The Impact of Sin Chew Daily Towars Public On Covering Mca Party's Polls News

THE IMPACT OF SIN CHEW DAILY TOWARS PUBLIC
ON COVERING MCA (MALAYSIAN CHINESE

ASSOCIATION) PARTY’S POLLS NEWS
KOH PEI WEY

07 WHA 11155
A PAPER SUBMITTED AS REQUIREMENT FOR

AHMC 5244 – PROJECT
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

ADVANVED DIPLOMA IN MASS COMMUNICATION
(JOURNALISM)
SECOND YEAR (2008 / 2009)
TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN COLLEGE (KUALA LUMPUR)
JANUARY 2009
THE IMPACT OF SIN CHEW DAILY TOWARS PUBLIC
ON COVERING MCA (MALAYSIAN CHINESE
ASSOCIATION) PARTY’S POLLS NEWS
KOH PEI WEY 07 WHA 11155
COPYRIGHT © 2009 BY TUNKU ADBUL RAHMAN COLLEGE

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE
REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED, IN
ANY FORM OF BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL,
PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE, WITHOUT PRIOR
WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There are lots of guidance and assistance given by people surrounding me while I
am completing this thesis. Among so many of them, first of all I would like to thank to
my supervisor, who is also my program supervisor Ms Chan Eang Teng. From her advice
and guidance, it helps me to complete the whole thesis, smoothly comparatively. I
appreciated that she spent time and energy in marking, at the same time consult me in
order to produce a better work. Thank you very much again.
Next, I would like to thank to the other lecturers that have guide or assists me in
completing this work. Nevertheless, my classmates also gave me support while I am
stress and frustrating during this period and I would like to thank you them as well.
My lovely family, I would like to mention about them because they gave me the
power to complete this work and especially gave me opinions and suggestions without
complaining anything.
Last but not least, I would like to thank to those respondents that help me to
answer the questionnaires, I am really grateful that they are willing to spend time on me
by helping me to complete the survey. Thank you.
KOH PEI WEY
Advanced Diploma in Mass Communication (Journalism)
Year 2008 / 2009
I
TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I
LIST OF TABLES II
LIST OF FIGURES III
ABSTRACT IV
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Background of Study 1
1.2.1 History of Malaysia 1
1.2.2 The parties – Barisan Nasional 2
1.2.3 MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) 2
1.2.4 Sin Chew Daily 4
1.2.5 Newspaper Industry in Malaysia 4
1.3 Research Problem 5

1.4 Research Objectives 6
1.5 Research Questions / Hypothesis 6
1.6 Definition of Terms 7
1.6.1 Impact 7
1.6.1.1 Conceptional Definition 7
1.6.1.2 Operational Definition 8
1.6.2 Public 8
1.6.2.1 Conceptional Definition 8
1.6.2.2 Operational Definition 9
1.7 Research Scope 10
1.8 Significance of Study 11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 12
2.2 Previous Researches 13
2.2.1 Newspaper its Roles 13
2.2.2 Newspaper its Impact on Political issues 14
2.2.3 Newspaper in Malaysia 15
2.2.4 Influences of Other Tools 16
2.2.5 Sin Chew in Media Industry 16
2.3 Optional Colour Culture 17
2.4 Theoretical Framework 18
2.5 Synthesis 20
2.4 Conclusion 21
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 22
3.2 Research Method 22
3.2.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Method 22
3.2.2 Descriptive or Analytical Survey 23
3.2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Survey Research 23
3.3 Population and Sample 24
3.4 Variables 25
3.4.1 Independent and Dependent Variables 25
3.4.2 Discrete and Continuous Variables 26
3.5 Measurement 26
3.5.1 Guttman Scaling 26
3.5.2 Likert Scales 27
3.5.3 Open-ended Questions 28
3.6 Technique and Scoring 29
3.6.1 Guttman Scaling 29
3.6.2 Likert Scales 30
3.6.3 Open-ended Questions 30
3.7 Procedure 31
3.8 Conclusion 31
CHAPTER 4: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction 32
4.2 Analysis on Findings 34
4.3 Conclusion 52
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION
5.1 Introduction 53
5.2 Summary of Results 53
5.3 Discussion of Findings 56
5.4 Theoretical Implication 58
5.5 Limitation of Study 60
5.6 Suggestion for Future Research 61
5.7 Summary 62
REFERENCES 63
APPENDIX 66
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE TITLE PAGE

Table 3.1 Sample scoring for Guttman Scaling 29
Table 3.2 Sample scoring for Likert Scales 30
Table 4.1 Number of respondents distributed according to 32
categories
II
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE TITLE PAGE

Figure 4.1 Chart (amount of readers) of the frequencies readers 34
(people who are in media field and people who are not in
media field) read Sin Chew Daily
Figure 4.2 Chart of news/information that readers prefer to read in 35
newspaper
Figure 4.3 Pie Chart (percentage) of services (provided by Sin 36
Chew Daily) readers usually access to
Figure 4.4 Chart of channels (apart from Sin Chew Daily) readers 37
access in order to get news/information
Figure 4.5 Pie chart of readers’ impressions on Sin Chew Daily 38
Figure 4.6 Pie chart of channels (apart from Sin Chew Daily) 39
readers’ access in order to get local political news
Figure 4.7 Chart of readers’ characteristic when they read Sin Chew 40
Daily
Figure 4.8 Pie chart of readers’ knowledge about MCA (Malaysian 41
Chinese Association) party’s polls that just finish last
month (October 2008)
Figure 4.9 Chart of channels readers’ access in order to get MCA 42
party’s polls news
Figure 4.10 Pie chart of readers’ opinion on the Sin Chew Daily 43
affects them regarding MCA party’s polls issues
Figure 4.11 Chart of readers’ opinion on the Sin Chew Daily affects 44
them regarding MCA party’s polls issues more compare
to others channel
Figure 4.12 Chart of readers’ opinion on the believability of Sin 45
Chew Daily on MCA party’s polls issues
Figure 4.13 Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily has 46
changed their mind on viewing MCA party’s polls issues
Figure 4.14 Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily reporting 47
style has effects on readers viewing MCA party’s polls
issues
Figure 4.15 Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily used 48
different tools to spread their news has effects on readers
viewing MCA party’s polls issues
Figure 4.16 Pie chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily has 49
given readers positive opinion on viewing MCA party’s
polls issues
FIGURE TITLE PAGE

