya bias media dalam pelaporan berita, beberapa teori telah digunakan oleh
pengkaji untuk melihat perspektif bias dalam media seperti Teori Penetapan Agenda, Teori
Kegunaan dan Kepuasan. Walaubagaimanapun, perbincangan berkaitan dengan bias melalui
perspektif Teori Bias Media masih dalam perbahasan pengkaji-pengkaji. Oleh itu, kupasan secara
mendalam terhadap Teori bias media dibuat merangkumi pengasas teori, sejarah perkembangan
teori ini, konsep teori ini yang dikaitkan dengan dengan penyediaan berita dalam portal berita di
Malaysia.
Berita atas talian merupakan platform media baru yang menjadi alat yang sangat berkesan
yang dapat mempengaruhi orang, memberi keyakinan dan penjenamaan imej yang dipaparkan oleh
media menjadi tanda aras dan ingatan penonton. Kredibiliti sumber berita adalah faktor yang
menyumbang dalam pertukaran media arus perdana dengan alternatif media sekiranya yang
pertama dilihat mempunyai kredibiliti yang rendah (Bahiyah Omar Sadollah Ahrari 2020).
Sehubungan itu, kepercayaan orang ramai terhadap media berita semakin menurun (Jones 2018)
disebabkan oleh adanya unsur kandungan maklumat palsu. Oleh itu, masyarakat kini memerlukan
satu indikator yang jelas untuk mengesan sesuatu berita tersebut itu dari sumber yang benar
(Aggarwal et al. 2020). Maka, ini menjelaskan ada berlaku perkembangan aliran dalam penyaluran
berita daripada aliran konvensional kepada alternatif mengikut kepada peredaran teknologi digital
yang mampu mempengaruhi kecenderungan masyarakat dalam mendapatkan berita.
KONSEP TEORI BIAS MEDIA
Bias media adalah bias wartawan dan penerbit berita dalam pemilihan banyak peristiwa yang
dilaporkan dan bagaimana liputannya. Istilah "bias media" menyifatkan bias yang meluas
bertentangan dengan norma kewartawanan, dan bukannya perspektif seorang wartawan atau
artikel. Kekuatan pasaran yang menghasilkan berat sebelah termasuk pemilikan sumber berita,
pemusatan pemilikan media, pemilihan wartawan yang subjektif, atau pilihan khalayak yang dituju.
Maka, jelas disini konsep bias media adalah daripada pihak organisasi berita yang cenderung untuk
memaparkan ideologi berdasarkan kepada pemusatan kuasa pemerintah.
Teori Bias Media merupakan salah satu cabang teori komunikasi politik. Konsep teori Bias
Media ini telah diperkenalkan oleh S. Robert Lichter pada tahun 2017. Menurut pengasas teori ini,
bias media ini adalah subjektif yang mengaitkan liputan bias kepada insentif ekonomi dan bukan
hanya bergantung kepada pemikiran wartawan sahaja dan berpendapat berpendapat bahawa bias
negatif dan bias ideologi tidak semestinya eksklusif yang merujuk kepada sesuatu organisasi berita
(Lichter 2017). Teori ini adalah hasil revolusi falsafah daripada Teori Normatif Media. Teori Normatif
Media yang diperkenalkan oleh McQuil adalah merujuk kepada bagaimana menentukan sesuatu
berita tersebut itu mempunyai kecenderungan dalam melaporkan setiap berita atau maklumat. Teori
Normatif Media telah mendasari 'empat teori akhbar”. Menurut perspektif Litcher, teori bias media
ini mengambil pendekatan secara terperinci dalam ekonomi dan ideologi. Litcher turut berpendapat
bahawa adalah sukar untuk mendefinisikan konsep, pengukuran dan impak kepada bias media
tersebut dan ada berlaku perdebatan di antara pengkaji-pengkaji. Oleh itu, dalam membincangkan
berkaitan teori Bias Media ini, elemen bias konservatif, bias liberal, bias struktur dan model ekonomi
perlu dikupas secara mendalam.
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Oleh itu, konsep teori ini diperjelaskan dengan mengetahui definisi bias media itu sendiri.
87
untuk membezakan wartawan dengan khalayak. Berita dan pendapat menjadi semakin banyak
sukar untuk dipisahkan, walaupun penyebaran berita menjadi lebih interaktif dan di permodenan
oleh pengguna.
