JOURNAL REVIEWS

1. The Agenda Setting Function of English Newspapers during the 13th General
Election by Chang Peng Kee, Ali Salman, Kho Suet Ni and Mohd Rizal Mohd
Yaakop
As per stated in the title, this journal is on the Agenda Setting function of English newspapers
during the 2013 General Election in Malaysia. English newspapers were chosen as they
overcame the ethnic and language issues. 
The hypotheses set for this study is the Agenda Setting function is vital in conveying issue
salience and issue attribute to their readers as they are prone to have an effect by the theory
for they depend on news from the media. The research questions in this journal are listed as
below:
a) What are the Agenda Setting functions of mass media?
b) Why are certain issues ranked high during elections and not others?
c) What issues were focused on during the election campaign period?
The research method used in this journal is the quantitative content analysis with the two
major English newspaper which are The Star and New Straits Times. 
During the 13th General Election, Barisan Nasional, the ruling party, contributed the
most to the news sources by complementing its coalition parties and attacking Pakatan
Harapan, the opposition alliance. It could also be seen that the issues brought up by the
English media did not match with the public agenda. This was determined by Spearman’s
Rank Order Correlations by ranking the dominance of issues portrayed by the English media
against the dominance of issues portrayed newspapers that originates from other ethnic
groups. Hence, this study does not meet its hypotheses. 
In my opinion, even though the Englsh language takes precedence over the nation, it is
however not able to influence the public; thus, not proving the prominence of the Agenda
Setting Function in English newspapers. This is said as such for it is proven from the findings
of the journal itself that the nation is more influenced by their ethnic based newspaper. Each
ethnic group highlights different issues during the elections as to what benefits them. Hence
why the English newspapers are not able to influence the public’s perception. 

2.   Social Media and Agenda Setting: Implications on Political Agenda by Ali Salman
Normah Mustaffa, Mohd Azul Mohd Salleh and Mohd Nor Shahizan Ali
This journal brings into light that social media in Malaysia have made it possible for the
public to state their concerns. This in turn, makes the public the major role players in setting
the particular agenda which subsequently affects the political agenda. Vice versa, politicians
are able to chart their particular political agenda through social media and the public is able to
analyse and evaluate the content as well as discuss more easily via social media. 
The research objective of this study is to explore the role of social media as agenda
setting mechanisms in the Malaysian political scenario and the data of this study are obtained
from secondary sources through review of literature from past and current studies related to
the matter as a means to get a deeper understanding. This study had solidified the notion that
social media especially Facebook and Twitter had played a major role in keeping the public
aware on major political issues in the last five years prior to the 2013 General Elections
which had also determined the success and failure of the political parties which had contested
and the authors recommend politicians to keep themselves updated through social media as
the public agenda is the core. 
My humble opinion is that there is a vital element which has been left out in this study
which is known as the Hawthorne Effect whereby subjects alter their behavior and styles
when they are aware that they are under the camera. This means that politicians might not be
who they seem to be. They might portray a different personality on social media to win over
the citizens and garner votes but they might not possess the same qualities and behaviour in
person. Obviously, the citizens would feel deceived when this happens. Thus, it goes beyond
social media to accurately ascertain the political agenda in Malaysia.

3. Media Agenda and Public Agenda: A Study of Issues during the 13th General
Election by Aini Maznina A. Manaf, Malia Taibi and Kamaruzzaman Abdul
Manan 
The third journal reviewed studied the issues brought up by the Malaysian mainstream
newspapers and public during the 13th General Election. Thus, exploring the media agenda
and public agenda. 
The research objectives are:
a) To determine issues reported by the four mainstream newspapers (English,
Malay, Chinese and Tamil) during the 13th General Election
b) To recognize concerns that were highlighted by the public after the 13th
General Election
 c) To investigate the impact of agenda setting by the mainstream newspapers
towards the public 
d) To analyse the influence of agenda setting by the Malay language newspaper
onto its Malay public 
The hypotheses in this journal are that there is a relationship between overall media
agenda and overall public agenda, and there is a relationship between Malay agenda and the
issues in Malay public agenda. Quantitative content analysis and survey methods were the
methodologies used for this study to which a descriptive and correlational analyses were done
after. 
It was found that Malay newspaper agenda are aligned with the overall newspaper
(the four mainstream newspapers from each ethnic group) agenda where the issues of politics
and religion were considered important. Then, it was discovered through descriptive analysis
that the overall newspaper agenda does not set the overall public agenda. Surprisingly, it was
determined that the Malay newspaper and public of the same ethnic group do not share
similar agenda of the issues; thus, making the Malay newspaper unsuccessful at influencing
the Malay public agenda. 
To sum up, in my opinion the media was unsuccessful in influencing the public
during the 13th General Election as both the public and media had different levels on
priorities on issues. Furthermore, with the increase usage of new media, it is harder for
traditional media to reach out to their audiences; hence, making it almost impossible for the
Agenda Setting function to occur from newspapers to today’s society. 