Figure 4.17 Chart of readers’ opinion on the impacts of Sin Chew 50
Daily on covering MCA party’s polls issues towards
public are strong
Figure 4.18 Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily should 51
make changes on their newspaper
III
ABSTRACT
This study is conducted to analyse the impact of Sin Chew Daily towards public
on covering MCA party’s polls news. In addition, it is also expected to find out the
extensive of the Sin Chew Daily can influence public with their news, the style of the
news or the tools that used to spread their news.
Research was conducted to 100 respondents with Quantitative Research where 50
respondents are people from media field such as people who have mass communication
background such as journalists, mass communication students, people who work for
Media Company; and the other 50 are those who do not have mass communication
background which referring to the ordinary public. Respondents are required as the
readers of Sin Chew Daily and at the same time concern about the political news.
Results of the research findings shows that the impact of Sin Chew Daily on
reporting MCA party’s polls news towards public are not that strong even the Sin Chew
Daily is the mainstream newspaper that have highest circulation compared to the others.
In addition, different style of reporting news and different tools that used by Sin Chew
Daily to spread their news does not have a big impact towards public as this does not
affect them in trust or not to trust the news by Sin Chew Daily especially on the MCA
party’s polls news.
IV
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 INTRODUCTION
This study is design to analyse the impact of Sin Chew Daily towards public on
covering MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) party’s polls news. As MCA is one of
the political representatives of Chinese Community and Sin Chew Daily is the Chinese
daily newspaper that having the highest circulation among the newspapers, therefore, it
will be significant to do a research on this topic in order to find out the impact of the local
media towards public.
1.2 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
1.2.1 History of Malaysia
At the first Federal Elections of our country – Malaysia which held in 1955, the
Alliance (Perikatan) of Unite Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malaysian
Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), headed by Tunku
Abdul Rahman won overwhelming results, which are 51 seats out of 52 seats elected.
Tunku Abdul Rahman at that time was appointed as the first Prime Minister for the
Federation of Malaya. This Alliance, afterward successfully pressure the British to
abandon their sovereignty and lastly the Federation of Malaya achieved its independence
on the 31st August 1957. (http://sejarahmalaysia.pnm.my)
1
1.2.2 The Parties – BARISAN NASIONAL
Since the first Federal Elections, The Alliance of UMNO, MCA and MIC become
stronger and stronger in our country. With solid supports from the people, this Alliance
has been given the chance to rule the country repeatedly since the nation’s independence.
(http://bn2008.org.my)
Eventually, the support of various parties was later formed as Barisan Nasional
(BN) and was formally registered on 1st July 1974. Today, the component parties of BN
consist with not only UMNO, MCA and MIC but also Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
(GERAKAN / PGRM), Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Liberal
Demokratik (LDP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and so on. (Azizul Halim Yahya, 2006,
pg. 17).
1.2.3 MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association)
The MCA was formed on 27 February 1949 with Tun Tan Cheng Lock as the
introductory President and he says that: “The immediate reason for forming our Party
was that the Chinese who are loyal to Malaya are made to suffer under the state of
emergency. The emergency not only endangered the life of many Chinese, threatening
the most basic interests of the Chinese, furthermore it also led others to doubt our
traditional loyalty and sincerity to this nation where most of us have considered as our
permanent homeland.” (http://www.mca.org.my)
2
According to the Party’s Constitution, MCA as the Chinese based party in BN,
aims to safeguard and defend the independence and sovereignty of Malaysia; to uphold
and safeguard the system of parliamentary and democratic government on a multi-racial
basis; to secure and maintain the enforcement of human rights, correction of injustice and
help for the under-privileged; and most importantly to ensure the recognition of and the
safeguarding of the legitimate rights and interests of Malaysians of Chinese descent and
the legitimate rights and interests of all other communities as provided under the
Malaysian Constitution etc. (http://www.mca.org.my)
On year 1952, MCA and UMNO formed the Alliance to contest the Kuala
Lumpur public elections on 26 February and local elections in other 16 municipalities
over the country and since then, MCA did not stop to take part in the General Elections.
(http://www.mca.org.my) Same as the other parties in BN, MCA have their own party
elections every 3 years once. However, changes occur in MCA leadership on year 1958
where Dr. Lim Chong Eu defeated Tun Tan Cheng Lock in the party’s polls and become
the party president. Also for this year, the party’s polls that just ended 19th October 2008,
the battle between the elections of party’s president was show concern for not only the
member of MCA but also the Chinese community in Malaysia. (http://www.mca.org.my)
3
1.2.4 Sin Chew Daily
Sin Chew Daily was first established in year 1929 and since then, Sin Chew
Daily has always played the role of witness to history as well as being a participant.
(http://www.sinchew-i.com) With the daily circulation of 360,000 copies nation-wide,
Sin Chew Daily becomes the highest and larger Chinese newspaper in Malaysia.
(http://www.mediachinese.com) Undoubtedly Sin Chew Daily has a large target market
in Malaysia and the impact of it towards public are always bear in mind.
1.2.5 Newspaper Industry in Malaysia
There is a memorandum sent by media freedom groups on 28 May 2004 to the
Malaysian Prime Minister three years after takeover of Nan Yang Siang Pau by the MCA
states that: “In the name of racial harmony and national unity, press freedom is severely
curtailed, and nowhere is this more pronounced than in the current state of the so-called
mainstream press. For years, the English and the Malay newspapers have been advancing
and promoting government policies without an iota of critical review and analysis, while
the Chinese press is fast becoming the mouthpiece of the Chinese-based parties within
the ruling Barisan Nasional.” (http://www.cijmalaysia.org)
It is commonly known that media are directly or indirectly owned by the
government. According to the survey done by the Merdeka Center, public awareness of
the structure of the media industry is limited. Generally they believe in government
ownership, they have limited understanding to the concept of media independence but
4
they perceive that government has strong influence on the media.
(http://www.merdekacenter.uni.cc) Therefore, this study will be able to find out the
impact of Sin Chew Daily towards public.
1.3 RESEARCH PROBLEM
According to Mass Society Theory, the media are corrupting influences that
undermine the social order through their influence over defenceless “average” people.
(Baran and Davis 2006, p43) On the other hand, according to the survey that done by
Merdeka Center, public believe that government has a strong influence on the media.
(http://www.merdekacenter.uni.cc) It indirectly shows that the government believes that
the mass media can influence the public and that is why they controlled the mainstream
newspapers. Based on both of these statements, it may cause that the trustworthy among
public towards newspaper getting lower. Public may not believe the news stories that
publish in Sin Chew Daily especially when it deals with the political parties’ issues.
When the trustworthy among public getting lower, is that means that the impact of media
towards public getting lower as well?
5
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
• To find out the impact of Sin Chew Daily in our society especially on MCA
party’s polls news.
• To analyze the Sin Chew Daily level of trustworthy among the public.
• To find out the factors or variables that may able to affect the level of impact of
Sin Chew Daily towards public regarding the MCA party’s polls news.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS / HYPOTHESIS
• Is it true that the Sin Chew Daily has a big power to influence the public and
makes them change their mind especially due with the MCA party’s elections?
• To what extend is Sin Chew Daily can influence the public compared to the other
media?
• Is the direct and indirect controlling Sin Chew Daily by government will affect
the level of trustworthy of newspaper among public?
• Is the style of Sin Chew Daily in reporting news or the usage of different tools to
spread their news have an impact towards readers regarding the MCA party’s
polls news?
6
1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS
There are two terms in this research topic, the impact of Sin Chew Daily
towards public on covering MCA party’s polls news that need to be define which are
“impact” and “public” in order to have a clearer idea on this topic.
1.6.1 Impact
1.6.1.1 Conceptional Definition
According to Biagi (2005), people tend to spends more time with the media
nowadays and this industry able to influence people in every area such as economics,
social and culture. She added that mass media are able to affect the people in making
decision such as the way people spend the money or the way of people gone through their
routine life and this is called the impact of mass media in the society. (p. 3)
Biagi in her book stated that there are different levels of impact of mass media
towards people compared to last time and nowadays. This is because people receive and
react to the messages differently as they process the messages differently nowadays and
this is because people brings many variables such like their family background, interest
and education. (p. 25)
7
1.6.1.2 Operational Definition
The “impact” that this topic refers to is the strong impression or effect of Sin
Chew Daily towards public especially on the news that they covered about MCA party’s
polls issues. It will be remarkable to analyse its impact where it also related to the media
impact that have discussed over century. In addition, impact of mass media nowadays are
no longer simple as convey messages and believe those messages but it will be more
complicated because of the variables that people carry such as affect by their family,
friends and institutions.
1.6.2 Public
1.6.2.1 Conceptional Definition
Public here will be refers to the receiver of the message. According to Biagi
(2005), receiver is where the place massage conveys to which means they are the target
of the message conveys to. (p. 376) Public opinion is important when we are discussing
the impact of mass media. As cited in Baran and Davis (2006), Lippmann (1922) pointed
out the differences that necessarily exist between “the world outside and the pictures in
our heads”. (p. 85) It refers to the people’s opinion on viewing the issues may be
different.
8
1.6.2.2 Operational Definition
The “public” that mentioned here basically refers to the resident in Malaysia
however will emphasise to those who read Sin Chew Daily and concern about MCA
party’s polls news. Those people that read and concern about these news will have a
better and clearer ideas about what happen and how Sin Chew Daily has been reported
those news. They are the target audience of the messages and their opinions are obviously
relevant in this research as its objective is to clarify is there any impact on public when
they are reading those MCA party’s polls issues that covered by Sin Chew Daily.
9
1.7 RESEARCH SCOPE
The research will focus on the impact of Sin Chew Daily towards public on
covering MCA party’s polls news. In order to analyze the impact of the Sin Chew Daily,
observation on how the newspapers cover the news stories on political parties’ elections
issues are needed. The reason I have chosen Sin Chew Daily as one of my variables
because Sin Chew Daily has the highest circulation compared to the other newspapers
and apparently it has its significance of impact towards public.
Apart from that, among these political parties in Malaysia, I would like to choose
MCA as my variables which it is one of the party components of the Barisan Nasional.
The reason I choose MCA as the subject because it is the most significant party that
represent Chinese community in Malaysia. Moreover, with the intensive battle among the
party’s even before the election, it will be significance enough to do analysis on these two
variables and their relationship.

10
1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
There are few significances of doing this study where first of all to let the public
understand the role of mass media (Sin Chew Daily) and its impact on society especially
about the MCA party’s polls news. As mentioned before, Sin Chew Daily has a high
circulation among the industry and it is definitely significance that Sin Chew Daily to
represent the mass media and analyse its impact.
Next is to clarify the level of Sin Chew Daily in influencing the public and
evaluate its value. In addition, to understand the direct or indirectly controlling of Sin
Chew Daily by government has or do not have effects on the public believing the MCA
party’s polls news. There are several reason can effect the level of impact towards public
on Sin Chew Daily covering MCA party’s polls news and from this study, it is necessary
to find out those reasons that may affect it.