PERKEMBANGAN PORTAL BERITA MALAYSIA
Masyarakat Malaysia pada era digital lebih tertumpu kepada penggunaan internet dan media
massa berbanding dengan media cetak dan televisyen untuk mendapatkan berita. Laporan Berita
Digital tahun 2019 menunjukkan bahawa peningkatan peratusan rakyat Malaysia memperoleh berita
secara dalam talian dan di media sosial berbanding berlaku penurunan peratusan dalam
mendapatkan berita daripada televisyen atau media cetak (Nain, 2019). Oleh itu, The Malaysia
Insight telah mendapat jutaan pengikut dan perkongsian berbanding akhbar arus perdana seperti
TV3, RTM, Harian Metro Online, Berita Harian Online, Sinar Harian Online, Astro Awani, The Star
Online, Malay Mail, New Straits Times dan Bernama Online yang semakin lenyap pengaruhnya
(Ellyanis et al. 2020). Lonjakan kepada kemunculan portal berita atas talian ini mampu
menyebabkan masyarakat beralih kepada media alternatif yang dikatakan lebih seimbang
berbanding dengan media arus perdana (Rani Ann Balaraman & Faridah Ibrahim 2013).
Kecenderungan masyarakat untuk tertumpu kepada media massa adalah ekoran lonjakan teknologi
semasa yang mendorong masyarakat mendapatkan berita melalui atas talian berbanding
konvensional.
Sehubungan itu, platform portal berita yang mempunyai agenda politik dan ditubuhkan untuk
membincangkan berkaitan dengan politik dan hal semasa adalah bermula dengan wujudnya
platform surat khabar bebas iaitu Malaysia Kini pada sekitar November 1999. Wujudnya platform ini
sebelum pilihan raya yang mana dicatatkan pengunjung platform ini adalah lebih daripada 100,000
setiap hari. Menerusi platform Malaysia Kini yang di pelopori oleh organisasi bukan pemerintah dan
wartawan bebas telah membawakan berita-berita yang nonpartisan, analisis terhadap peristiwa
yang berlaku serta memberi ruang kepada pembaca atau pengunjung untuk meluahkan pendapat
masing-masing. Kemudian wujud portal berita The Free Malaysia Today (FMT) merupakan sebuah
surat khabar secara talian yang bebas dengan kandungan Bahasa Inggeris dan Bahasa Malaysia
yang memfokuskan kepada urusan semasa Malaysia yang ditubuhkan dan diterbitkan di Petaling
Jaya pada 2009. Ini adalah salah satu laman berita di Malaysia yang paling banyak diakses dengan
lawatan bulanan sebanyak 11.83 juta. Seterusnya dengan ledakan teknologi, kemudiannya wujud
portal berita muncul bagai cendawan tumbuh selepas hujan sekaligus telah menenggelamkan fungsi
berita konvensional. Antara portal berita yang wujud daripada organisasi bukan pemerintah adalah
Siakap Keli, Rotikaya, Bernama Online, Pen Merah, OhBulan!, Rojakdaily dan The Malaysian
Insight. Selain itu, dalam memenuhi citarasa dan kecenderungan masyarakat Malaysia untuk
mendapatkan berita yang lebih interaktif, media berita konvensional turut menyediakan platform
secara dalam talian seperti Harian Metro Online, Berita Harian Online, Sinar Harian Online, New
Straits Times, TV3, RTM, Astro Awani dan The Star Online, Malay Mail.
Walau bagaimanapun, bukan sahaja disebabkan oleh mengikut kehendak masyarakat,
portal berita ini muncul adalah disebabkan oleh pengaruh politik dan ekonomi. Ini adalah kerana
wujud kesan pilihan raya 2018 yang menunjukkan Parti Harapan telah memenangi pilihan raya dan
sekaligus telah membawa pengaruh besar dalam isu kebebasan media (Nain 2019). Pemerintah
pada tempoh ini telah memansuhkan Akta Berita Tidak Benar yang sebelum ini diluluskan oleh
pentadbiran BN sebelum pilihan raya Mei. Dengan adanya kebebasan media ini, maka terdapat
portal-portal berita yang hanya menerbitkan berita atau maklumat berdasarkan sumber media sosial
dan khabar angin (hearsay) berita yang kemudian hanya “click bait” sensasi telah menimbulkan
persoalan tentang sejauh manakah kedudukan ideologi bias atau kecondongan portal berita seperti
ini. Sebagai contoh Siakap Keli, Rotikaya, Bernama Online, Pen Merah, OhBulan!, Rojakdaily yang
kini menjadi salah satu sumber kepada masyarakat untuk mendapatkan berita sensasi.