4. GE 13: The Influence of Ethnic Newspapers in Shaping the Opinion of Indian and
Chinese Voters by Zeti Azreen Ahmad, Ismail S.Y. Ahmed, Hartini Wakichan,
Hazwani Halem, Siti Haslina Hussin and Mutiu Adekunle Ganiyu.
The journal discusses the influence of ethnic newspapers in shaping the opinion of Indian and
Chinese voters, before and after Malaysia’s 2013 General Election (GE13). The study was
conducted to understand the issues that were majorly reported in the media before the
election, as well as the outstanding issues that Chinese and Indians considered before and
after the election. In order to examine the influence of ethnic newspapers in shaping the
opinion of two ethnic groups in Malaysia, this study uses content analysis and public opinion
surveys to determine the impact of the media agenda on the public agenda.
The research objectives of this study were to determine the relationship between
issues that Chinese/Indian community perceived important and the actual content of
Chinese/Tamil newspapers and also to measure the role of selected ethnic newspapers in
influencing the opinion of the Indian and the Chinese community after the GE13. The
hypothesis from this journal is there is a significant relationship between Chinese
newspapers’ agenda and Tamil newspapers’ agenda.
Neither Tamil nor Chinese newspapers have influenced the reader's agenda, according
to the study. In other words, there is no significant correlation between the media agenda and
the public agenda. From the point of view of agenda-setting, national newspapers have not
been successful in influencing readers' thinking. In my opinion, the media may have
succeeded in raising sufficient awareness of the problem, but it does not seem to affect the
reader's agenda.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Agenda Setting Theory, which was founded by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, states
that the mass media have the ability to transfer issues salience on their news agenda to the
public agenda. (Griffin, 2009) in 1972. It emphasizes on the media telling the public what to
think about rather than how to think about certain topics and issues.
This theory, however, focuses on the traditional media. Though it has been expanded,
the relativity of its content is very much questionable in this era. This is due to the fact that
new media is evolving; thus, enabling consumers of media to interact and respond to the
media. It is not a one-way communication model any longer in reporting.
Also, with the rapid rise of new media, especially social media, the Agenda Setting
Theory needs to be re-examined into its implementation and influence. The second journal
reviewed in this study even highlighted that public agenda is becoming dominant with the
rise of new/ social media (Salman, Mustaffa, Salleh & Ali, 2016). 
Hence, with the modern evolution of society, the Agenda Setting theory should be
developed as such to accommodate this growth. It is evident through all the journals that the
media does not influence the way society thinks of an issue nowadays.
BIBILIOGRAPHY
Ahmad, Z. A., Ahmed, I. S., Wakichan, H., Halem, H., Hussin, S. H., & Ganiyu, M. A.
(2017). GE 13: The Influence of Ethnic Newspapers in Shaping the Opinion of Indian
and Chinese Voters. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 33(2).

Griffin, E. A. (2009). A first look at communication theory/Em Griffin. New York: McGraw-
Hill,.

Kee, C. P., Salman, A., Nie, K. S., Yaakop, M. R. M., Adisa, R. M., & Hoong, O. C. (2017).
The agenda setting function of English newspapers during the 13th general
election. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 33(2).

Manaf, A. M. A., Taibi, M., & Manan, K. A. (2017). Media agenda and public agenda: a
study of issues during the 13th general election. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian
Journal of Communication, 33(2).

Salman, A., Mustaffa, N., Salleh, M. A. M., & Ali, M. N. S. (2016). Social media and agenda
setting: Implications on political agenda. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of
Communication, 32(1).