11
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This research is designed to analyse the reporting by Sin Chew Daily on MCA
party’s polls news and its impact towards public. It is to investigate whether the style or
the way of reporting by the Sin Chew Daily did or did not affect the public on viewing
the party’s polls.
There are many of previous researches related to this topic. It included the impact
of media or the relations of media and politics; however, there are lesser research did on
the impact of mainstream paper such like Sin Chew Daily on political party’s issues.
The differences between previous researches and this research are how actually
the local mainstream newspaper (Sin Chew Daily) covered the news of parties’ polls and
their agenda setting in order to set the public’s opinion on the political parties.
12
2.2 PREVIOUS RESEARCHES
2.2.1 Newspaper its Roles
As cited in Statham (2007), Donsbach and Patterson (2004) states that Journalists
are the people who take decisions directly affecting the news content. This definition
included the editors and the reporters, who participate in daily decision influencing
gathering and selection processes, as well as interpreting information and actually writing
the articles and commentaries that appears as “news” (pg. 463).
Different author have different opinion on news media’s roles, Stein (1994) states
in his journal saying that the idea that newspapers should reach beyond their traditional
role of providing news and information to become a catalyst for public awareness and
action was explored (pg. 11). A new concept called “public journalism” that stated in
Stein (1994) are such like “interactive editors” where journalists go into the community
to find out what's on people's minds and get them to write about it for the paper (pg. 11).
As cited in Statham (2007), media as its role as a “political actor”, “advocacy”
(Donsbach and Patterson, 2004), and “media framing” (Iyengar, 1993). Statham explain
that these are journalists’ attempts to influence deliberation and opinion formation
processes among readerships, as well as influence political institutions and actors (pg.
464).
13
2.2.2 Newspaper its Impact on Political Issues
The case study about Golkar (Indonesia) in Tomsa (2007) shows that Golkar was
able to make this new image in the 2004 Indonesia General Elections was due to the large
part of the role of media which has played an important role in helping Golkar to
communicate both sides of its news identity to the public. It shows that media are able to
affect the public on political issues.
This was cited in Eshbaugh and Peake (2008), Farnsworth and Lichter (2005);
Groeling and Kernell (1998) states that when the national news media cover the
presidency, the coverage is typically more negative than positive. As a result, presidents
have difficulty setting the media's agenda (Edwards and Wood 1999; Eshbaugh-Soha and
Peake 2005) or moving public opinion (Edwards 2003).
However, Faber, Tims and Schmitt (1993) states that there are some potential
contingent variables that may affect the media impact which is level of involvement and
attention to both newspaper and television for political information. Media may have the
power to influence public but the level of influential is depends on various variables (pg.
67).
14
2.2.3 Newspaper in Malaysia
Kreifels (2003) states that Malaysians official knowledge that they expect the
media in their country to avoid stories that could create racial tension and instability, and
therefore the self-censorship among journalists and for laws that in effect intimidate and
control the media (pg. 11). As cited Yoga’s speech in Kreifels’s journal, she says that
many newspaper and TV stations are directly owned by political parties or corporate
figures linked closely to politicians.
A survey done by the Merdeka Center, public awareness of the structure of the
media industry is limited. Generally they believe in government ownership, they have
limited understanding to the concept of media independence but they perceive that
government has strong influence on the media. (http://www.merdekacenter.uni.cc)
However, the present Chairperson of Sin Chew Daily, Tan Sri Datuk Tiong Hiew
King says that: “With the influence and impact of new technologies and new media, there
has been a shift in power; the dominant force in media is now in the hands of the users.
This is because public opinion cannot be controlled and knowledge cannot be
monopolised; information has become like water, flowing freely.” (http://www.sinchew-
i.com)
15
2.2.4 Influences of Other Tools
Apart from publishing newspaper, some of the newspaper did also used others
way in order to deliver their news, it included online version newspaper or SMS (Short
Message Service). Xu (2006/2007) shows that there is a direct relationship between
consumer attitudes and consumer intentions and personalization is one of the most
important factors in affecting consumers' attitude toward mobile advertising, particularly
for female users.
For the internet part, Holland (2001) states that the government has announced
rules that govern Internet journalism and the alternative media, because those elements
are being popular among the middle class of Malaysians. In addition, Tiong once says
that the influential and impact new media let the users decide that the news they wanted
(http://www.sinchew-i.com).
2.2.5 Sin Chew in Media Industry
Sin Chew Daily was first established in year 1929 and since then, Sin Chew Daily
has always played the role of witness to history as well as being a participant.
(http://www.sinchew-i.com) According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (2007), Sin
Chew Daily has the highest circulation among all Chinese, English and Bahasa Malaysia
newspapers at 344,784 copies per day and this exceeded even top English daily The Star's
circulation of 297,390 copies per day. In addition, Sin Chew Daily also has the highest
16
readership among Chinese dailies with a daily figure of 1,113,000.
(http://www.abcm.org.my/)
2.3 OPTIONAL COLOUR CULTURE – The greatest impact and influences of the
media to society
Political parties used to start a press conference whenever they have things to
announce, especially when the politicians want the news to spread to the public as soon
as possible. It shows that media have a great impact on the society. At the same times, the
media are able to change people mind no matter behaviour, believe or practices because
of certain reason.
Same as the local mainstream newspaper in Malaysia, they have certain level of
impact towards the public and they play a significant role in society nowadays. It is
obvious that media and political parties in Malaysia are interrelated can they are
influencing each other. The convenient of having a newspaper and the plentiful
information caused the people always believe that the media can change people mind
unknowingly and powerfully.

17
2.4 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
There are many theories regarding the mass media. There are two theories
mentioned about the impact of the media which is Mass Society Theory and Limited
Effects Theory. These two theories can explain how effective the media to influence
people.
Mass Society Theory first introduce when aristocrats (intellectual) found that
there is no any restriction on media and it create a lot of social problems on that time
even until nowadays. This is the theory developed as reaction against yellow journalism.
Yellow journalism is sensational and irresponsible journalism. (Baran and Davis, 2006) It
existing is due to the competition among the publisher. The aim of yellow journalism is
to reach an outstanding sales volume, make profit and defeat the others competitors. The
news had been creating based on the people interest. So that, the news story might not
always true and the information might not always accurate. (Baran and Davis, 2006)
In the Mass Society Theory, the media accepted to form the public opinion and
persuade them. They believe that media are corrupting influences that undermine the
social order through their influence over defenseless “average” people. Media are viewed
as having the power to profoundly shape our perceptions of the social world and to
manipulate our actions in subtle but highly effective ways. (Baran and Davis, 2006)
Therefore, the theory assumes that the media influences must be controlled.
18
In this theory, it shows that the media, or specified it as the local mainstream
media in our country have the impact in influencing public’s behaviour and their views
on political parties’ issues.
Another totally different Mass Communication Theory is Limited Effects Theory.
It is the theory that believes the media is not that powerful. As the Limited Effect Theory
say, the effect of media is limited. It is totally repudiate the Mass Society Theory.
Lazarsfeld who come out this theory believe that the public have the ability to distinguish
the good and bad. The public is mature enough to decide whether believe and not believe
the media content. (Baran and Davis, 2006)
In this theory, there are some important key generalizations about the role of
media in society. That are first, media rarely directly influence individuals, second, by the
time people become adults they have developed strongly held group commitments that
media messages are powerless to overcome, third, when media effects do occur, they will
be modest and isolated and etc. (Baran and Davis, 2006) Therefore, they are still several
people think that the media actually do not have that much of impact towards public
which conformed to this Limited Effects Theory.
From the previous researches, most of it shows that there is big impact towards
public especially on political issues, and this is suite to Mass Society Theory. However,
this study is going to find out the contradiction of these two theories. Based on the
19
contrast of these two theories, it is challenging to find out the impact of the local
mainstream newspaper on political parties’ polls towards public.
2.5 SYNTHESIS
This study is conducted to analyse the impact of Sin Chew Daily towards public
on MCA party’s polls news. There are many different reasons of affecting the extensive
of news media impact. However, those previous researches help me in identified few of
those reasons. Same as the previous researches, I am doing on the impact of newspaper
on political news, but I will focus more on Malaysia context and used Malaysian case
study.
Most of the previous research shows that media have a big impact towards public
especially on political issues and this suite to Mass Society Theory while my study will
emphasis on the contradiction between the Mass Society Theory and Limited Effects
Theory. It is to analyse the level of impact of the news media in Malaysia especially on
political issues.
There are also previous research shows that different variables need to examine
while doing the media impact, and the usage of different tools and different style of
reporting news may have impact as well. This study is going to examine the style of Sin
Chew Daily in reporting news and the different services that provided by Sin Chew Daily
may have or may not have impact towards readers.

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2.6 CONCLUSION
There are similarity and differences between previous researches and this study,
therefore, it is interesting to find out the results of findings especially when this is related
to Malaysia context and it will be grateful to find out the impact of Sin Chew Daily
towards public on covering MCA party’s poll news.

21
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
In this research, I will need to focus on the public opinion on the Sin Chew Daily
Newspaper in reporting the MCA party’s polls. It is necessary to know the different
opinion from different categories of public; however they must be the Sin Chew Daily
readers. Therefore, in order to collect their opinion, suitable research methods are needed
to get a fair and balance opinion from public.
3.2 RESEARCH METHOD
3.2.1 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Method
There are two types of research methods which are Qualitative Research Method
(E.g. Field Observation, Focus Groups, and Intensive Interviews etc) and Quantitative
Research Method (E.g. Survey Research, Longitudinal Research, Experiments etc).
Wimmer & Dominick (2006) states that the former is a research method that uses flexible
questioning towards the interviewers and the latter is a research method that uses
standardized questioning where entire interviewers will give a same set of questions (p.
116). Different context will have to use different research method in order to get accurate
results for that particular research.

22
3.2.2 Descriptive or Analytical Survey
In this research, Quantitative Research Method (Survey Research) will be used.
There are two major types of surveys; descriptive and analytical. According to Wimmer
& Dominick (2006) a Descriptive Survey attempts to picture or document current
conditions or attitudes while an Analytical Survey attempts to describe and explain why
certain conditions exist. The latter is more suitable in this survey because in this
approach, two or more variables are usually examined to investigate research questions or
test research hypothesis. It helps to examine the interrelationships among variables (Sin
Chew Daily Newspaper, MCA party’s polls and public) and to develop explanatory
inferences (p. 179).
3.2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Survey Research
There are several advantages and disadvantages to use Survey Research. The
advantages included ability to investigate problems realistically, the cost was reasonable,
large amount of data can get from variety of people etc; while the disadvantages are the
inappropriate wording or placement of questions within the questionnaire can bias results,
wrong respondents may be included in survey research etc. (Wimmer & Dominick 2006,
p. 180) In order to avoid mistaken, the questionnaire design and data collection process
will have to done it carefully in order to get accurate results.