89
Selain itu, portal berita atas talian ini muncul adalah berikutan permasalahan yang berlaku
ke atas syarikat media di Malaysia. Sebagai contoh, syarikat konglomerat Media Prima yang
memiliki stesen swasta percuma TV3 telah dilaporkan mengalami kerugian sebanyak MYR669 juta
(kira-kira US $ 172 juta) pada tahun 2017. Walaubagaimanapun, syarikat ini mengalami keuntungan
di akhir tahun 2018 dengan keuntungan bersih MYR68.2 juta, tetapi hanya kerana keuntungan ‘one-
off’ menjual harta tanah (Nain 2019). Media Prima berkongsi dengan tiga jenama berita nasional
termasuk New Straits Times, Berita Harian, dan Harian Metro. Manakala, Utusan Malaysia (Utusan),
dimiliki oleh parti politik, UMNO (Melayu Bersatu Pertubuhan Negara) yang dominan kini sedang
melalui masa yang tidak menentu yang mana pada Disember 2018, ia ketua eksekutif dan ahli politik
UMNO, Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir, mengundurkan diri daripada syarikat tersebut, Ketidakpastian
berterusan dengan kekayaan konglomerat itu jelas dikaitkan dengan pertalian agenda UMNO dalam
pilihan raya kecil. Masalah yang dihadapi oleh Utusan adalah perkara biasa kepada akhbar di
Malaysia yang mana mengalami masalah dalam kemerosotan edaran surat khabar walaupun
sebelum pilihan raya. Pada bulan Ogos 2018, New Straits Times Press, the penerbit tertua di negara
ini, mengumumkan bahawa menjual ibu pejabatnya di Kuala Lumpur dan kilang percetakannya. The
New Straits Times turut merupakan media pro-BN telah mengalami perubahan kepada pengurangan
edaran surat khabar bercetak. Justeru disebabkan oleh peredaran teknologi, agenda politik dan
kemerosotan edaran surat khabar menyebabkan portal berita di Malaysia semakin meningkat dan
menarik perhatian masyarakat untuk mendapatkan berita daripada portal berita.
PERBINCANGAN DAN KESIMPULAN
Sistem media Malaysia turut memberi impak kepada etika kewartawanan. Hal ini kerana
etika kewartawanan adalah berlandaskan kepada Majlis Media Malaysia. Majlis Media Malaysia
ditubuhkan bertujuan untuk memastikan kebebasan akhbar atau media dipertahankan, liputan yang
objektif serta tidak berat sebelah, menjaga saluran media dengan orang ramai sentiasa terbuka.
menerima aduan orang ramai berhubung tindakan media, memantau dari semasa ke semasa
undang- undang atau akta berkaitan dengan media dan menjadi badan rujukan berhubung perkara
berkaitan akhbar, media, kewartawanan. Penglibatan peranan media dalam masyarakat telah
memberi penekanan kepada wartawan untuk menghormati prinsip Rukun Negara dan memberikan
dalam usaha memupuk keharmonian kaum dan melaporkan kebenaran tanpa rasa takut atau berat
sebelah yang digariskan oleh Majlis Media Malaysia. Ia adalah sebagai panduan untuk penyaluran
berita yang selaras dengan praktik model Tanggungjawab Media Sosial (Noor Aziah Abdullah &
Rohana Mijan 2019).
Sehubungan itu, Malaysia merupakan salah satu negara yang mengamalkan model
Tanggungjawab Media Sosial yang diwarisi daripada kolonial British setelah kemerdekaan pada
tahun 1957 (Mustafa A K. Anuar 2005). Mustafa AK. Anuar (2005) dalam kajiannya memetik dalam
konteks sejarah kemerdekaan dan bagaimana Tanggungjawab Media Sosial ini adalah warisan
penjajah. Sehubungan itu, Noor Aziah Abdullah & Rohana Mijan (2019) turut menyokong kajian
terdahulu dengan mengatakan bahawa sistem media Malaysia mempunyai ciri-ciri model sistem
media tanggungjawab sosial dan model media media alternatif serta teori autokratik dalam sistem
media Malaysia. Berkaitan dengan idea sistem media memberi impak kepada etika kewartawanan,
konsep etika situasionis banyak dipraktikkan oleh wartawan di Malaysia. Idea utama yang di
bawakan oleh Faridah Ibrahim (2003) yang merujuk kepada falsafah etika situasi yang dipegang
oleh wartawan ketika itu adalah bersesuaian dengan matlamat sistem media dalam negara yang
pesat membangun. Chamel Wariya (2011) turut menegaskan hal ini yang menjadi satu panduan
dalam pelaporan berita yang selaras dengan sistem media Malaysia yang mengamalkan model
Sistem Tanggungjawab Sosial. Model Tanggungjawab Sosial adalah berdasarkan Teori Normatif
Media (McQuail 2010). Model ini menegaskan terdapat dua sumber utama yang mempengaruhi
kuasa media iaitu kerajaan dan agensi yang terlibat dengan media. Melalui model ini boleh
90
menggambarkan bagaimana sesuatu kerajaan itu ditadbir yang mempunyai kuasa untuk memberi
ganjaran atau menghukum organisasi media dan menggambarkan bahawa selain dari kerajaan
terdapat sumber luaran yang berupaya mempengaruhi media iaitu ekonomi, budaya dan
persekitaran sosial yang memberi kesan pengaruh ini melibatkan penerbitan berita dan informasi
(McQuail 2010). Ini membuktikan bahawa penulisan wartawan ini dipengaruhi oleh sistem media
negara yang mengamalkan sistem Tanggungjawab Media Sosial bertunjangkan kepada Etika Kod
Kewartawanan Malaysia.