23
3.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLE
Wimmer & Dominick (2006) states that population is a group or class of subjects,
variables, concepts, or phenomena; however Sample is a subset of the population that is
representative of the entire population. There are probability and non probability
sampling. Probability sampling is a sample selected according to laws of mathematical
probability while Non probability sampling is a sample selected without regard to the law
of mathematical probability (p. 88).
In this research, Non probability sampling is more suitable to use because not
everyone has an equal opportunity to be selected as samples here. One of the types of non
probability sampling is Convenience sample which is a collection of readily accessible
subjects for study such as the college students in a classroom. (Wimmer & Dominick
2006) It is applicable in this research where respondents will be picked randomly.
For this topic, it is necessary to choose Sin Chew Daily Newspaper’s readers as
respondents but it is acceptable to choose them randomly at the train station or college
students as long as they are Sin Chew Daily’s readers. It is expectantly to get those
readers that concern on local political news when they are reading newspaper to do this
questionnaire. However, different group of people may have different opinion on the
same question, therefore, 50 copies of questionnaires will be distribute to variety age of
people such as those who are 20-29 years old, 30-39 years old, 40-49 years old etc.
24
For the other 50 copies of questionnaires, Purposive sample and Snowball sample will
applicable here. This is where the choice of subjects who are most advantageously placed
or in the best position to provide the information required. For example, those people
who work in media field or have mass communication background will more preferable
to do these 50 copies of questionnaires. In addition, it is important to get recommendation
from these people in order to fulfill the target of 50 copies of questionnaires. It is
necessary to get opinion from those people who have media background where they are
more concerning and understand about this industry. (Wimmer & Dominick 2006)
3.4 VARIABLES
3.4.1 Independent and Dependent Variables
Wimmer & Dominick (2006) says that Variables are classified in terms of their
relationship with one another. There are independent variables and dependent variables.
Independent Variables are systematically varied by the researchers; dependent variables
are observed and their values presumed to depend on the effects of the independent
variables (p. 45).
In this study, the dependent variable is the MCA party’s polls issue where the
independent variable is the Sin Chew Daily Newspaper that may influence the public on
this issue. The interrelationship between these two variables is to know the impact of Sin
Chew Daily Newspaper on covering MCA party’s polls towards public.

25
3.4.2 Discrete and Continuous Variables
Wimmer & Dominick (2006) states that there are two forms of variables in mass
media investigation which is Discrete and Continuous Variables. Discrete variables is a
variable that can be conceptually subdivided into a finite umber of indivisible parts such
as the number of students in class and Continuous variables is variable that can take on
any value over a range of values and can be meaningfully broken into subparts such as
students’ weight (p. 46). This research is going to measure the impact of the newspaper
on readers so obviously it will be Continuous variable.
3.5 MEASUREMENT
Measurement is a procedure in which a researcher assigns numerals to objects,
events, or properties according to certain rules. (Wimmer & Dominick 2006, p. 50) There
are several types of measurement scales used to measure the variables. In this research, 3
types of measurement scales are used in the questionnaire only, they are Guttman
Scaling, Likert Scales and Open-ended Questions.
3.5.1 Guttman Scaling
According to Wimmer & Dominick (2006), Guttman Scaling is based on the idea
that items can be arrange along a continuum such as a person who agrees with an item or
find an item acceptable may also agrees or find acceptable with other items (p. 56).
26
For example:
Q: What services that provided by Sin Chew Daily you usually access to in order to get
news/information?
*You can choose more than one
( ) Their newspaper only

( ) Their sms (short message service) news
( ) Their Chinese website (www.sinchew-i.com)
( ) Others ______________________________
Respondents are allowed to choose more than one answer in this question
according to their preference or acceptance. Even though it is less in used in mass media
field, however, it is applicable because each score represents a unique set of responses.
3.5.2 Likert Scales
This scale is common used in mass media industry. A number of statements are
developed with respect to a topic, and respondents can strongly agree, agree, neutral,
disagree or strongly disagree with the statements. Each option is weighted and each
subject’s responses are added to produce a single score on the topic. (Wimmer &
Dominick 2006, p. 57)
For example:
Q: Do you agree that Sin Chew Daily Newspaper affects you on this issue (MCA party’s
polls)?
* Circle your choice
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

27
Respondents are allowed to choose one of the options only and from their
responses, I will be able to analyze and clearly differentiate the highest from the lowest
scorers.
3.5.3 Open-ended Questions
Open-ended Questions are questions to which respondents are asked to generate
an answer or answer with no prompting from the item itself. (Wimmer & Dominick 2006,
p. 181)
For example:
Q: In your opinion, do you think that Sin Chew Daily on covering this news has given
you positive opinion on viewing this issue (MCA party’s polls)? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
__
Respondents have freedom in answering these kinds of questions and an
opportunity to provide in-depth answer.

28
3.6 TECHNIQUE AND SCORING
There are techniques in calculating these different types of Measurement Scales.
3.6.1 Guttman Scaling
For example:
Q: What services that provided by Sin Chew Daily you usually access to in order to get
news/information?
* You can choose more than one

( ) Others ______________________________
Scoring:
Scores (a) Scores Final Percentage
1. Their newspaper 90/100 90/170 53%
only
2. Their sms (short 50/100 50/170 29%
message service)
news
3. Their Chinese 20/100 20/170 12%
website
4. Others 10/100 10/170 6%
Total: 100%
Table 3.1: Sample scoring for Guttman Scaling.
First is to know the scores for particular statements, divided by the total of
responses (100 copies) and then divide it again to get the final total in order to get the
final percentage on each statements. This can clearly find out respondents’ preference
because each score represents a unique set of responses.

29
3.6.2 Likert Scales
For example:
Q: Do you agree that Sin Chew Daily Newspaper affects you on this issue (MCA party’s
polls)?
Scoring:
Scores Percentage
Strongly Agree 25/100 25%
Agree 45/100 45%
Neutral 5/100 5%
Disagree 10/100 10%
Strongly Disagree 15/100 15%
Total: 100/100 100%
Table 3.2: Sample scoring for Likert Scales.
Respondents can only choose one from the options; therefore, it is easy to
calculate the respondents’ preference.
3.6.3 Open-ended Questions
For example:
Q: In your opinion, do you think that Sin Chew Daily on covering this news has given
you positive opinion on viewing this issue (MCA party’s polls)? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
__
As mentioned before, respondents have freedom in answering these kinds of
questions and an opportunity to provide in-depth answer; therefore, scoring for these
open-ended questions will need to analyze through each responses particularly to get
accurate results on particular question.

30
3.7 PROCEDURE
The procedures for this survey will be analyze the topic of the research first, and
secondly decide the research method, sample and the variables accordingly. After
decided what technique to use, it is also important to set the questions for questionnaire
where it is necessary to make the question clear, keep the question clear, always
remember the purpose of the research etc. Good questionnaire questions construction
reduces the mistaken on the finding.
After setting the questions, the next step will be distributing the questionnaire to
the sample. There may have different ways to distribute the copies and it is depends on
what sample size that have decided. After distributing the questionnaire, it is time to get
the scores, calculate the scores and do data analysis on it. Knowing the finding and
analyze it helps to get the results of the research topic.
3.8 CONCLUSION
It is important to prepare the survey carefully in order to get accurate results. The
lesser the mistaken in the questionnaire, the precision results I will be able to get for my
research.
31
CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
In order to get a balance results, I have distributed 100 questionnaires to public
where 50 of them are people from media field or they have mass communication
background (I would like to label them as MP – Media People) and the other 50 are
public who not from media field or they do not have any mass communication
background (I would like to label them as NMP – Non Media People). Those people I
found who have mass communication background such as journalists, mass
communication students, people who work for media company; while those who do not
have mass communication background are simply refer to the ordinary public.
Nevertheless, finding those people from media field and ordinary public as my
respondents will not make the results relevant for this research. Therefore, among these
100 respondents, the qualifications for them are must be Sin Chew Daily (I would like to
label it as SND – Sin Chew Daily) readers no matter they read the Sin Chew Daily
Newspaper or they access to the Sin Chew Daily websites. In addition, the respondents
must be concern or have a basic idea on political news especially news about MCA
party’s polls issues in order to ensure the validity of this research.
Categories Media People Non Media People Total

Number 50 50 100
Table 4.1: Number of respondents distributed according to categories.
32
It can consider trouble-free to find the Sin Chew Daily’s readers to be the
respondents as this newspaper company has a high circulation compared to the other
newspaper companies. However, finding readers who concern about the political issues
especially the MCA issues are troubling as lesser and lesser readers nowadays who have
interested in these kinds of issues. From the results that will presents later did shows that
the choice of readers on news types are skewed to soft news but not the political news
even among the people in media field.
In this finding, I found that there are some differences of opinion between those
people from media field and those people who are not from media field especially on the
issues of media impact. From this finding as well, I got quite balance results where most
of the respondents tend to answer the questions to the point and most of it is relevant to
the research.
33
4.2 ANALYSIS ON FINDINGS
30
25
25
19
20 17 18
15
10
10 8
5 3
0 0 0
0
Eve ryday > 3 days pe r we e k < 3 days pe r we e k O nce in awhile I don’t re ad Sin
Che w at all
Pe ople in me dia fie ld Pe ople not in me dia fie ld
Figure 4.1: Chart (amount of readers) of the frequencies readers (people who are in
media field and people who are not in media field) read Sin Chew Daily.
As mentioned before, respondents for this research must be SCD readers;
therefore, this question is to know how often the respondents read SCD rather than
knowing if they are SCD readers. Results shows that, there are 25 of the MP read SCD
everyday while there are only 19 out of 50 of NMP read SCD everyday. This result does
not surprise me where journalists or the mass communication students are sometimes
needed to read newspaper everyday especially the mainstream newspaper like SCD. The
result shows that there are 17 MP and 18 NMP who read SCD more than three days per
week; 8 MP and 10 NMP read SCD once in awhile while the others were read SCD less
than three days per week.
34
45
40 39
36
34 34
35 32 32
32
30 28
25
25
19
20 18
15
12 11
10
5
5
0
Political ne ws Busine ss ne ws Local ne ws Inte rnational Ente rtainme nt Fe ature s O th e rs
ne ws ne ws
Pe opl e in me dia fie ld Pe ople not in me dia fie ld
Figure 4.2: Chart of news/information that readers prefer to read in newspaper.
This question is set to ask the preference of readers in choosing news types to
read. As the research is related to political issues, it is expected that those readers are
concern about political issues and they will read political news in the newspaper. The
result shows that 39 of MP will read political news that provided by the SCD which it is
the highest news categories that choose by the MP compared to the other news
categories. Entertainment news came after political news where 34 MP choose that
categories and for local news and features there are 32 MP choose to read in newspaper.
For the NMP part, there are 36 of them prefer to read local news and this is the highest
categories that choose by NMP while second types are the entertainment news, 34 NMP
and third is International news, 32 NMP. For political news, there are only half of them
which are 25 NMP prefer to read political news that provided by SCD.
35
Sin Chew Daily

Sin Chew's
Newspaper; 88;
website; 59;
56%
38%
Sin Chew's sms;

10; 6%
Figure 4.3: Pie Chart (percentage) of services (provided by Sin Chew Daily) readers
usually access to.
This question is design to analyze what kind of SCD’s services readers accessed
to in order to get news/ information. There are three types of services that SCD used to
spread their news which are through their newspaper, their short message services and
their news websites. It shows that 88 (56%) out of 100 respondents read SCD newspaper
to get news/information while 59 (38%) respondents will access to the SCD websites to
read news/information and only 10 (6%) respondents will subscribe their short message
services. This question will affect the results of SCD impact where the more different
SCD services that they access to may affect the impact on readers as readers get news
from different tools may increase the impact of SCD.
36
45
42
40
36
34
35 33 32
30
25 24 24
22
20
15
10
5
0 0
0
O the r ne wspape rs' Te le vision Inte rn e t (ne ws Family & Fri e nds O the rs
company (any (ne ws/adve rtise me nts) we bsite s/blogs) (informal discussion)
language s)
People in media field People not in media field
Figure 4.4: Chart of channels (apart from Sin Chew Daily) readers access in order to get
news/information.
This question is to know the channel that respondents accessed to apart from SCD
in order to get news/information. From the results, it shows that the MP read news more
from other newspaper companies (for any languages) and through Internet (news
websites or blogs) apart from SCD which are 42 MP for the former and 36 MP for the
latter. However, for those NMP, most of them get news/information through television
(news or advertisements) which have 34 NMP and 33 NMP choose other newspaper
companies (for any languages) to get news apart that getting news from SCD. For family
and friends (informal discussion), there are 22 of MP and 24 MP choose to get
news/information apart from SCD.
37
Others; 12;
12% Totally political
news; 2; 2%
> news are

I don't read political news;
political news at 37; 37%
all; 13; 13%
< news are

political news;
36; 36%
Figure 4.5: Pie chart of readers’ impressions on Sin Chew Daily.
This question is to know the impression that SCD portrayed to the respondents
which it will also affect the impact of SCD on readers. From the pie chart it shows that 37
(37%) out of 100 respondents felt that most of the news in SCD are political news and
there are another 36 (36%) respondents felt that not majority news in SCD are political
news. There are also 13 (13%) respondents do not read political news and that is why
they do not concern about this question. This result will definitely affect the final findings
where the readers do not concern or read political news, lesser impact will have on them
regarding to SCD on covering MCA news.
38
Family &
Friends Other
Others; 0; 0%
(informal newspapers'
discussion); 48; company (any
21% languages); 62;
27%
Television
Internet (news (news/advertise
websites/blogs) ments); 58;
; 63; 27% 25%
Figure 4.6: Pie chart of channels (apart from Sin Chew Daily) readers’ access in order to
get local political news.
This question is similar to Question 4; however, there are different purposes in
asking these two questions. Different from Question 4, in this question I would like to
know which channel exactly respondents get political news/information apart from SCD.
Readers may get different news/information from different channels; however when
specify to political news, readers may have different channels or different reliable sources
to access to. From the pie chart it shows that most of the respondents choose internet (63,
27%) and other newspapers (62, 27%) to get political news apart from rely on SCD.
There are also 58 (25%) respondents will watch television to get political news and 48
(21%) respondents will get political news from their family and friends. Different
channels of getting political news will affect the level impact of SCD on the readers.
39
35 32
30
25 23
20
17
15
8
10 8
6
4
5
2
0 0
0
He adline scanne r Re ad the le ad only C hoose the part I Re ad through O th e rs
am inte re ste d only whole story and
unde rstand i t
Figure 4.7: Chart of readers’ characteristic when they read Sin Chew Daily.
This question is design to know which type of readers the respondents are when
he/she reading the political news in SCD. Fro the MP, 32 of them always choose to read
the part they are interested to read only and 8 MP says that they will read through the
whole news and try to understand the whole story. On the other hand, there are 23 NMP
always choose the part that they are interested to read only and 17 of them are headline
scanner. The differences between the results show that the MP are prefer to read few
parts of the news however the NMP will scan through the headline only when they are
reading political news. This may because the MP they are working in this field that is
why they need to know more details of the news stories.
40
No, I don't read Others; 0; 0% Yes, I get the