Sebagai negara yang mengamalkan sistem Tanggungjawab Media sosial yang turut
mempunyai sejarah kawalan terhadap media, ia dibuat melalui penguatkuasaan undang-undang
yang mengawasi semua maklumat yang berada dalam media massa. Undang-undang yang
memperincikan kepada media adalah seperti Akta Mesin Cetak (1984), Akta Penyiaran (1987) dan
Akta Komunikasi dan Multimedia (1998). Peruntukan undang-undang ini adalah untuk menghadkan
perbincangan dalam berita atau cerita yang dianggap menghina atau terlalu kritikal terhadap
pemerintah supaya tidak dapat diterbitkan. Kebebasan bersuara juga dibatasi oleh undang-undang
yang menetapkan apa yang boleh dan tidak boleh dibincangkan di khalayak ramai. Selain itu,
terdapat undang-undang hasutan dan fitnah menyekat kebebasan ucapan dan melindungi tokoh
politik daripada diteliti dan undang-undang seperti Akta Rahsia Rasmi membolehkan pihak berkuasa
menahan tanpa perbicaraan sesiapa sahaja yang dituduh mengganggu keharmonian negara. Oleh
itu, media di Malaysia menawarkan ruang terhad untuk warganegara terlibat dalam wacana politik.
Justeru, bermula perkembangan forum atau portal media alternatif yang dihasilkan oleh parti bukan
pemerintah atau individu yang tidak seteru dengan pemerintah untuk membincangkan pendapat
mereka berkaitan dengan isu-isu tertentu.
Tradisi teori kritis telah menghasilkan gambaran bahawa media sebagai kekuatan
konservatif dalam politik. Ahli politik, institusi atau kumpulan kepentingan boleh mempengaruhi
kandungan surat khabar (Baron 2005; Anderson & McLaren 2012). Sebagai contoh, penulisan
akhbar pedalaman di Sabah dan Sarawak menunjukkan kecondongan terhadap publisiti personaliti
yang mempunyai pengaruh dan dimiliki oleh ahli perniagaan, parti politik dan individu berpengaruh
(Hamdan Adnan 1990). Sehubungan itu, agenda organisasi pengeluar berita dan arahan daripada
parti politik berupaya mewujudkan cara penulisan wartawan terutama dalam mempromosikan isu
politik yang adil dalam ruang lingkup dan kemampuan mereka (Abbott 2011; Muhammad Izawan
Baharin et al. 2020). Walaupun terdapat bias kepartian dalam penulisan berita, terdapat juga
kawalan daripada pemerintah dengan adanya undang-undang dalam kebebasan akhbar, kekangan
struktur atau institusi dan kekekangan budaya atau persekitaran Abbott & Givens (2015). Justeru,
kekuatan konservatif di kalangan wartawan ini berkait rapat dengan politik boleh mempengaruhi
penulisan samada objektif atau subjektif.
Oleh itu, menerusi aplikasi konsep yang di bawakan oleh Teori Media Bias ini didapati masih
banyak organisasi media dalam talian ketika ini adalah berasal daripada media bercetak atau
konvensional yang pastinya masih bergantung kepada ideologi lama. Walau bagaimanapun, Felix,
Karsten dan Gipp (2018) menyatakan kajian bias media menghadapi halangan yang besar dalam
menyesuaikan diri dengan persekitaran media di mana ia semakin sukar untuk membezakan
wartawan daripada penonton. Berita dan pendapat semakin sukar untuk dikecam walaupun
penyebaran berita menjadi lebih interaktif dan didorong pengguna. Justeru, berita dan pendapat
semakin sukar untuk dibezakan walaupun penyebaran berita menjadi lebih interaktif dan dikuasai
oleh pengguna.
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