those news at all; news everyday;
1; 1% 26; 26%
Yes, not the

whole story but
Yes, but just a 50% of it; 28;
bit, less than 28%
50% ; 45; 45%
Figure 4.8: Pie chart of readers’ knowledge about MCA (Malaysian Chinese
Association) party’s polls that just finish last month (October 2008).
This question is to know how extend the readers understand or know about the
MCA party’s polls that just finish this October 2008. The distinctiveness of
understanding on these issues may also affect the impact of those news that reported in
SCD. From the pie chart, there are 45 (45%) out of 100 respondents choose that they
know less than 50% of the issues and 28 (28%) respondents know more than 50% of the
story. There are also 26 (26%) respondents says that they know the whole story of the
party’s polls issues. There is only 1 (1%) respondents choose that he do not read those
MCA party’s polls news at all. Surprisingly, he is from the MP group and this respondent
actually choose that he did read political news in Question 2 but in this question he says
that he do not read MCA issues. It shows that this respondent read political news except
for those news about MCA party’s polls issues.
41
60
50 50
50
40 38
34
29
30 28
26
23
20
16 15
10
2 1
0
Sin Che w Dail y O th e r ne wspape rs' Te le vision Inte rne t (ne ws Family & Frie n ds O th e rs
company (any (ne ws/adve rtise me nts) we bsite s/blogs) (informal discussion)
language s)
Figure 4.9: Chart of channels readers’ access in order to get MCA party’s polls news.
This question is to ask the respondents about where they get those MCA news
from. As mentioned before, the qualification of respondents are needed to be the readers
of SCD and they must know or concern about political news, therefore, it is not surprise
that all of the respondents choose SCD as one of their channel to get these MCA party’s
polls news. Apart from that, 29 of MP read the other newspapers in order to get MCA
news as well and another 28 of them read those news from the internet. For the NMP,
there are 38 of them choose to watch television to get MCA party’s polls news and the
other 34 NMP choose to get news/information about the MCA party’s polls from their
family and friends.
42
Strongly Strongly
disagree; 2; agree; 6; 6%
2%
Disagree; 19;
19% Agree; 18;
18%
Neutral; 55;
55%
Figure 4.10: Pie chart of readers’ opinion on the Sin Chew Daily affects them regarding
MCA party’s polls issues.
This question is to ask the respondents’ opinion if the SCD affects them on this
issues. This question is not asking about SCD changed the readers’ opinion on this issues
but just to know about the “physical” affects such like did SCD let you concern more
about the MCA news, did SCD affect you to talk more about MCA issues compared to
last time etc. From these results can see that majority (55 respondents, 55%) from MP
and NMP group think neutral for this question while for the others, 24 (24% included
strongly agree and agree) respondents agreed that SCD did affect them on this issues. On
the other hand, there are 21 (21% included strongly disagree and disagree) respondents
disagreed on this statement. There are differences where NMP group have more balance
on opinion while the MP group results are concentrate to agree, neutral and disagree only.
From this question it shows the effects of SCD towards respondents.
43
30
25
25
20
14 14
15
11
10 10
10 8
5 4
2 2
0
Stron gly agre e Agre e Ne utral Disagre e Strongly disagre e
Figure 4.11: Chart of readers’ opinion on the Sin Chew Daily affects them regarding
MCA party’s polls issues more compare to others channel.
This question is to ask the respondents’ opinion on the effects of SCD compared
to the other channels on this MCA issues. There are 14 MP choose neutral for this
question while the other 14 MP choose agree for this statement. However, there are also
10 MP that choose disagree and another 10 MP choose strongly disagree on this
statement. On the other hand, there are 25 NMP choose neutral for this statement, 11
NMP choose disagree, 4 NMP choose strongly disagree, 8 NMP choose agree and only 2
NMP choose strongly agree. From these results show that respondents that in media field
have more opinion on this issues where 20 out of 50 MP choose the disagree side. They
do not think that SCD affects them more on this MCA party’s polls news compared to
other channels; however there are still 16 MP choose to agree this statement. For the
NMP group, most of them choose neutral for this question and it shows that the impact of
SCD compared to the other channels are more or less equal.
44
30
27
25 24
20 18
17
15
10 8
5
2 2 2
0 0
0
Stron gly agre e Agre e Ne utral Disagre e Stron gly di sagre e
Figure 4.12: Chart of readers’ opinion on the believability of Sin Chew Daily on MCA
party’s polls issues.
This question is to know the respondents’ opinion on the believability of news
content by SCD. It is useful for the final findings where the credibility of news content
may affect the impact of the news itself. The results show that 24 MP felt neutral on this
statement, 18 MP agree it, 8 MP disagree it and none of them strongly agree or strongly
disagree it. However, for the NMP group, 27 of them agree that contents of SCD are
believable, 17 NMP felt neutral and 2 respondents for each strongly agree, disagree and
strongly disagree. These results shows that, the NMP group of readers is majority of them
believe in the contents of the news about MCA party’s polls news that reported by SCD.
45
35
30
30
25 23
20 19
15
12
10
6
5 4
2 2 2
0
0
Stron gly agre e Agre e Ne utral Disagre e Stron gly di sagre e
Figure 4.13: Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily has changed their mind on
viewing MCA party’s polls issues.
This question is to know the respondents’ opinion if the SCD changed their mind
on viewing the MCA party’s polls issues. For the MP group, 23 of them disagree on this
statement while 19 MP choose neutral, 6 MP choose agree, 2 MP choose strongly
disagree and none of the MP choose strongly agree. For the NMP group, 30 of them felt
neutral on this statement while 12 NMP choose disagree, 4 NMP choose agree, and 2
NMP choose for each strongly agree and strongly disagree. These results may affect the
final findings where SCD whether or no change the readers’ mind, it will affect the level
of SCD impact on reporting MCA party’s polls news towards readers.
46
30 28
25
21
20 18
15 14
10 9
6
5
2 2
0 0
0
Strongly agre e Agre e Ne utral Disagre e Strongly disagre e
Figure 4.14: Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily reporting style has effects on
readers viewing MCA party’s polls issues.
This question is to know whether the reporting style of SCD did or did not affect
the respondents’ views on the MCA party’s polls news. From the results, it shows that 21
MP disagree about this statement while 18 MP agree on this statement, 9 MP felt neutral
on it, 2 MP strongly disagree and none of the MP choose strongly agree the statement.
However for the NMP group, 28 NMP felt neutral on this statement while 14 NMP
choose disagree, 6 NMP choose agree, 2 NMP choose strongly disagree and same as the
MP group, none of the NMP choose strongly agree on this statement. From the overall
results it show that there is a quite balance result for the MP group in agreeing or
disagreeing; however for the NMP group, there is different amount of people who choose
agree and disagree on this statement where most of the NMP are disagreeing that the
style of the SCD in covering MCA party’s polls news affect the respondents in viewing
this issue.
47
25
21
20
16 16
14
15 14
10 9
5 4 4
0
0
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
Figure 4.15: Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily used different tools to spread
their news has effects on readers viewing MCA party’s polls issues.
This question is to know the respondents’ opinion if SCD used different tools to
spread their news will affect them more on this MCA party’s polls. The results shows that
16 MP felt neutral on this statement while for agree and disagree, there are same amount
of MP which are 14 MP chooses that, 4 MP choose strongly agree and 2 MP choose
strongly disagree. However, there are 21 NMP choose neutral on this statement while 16
of NMP choose agree, 9 NMP choose disagree, 4 NMP choose strongly disagree and
none of the NMP choose strongly agree. From this results, we can see that again there are
quite balance of result for the MP group where the agreeing and disagreeing amount are
almost them same. This may because some of the people in media field may felt that
when the news spread widely with different tools, it will easily reach the readers and
affect them; however the others may felt that using different tools to spread the news will
not affects the opinion of readers where they have their own opinion that SCD cannot
easily affects.
48
Yes; 23; 23%
No; 54; 54%
Neutral; 23;
23%
Figure 4.16: Pie chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily has given readers positive
opinion on viewing MCA party’s polls issues.
This question is to ask the respondents’ opinion if the SCD did or did not give
positive opinion viewing the MCA party’s polls issues towards readers. From the pie
chart we can see that 54 (54%) out of 100 respondents choose that SCD did not give
positive opinion to readers on viewing the MCA news while there are equally 23 NMP
who choose yes and neutral on this statement. From these results, it shows that majority
of the readers, no matter they are from media field or not, most of them do not think that
SCD did not give positive opinion to readers on this issue. There are some reasons given
by the respondents to explain why they do not think that SCD give positive opinion to
readers on viewing the MCA party’s polls news are because they felt that SCD is just a
newspaper that provide information but do not shape readers’ perception, also they do not
really believe in that content especially come to political news because of their
ownership. They felt that SCD is biased to some particular candidates during the party’s
polls period and this is definitely not neutral news stories.
49
50
40
40
30 25
20 13 12
6
10 4
0
Yes Neutral No
Figure 4.17: Chart of readers’ opinion on the impacts of Sin Chew Daily on covering
MCA party’s polls issues towards public are strong.
This question is to know the respondents’ opinions if the impact of SCD on
covering the MCA party’s polls news are strong. This is to understand that the opinion
from the MP and NMP on media impact. From the results, it shows that 40 MP agree the
statement while 6MP felt it is neutral and lastly 4MP disagreeing it. However, for the
NMP group, 25 NMP are agree with the statement while 13 NMP felt neutral on it and12
NMP disagreeing the statement.Results shows that, from MP point of views, majority of
them think that SCD have an strong impact in covering news towards public; however,
from public (NMP) themselves’ point of views, not majority of them think that SCD has
a big impact towards readers. There are some reasons given by the MP respondents
saying that the circulation of SCD was high and there are many “heavy” readers that rely
on newspaper, therefore they will be easy to affect by SCD. On the other hand, the NMP
group saying that the impacts are not that strong simply because readers do not read only
one newspaper but will access to other newspapers or channel in order to get
news/information, therefore the impact will become lower.
50
30 27
24
25
20
14 15
15 12
8
10
5
0
Yes Neutral No
Figure 4.18: Chart of readers’ opinion on Sin Chew Daily should make changes on their
newspaper.
This question design to know the respondents’ opinion if SCD need to make
changes on their newspaper such like the style of reporting news etc. From the results, it
shows that 27 MP felt that changes should make while 15 MP do not agree the statement
and 8 MP felt neutral on it. On the other hands, 24 NMP felt that no changes should make
on SCD while 14 NMP felt that changes should make and lastly 12 NMP felt neutral on
this statement. Again, there are two different opinions on MP group and NMP group.
People from MP that felt SCD should make changes say that SCD should not report the
news biased and should balance the news. However, the people from NMP group that felt
no changes should make says that the news/information that reported in SCD is good and
the arrangement of news are accordingly. There are also some of the NMP felt that biased
are unavoidable in every newspaper, therefore, no changes should make for SCD. It
shows a totally opposite opinion between the MP and NMP and this results helps the final
findings where readers from different background have different opinion on this issue.
51
4.3 CONCLUSION
From the research that has been conducted, it shows that there are differences of
opinion between the MP group and NMP group. People that work in media field or have
mass communication background may have different opinion on viewing media impact
while the NMP who represent the ordinary public may act differently than what the MP
expected. This can relates to the contradiction between Mass Society Theory and Limited
Effects Theory which I am going to discuss it later in Chapter 5 and I will also discuss
about the relation between the Research Objectives and the results that I got in order to
come out an accurate findings of this research. .
52
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
This research is conducted to analyse the impact of the Sin Chew Daily towards
public on covering MCA party’s polls news. In addition, it is also to find out the
extensive of the Sin Chew Daily can influence public with their news, the style of the
news or the tools that used to spread their news.
5.2 SUMMARY OF RESULTS
There are four Research Questions for this thesis which it is necessary for me to
fulfil it in order to higher up the validity and significance of this research. Firstly is to
find out that is it true about the SCD has a big power to influence the public and makes
them change their mind on political issues especially the MCA party’s polls news. From
the results, we can actually found out that SCD do not really have a big impact towards
public regarding the MCA party’s polls news. The results shows that 24 (24% included
strongly agree and agree) respondents out of 100 respondents agreed that SCD did affect
them on this issues. On the other hand, there are 21 (21% included strongly disagree and
disagree) respondents disagree that SCD affects them on the MCA party’s polls issue
while the other 55 (55% ) respondents felt neutral on this statement. In addition, there are
39 (39%) of respondents who do not think that SCD have changed their mind on viewing
the MCA party’s polls news while only 12 (12%) respondents agreed the statements and
the others 49 respondents are neutral on this statement.
53
The second Research Question is to find out to what extend the SCD can
influence the public. As I mentioned before, SCD has its impact on society, but it proved
that its impact is not big influencing, so to what extend is their impact? There is one
question can shows the finding where there are 35 (35%) respondents disagree that SCD
affects the readers more on MCA party’s polls issue compared the other channel while 26
(26%) respondents agree on this statement and 39 (39%) respondents felt it is neutral.
From the results we can analyze that SCD did have impact on society but it is limited as
there is no big impact on readers.
Apart from that, there are also the others reasons of affecting the influential of
SCD towards readers where this will relates to the third Research Question which is the
direct or indirect ownership of SCD by government may affect the level of trustworthy of
SCD among readers. Obviously the trustworthy on SCD will affect the impact of SCD on
how much the readers believe on the news content that reported by SCD. There are 47
(47%) of respondents actually believe in the news content that reported by the SCD while
41 (41%) respondents felt neutral in this statement and 12 (12%) respondents felt
disagree on this statements. SCD as one of the mainstream newspaper has a good
credibility among the readers as shown in the results. However, when the question asked
about did SCD give positive opinion towards readers on viewing MCA political party’s
polls, 54 (54%) out of 100 respondents choose that SCD did not give positive opinion to
readers on viewing the MCA news while 23 (23%) respondents agree and the other 23
54
respondents felt neutral. It shows that readers have different opinion on certain issues
when they are in different context.
Lastly is to find out the style of SCD in reporting news or the different tools that
used by SCD to spread their news may have an impact towards readers regarding the
MCA party’s polls news. Results shows that 39 (39%) of respondents disagree about the
style of SCD in covering the news will affect them in viewing the issue while 37 (37%)
respondents felt neutral and 24 (24%) respondents felt agree for this statement. In
addition, another question where 34 (34%) respondents agree that the different usage of
tools by SCD to spread their news will affects them more on the issue while 37 (37%)
respondents felt that this is neutral and 29 (29%) respondents choose disagree to this
statement. From these results, it does not shows an extensive results on agreeing or
disagreeing the style of SCD in reporting news or the different tools that used by SCD to
spread news help SCD to influence readers more.
55
5.3 DISCUSSION OF STUDY
There are also four Research Objectives for this thesis and it is aims to achieve
them in order to fulfil the Research Problems that mentioned before. First of all is to find
out the impact of SCD in our society, especially on political issues such like MCA party’s
polls issue. From the finding results, we can easily found that SCD may have impact on
society; however SCD did not have a big impact or influence towards public regarding to
political issues especially the MCA party’s polls issue that representing the Chinese
Community Society. Even though SCD is the mainstream newspaper that has a high
circulation compared to the other media; however the results prove that mainstream
newspaper that has high circulation such as SCD does not necessary mean that they will
have high influences on readers.
Secondly is to analyze the SCD level of impact or influential among the public.
SCD may have certain influence on the society; however to what extend it goes to? It
may have many different reasons that affect the impacts of SCD towards readers
decreasing such as the accessory of readers to different channels in order to get
news/information. From these results we can see that SCD did not affects the readers
more compared to the other channels and it means, readers did rely on the other media to
get news/information.
Apart from that, as mentioned before different context may affect the readers
differently. There are the others reasons of affecting the influential of SCD towards
56
readers where it is related to the third Research Objective which is to find out if the direct
or indirect ownership of SCD by government will affect the level of trustworthy of SCD
among readers. Obviously the trustworthy on SCD will affect the impact of SCD on how
much the readers believe on the news content that reported by SCD. On the other hands,
when the question asked about did SCD give positive opinion towards readers on viewing
MCA political party’s polls, results shows that they do not really believe in that content
especially come to political news because of their ownership. They felt that SCD is
biased to some particular candidates during the party’s polls period and this is definitely
not neutral news stories. These results shows that, readers believe SCD news on certain
level; however when it comes to opinion, believing the news does not mean that will
change readers’ mind on viewing the issues.
Last Research Objective which is to find out the style of SCD in reporting news
or the different tools that used by SCD to spread their news may have an impact towards
readers regarding the MCA party’s polls news. Again, the results does not shows an
extensive results on agreeing or disagreeing the style of SCD in reporting news or the
different tools that used by SCD to spread news help SCD to influence readers more. It
means the usage of different tools and style of reporting does not have a big impact for
SCD to influence readers.
57
5.4 THEORETICAL IMPLICATION
The two theories that I have discussed in Chapter 2, which are Mass Society
Theory and Limited Effects Theory found that are able explain the finding of this
research.
In the Mass Society Theories, the media accepted to form the public opinion and
persuade them. They believe that media are corrupting influences that undermine the
social order through their influence over defenseless “average” people. Media are viewed
as having the power to profoundly shape our perceptions of the social world and to
manipulate our actions in subtle but highly effective ways. (Baran and Davis, 2006)
However for Limited Effects Theory, it believes that the media is not that
powerful. As the Limited Effect Theory say, the effect of media is limited. It is totally
repudiate the Mass Society Theory. Lazarsfeld who come out this theory believe that the
public have the ability to distinguish the good and bad. The public is mature enough to
decide whether believe and not believe the media content. (Baran and Davis, 2006)
We can see this contradiction in the findings where 40 MP agree that SCD has a
strong impact towards public on covering MCA party’s polls issue while 6MP felt it is
neutral and lastly 4MP disagreeing it. However, for the NMP group, 25 NMP are agree
with the statement while 13 NMP felt neutral on it and12 NMP disagreeing the statement.
58
From the results it shows that, the MP point of views, majority of them think that
SCD have an strong impact in covering news towards public; however, from public
(NMP) themselves’ point of views, not majority of them think that SCD has a big impact
towards readers. There are some reasons given by the MP respondents saying that the
circulation of SCD was high and there are many “heavy” readers that rely on newspaper,
therefore they will be easy to affect by SCD. On the other hand, the NMP group saying
that the impacts are not that strong simply because readers do not read only one
newspaper but will access to other newspapers or channel in order to get
news/information, therefore the impact will become lower.
People who are in media field definitely believe that they have an “indirectly”
power to influence the public which it is equal to the concept of Mass Society Theories;
however, for the ordinary readers, they do get news from other channel and they have the
ability to analyze the news by seeing the context of the issues and therefore the media
impact will be lesser which this fulfill the Limited Effects Theory.
59
5.5 LIMITATION OF STUDY
In my opinion, there are some limitations of this research which regarding the
sample and the method that used to do this survey. First of all, the samples that I have
chosen are 50 of them from media field and another 50 of them are ordinary people that
read Sin Chew Daily. There will be some limitation where 50 for each of them are not
enough in order to get an accurate results for this hypothesis, therefore, the significant
results may affected. In addition, my questionnaires all of it in designed in English
language. There will be some limitation where there are some SCD readers that do not
know English. Therefore, I can only ignore those who do not know English to not answer
my questionnaires or I will be translated for them but this is time consuming. I choose to
translate to the readers that do not know English because I hope to get a fair and balance
point of view from different type of readers.
On the other hands, there is also limitation on the Research Method that I have
chosen which refers to Quantitative Research. It is better to use Qualitative Research in
this study because more investigate studies are needed in order to get an in-depth results.
Obviously it is not enough to get those answers from questionnaires only but I should get
the response from such as the Focus Group or Intensive Interview.
60
5.6 SUGGESTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
I have some suggestions on future research where first of all is due to the sample.
As mentioned before, 100 respondents for this study are definitely not enough, therefore,
I suggest that the sample size should enhance to 200 respondents in order to represent the
population effectively. In addition, Judgement sampling is recommended in this research
where it refers to people who are most advantageously placed or in the best position to
provide the information required such as experts in that particular issue. (Wimmer &
Dominick 2006) Researchers may interview and do the survey with lecturers or
authorities that have the knowledge about issues regarding to mass media in order to get
some professional views rather than opinion from public only.
In addition, Focus Group or Intensive Interview should use for the Research
Method rather than only Quantitative Research because answers were not in-depth and
investigate compared to others. Therefore, for future research, the sample and method for
doing this kind of study should be enhancing in order to get significant results of
findings.
61
5.7 SUMMARY
This study is to analyse the impact of the Sin Chew Daily towards public on
covering MCA party’s polls news. In addition, it is also expected to find out the extensive
of the Sin Chew Daily can influence public with their news, the style of the news or the
tools that used to spread their news. After conducting the research with 100 respondents
with used Quantitative Research, the results shows that the impact of Sin Chew Daily on
reporting MCA party’s polls news towards public are not that strong even the Sin Chew
Daily is the mainstream newspaper that have highest circulation compared to the others.
Apart from that, the Mass Society Theory and Limited Effects Theory did
applicable in this research where the media people felt that media have the power to
influence public; however the ordinary readers felt that they are able to analyze
themselves in choosing which news to believe, therefore the media impacts are not that
strong. It shows that different group of people have different opinion on the impact of
news media.
This result was interesting where media people believe that media have the power
to influence the public; but the public do not think that they are strongly influenced by the
media. From this results, as people that involved in media field and tend to serve the
public, should we do some self-righting in order to influence the public or should we just
gain public awareness on news/information?

62
REFERENCES
INTERNET
Audit Bureau of Circulations. 2008. ABC Circulation Chart Jul 06 – Jun 07. [Online]
Available at: http://www.abcm.org.my/ [Accessed 24 September 2008].
Barisan Nasional. 2008. History of Barisan Nasional. [Online]

Available at: http://bn2008.org.my/en/bn2008/default.htm
[Accessed 24 September 2008].
Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ). 2008. Memorandum on third anniversary of the
Nanyang takeover. [Online] Available
at:http://www.cijmalaysia.org/content/view/3/71/ [Accessed 11 November 2008].
Malaysian Chinese Association. 2007. Party’s Constitution. [Online]

Available at: http://www.mca.org.my/English/Pages/default.aspx
[Accessed 24September 2008].
Merdeka Center. 2008. Media Independence Survey 2008. [Online]

Available at: http://www.merdekacenter.uni.cc [Accessed 24 September 2008].
Media Chinese International Limited. 2008. Sin Chew Daily. [Online]

Available at: http://www.mediachinese.com/htm/content.cfm?
channel=biz&path=biz_05a&lang=E [Accessed 24 September 2008].
Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia. 2000. Nation History – Formation of Malaysia. [Online]

Available at: http:/sejarahmalaysia.pnm.my/ [Accessed 24 September 2008].
Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia. 2000. Nation History – Malayan independence. [Online]

Available at: http:/sejarahmalaysia.pnm.my/ [Accessed 24 September 2008].
Sin Chew Daily. 2008. Tiong Refutes Accusations of Monopoly. [Online]

Available at: http://www.sinchew-i.com/intro/index.phtml?file=speech.html
[Accessed 24 September 2008].
63
JOURNALS
Eshbaugh, M. & Peake, J.S., 2008 The Presidency and Local Media: Local Newspaper
Coverage of President George W. Bush. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 38(4), pp.
609 – 631.
Faber, R.J., Tims, A.R. & Schmitt, K.G., 1993. Negative political advertising and voting
intent: The role of involvement and alternative information sources. Journal of
Advertising, 22(4), pp. 67. USA: Academic Research Library.
Holland, L., 2001. Two Chinese newspapers fall into government hands: Not such a good
deal. Far Eastern Economic Review, 164 (23), pp. 26.
Kreifels, S., 2003. Malaysian media faces restrictions. The Quill, 91(9), pp. 11
USA: Academic Research Library.
Statham, P., 2007. Journalists as commentators on European Politics - Educators,

Partisans or Ideologues?. European Journal of Communication, 22(4), pp. 461 –
477. USA: Sage Publication.
Stein, M.L., 1994. A catalyst for public awareness? Editor & Publisher, 127 (42), pp.
11-13
Tomsa, D., 2007. Party Politics and the Media in Indonesia: Creating a New Dual
Identity for Golkar. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 29 (1), pp. 77 – 99.
Xu, J.J., 2006/2007. The influence of personalization in affecting consumer attitudes

toward mobile advertising in China. The Journal of Computer Information
System, 47(2), pp. 9 – 20.
64
BOOKS
Azizul Halim Yahya. 2006. Political Economy of the Mass Media in Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur: Pusat Penerbitan Universiti (UPENA).
Baran, S.J. & Davis, D.K. 2006. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment
and Future. 4th ed. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Wimmer, R.D. & Dominick, J.R. 2006. Mass Media Research: An Introduction. 8th ed.
Canada: Thomson Wadsworth.
Biagi, S. 2005. Media Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media. 7th ed.

Canada: Thomson Wadsworth.
65
APPENDIX
66
TOPIC: THE IMPACT OF SIN CHEW DAILY TOWARDS PUBLIC ON
COVERING MCA PARTY’S POLLS NEWS
I am a student from Tunku Abdul Rahman College, School of Social Science and
Humanities who is currently studying second year Advanced Diploma in Mass
Communication (Journalism); I am doing a survey for the AHMC 5244 Project. It
will be grateful if you would assist me in completing this questionnaire. Your time
and cooperation is greatly appreciated.
Gender: ( ) Male ( ) Female Age: _______ Occupation: ____________
1. How often do you read Sin Chew Daily?

* You can choose one only
( ) Everyday
( ) More than three days per week
( ) Less than three days per week
( ) Once in awhile
( ) I do not buy Sin Chew Daily at all
2. From the news/information that provided by Sin Chew Daily, what kind of
news/information do you prefer to read?
( ) Political news
( ) Business news
( ) Local news
( ) International news
( ) Entertainment news
( ) Features
( ) Others ______________________________
3. What services that provided by Sin Chew Daily you usually access to in order to
get news/information?
( ) Others ______________________________
4. Which channel, usually provide you the same news/information apart from Sin
Chew Daily?
( ) Other newspaper companies (for any languages)
( ) Television (News or Advertisements)
( ) Internet (News websites or blogs)
( ) Family and Friends (From informal discussion among people surrounding you)
( ) Others ______________________________
67
5. What impression does Sin Chew Daily give you on their paper?
( ) It is a totally political newspaper
( ) Most of the news in Sin Chew Daily are political news
( ) Not majority news are political news in Sin Chew Daily
( ) I do not read political news that is why I do not concern about it
( ) Others ______________________________
6. Where did you get to know the local political news apart from Sin Chew Daily?
( ) Others ______________________________
7. Which kind of reader are you when you are reading political news in Sin Chew
Daily?
( ) Headline scanner
( ) Read the lead only
( ) Choose to read the part that I am interested only
( ) Read through whole article and try to understand the whole story
( ) Others ______________________________
8. Do you know anything about the MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) party’s
polls that just finish last month (October 2008)?
( ) Yes, I get news/information about this party’s polls everyday
( ) Yes, but not the whole story, at least more than 50% of the story I knew
( ) Yes, but just a little bit of it, less than 50% of the story I knew
( ) No, I do not read those news at all
( ) Others ______________________________
9. Where you get those news (about MCA party’s polls) from?
( ) Sin Chew Daily
( ) Others ______________________________
68
10. Do you agree that Sin Chew Daily affects you on this issue (MCA party’s polls)?
11. Do you think that Sin Chew Daily affect you more on this issue (MCA party’s
polls) compare to others channel?
12. Do you think that the contents of Sin Chew Daily on this issue (MCA party’s
polls) are believable?
13. Do you think that Sin Chew Daily has changed your mind on viewing this issue
(MCA party’s polls)?
14. Do you think that the style of Sin Chew Daily in covering this news affects you in
viewing this issue (MCA party’s polls)?
15. Do you think that Sin Chew Daily can affect you more on this issue because the
usage of different tools to spread their news (they spread their news not only through
newspaper but also the sms services and their websites)?
69
16. In your opinion, do you think that Sin Chew Daily on covering this news has
given you positive opinion on viewing this issue (MCA party’s polls)? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
__
17. In your opinion, do you think that the impacts of Sin Chew Daily towards public
on covering this news (MCA party’s polls) are strong? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
__
18. In your opinion, do you think Sin Chew Daily should make changes on their
newspaper? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
__
70

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THE IMPACT OF SIN CHEW DAILY TOWARS PUBLIC

ON COVERING MCA (MALAYSIAN CHINESE

KOH PEI WEY

A PAPER SUBMITTED AS REQUIREMENT FOR

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

KOH PEI WEY 07 WHA 11155

COPYRIGHT © 2009 BY TUNKU ADBUL RAHMAN COLLEGE

and guidance, it helps me to complete the whole thesis, smoothly comparatively. I

order to produce a better work. Thank you very much again.

completing this work. Nevertheless, my classmates also gave me support while I am

by helping me to complete the survey. Thank you.

KOH PEI WEY

Advanced Diploma in Mass Communication (Journalism)

Year 2008 / 2009

1.3 Research Problem 5

1.8 Significance of Study 11

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

TABLE TITLE PAGE

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

news or the tools that used to spread their news.

Research was conducted to 100 respondents with Quantitative Research where 50

party’s polls news.

media towards public.

1.2 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

1.2.1 History of Malaysia

Alliance (Perikatan) of Unite Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malaysian

Federation of Malaya. This Alliance, afterward successfully pressure the British to

on the 31st August 1957. (http://sejarahmalaysia.pnm.my)

1.2.2 The Parties – BARISAN NASIONAL

(GERAKAN / PGRM), Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Liberal

1.2.3 MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association)

permanent homeland.” (http://www.mca.org.my)

and safeguard the system of parliamentary and democratic government on a multi-racial

Malaysian Constitution etc. (http://www.mca.org.my)

Lumpur public elections on 26 February and local elections in other 16 municipalities

member of MCA but also the Chinese community in Malaysia. (http://www.mca.org.my)

1.2.4 Sin Chew Daily

(http://www.sinchew-i.com) With the daily circulation of 360,000 copies nation-wide,

(http://www.mediachinese.com) Undoubtedly Sin Chew Daily has a large target market

1.2.5 Newspaper Industry in Malaysia

There is a memorandum sent by media freedom groups on 28 May 2004 to the

the ruling Barisan Nasional.” (http://www.cijmalaysia.org)

It is commonly known that media are directly or indirectly owned by the

they perceive that government has strong influence on the media.

(http://www.merdekacenter.uni.cc) Therefore, this study will be able to find out the

impact of Sin Chew Daily towards public.

1.3 RESEARCH PROBLEM

(http://www.merdekacenter.uni.cc) It indirectly shows that the government believes that

towards public getting lower as well?

1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

party’s polls news.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS / HYPOTHESIS

the level of trustworthy of newspaper among public?

1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS

“impact” and “public” in order to have a clearer idea on this topic.

1.6.1.1 Conceptional Definition

and education. (p. 25)

1.6.1.2 Operational Definition

friends and institutions.

1.6.2.1 Conceptional Definition

1.6.2.2 Operational Definition