Text Mining Analysis of Malaysia’s National Image in China Daily

Zhang Jie, Mohd Azidan Abdul Jabar, Farhana Muslim Mohd Jalis

Abstract


This study takes October. 4. 2013, as a temporal dividing point, conducting a comparative analysis of news closely related to Malaysia in China Daily, over the 10 years before and after this date. The qualitative research software Leximancer 5.0 is employed for text mining analysis. The findings reveal that the themes in the news transitioned from relatively dispersed, generalised coverage to a more focused, in-depth exploration of major events and China-Malaysia cooperation. The primary social actors demonstrated minimal change over the 20 years but became increasingly focused. Sentiment analysis shows that reporting on Malaysia has predominantly been positive, with the proportion of positive sentiment showing an upward trend. However, some negative factors were also observed, such as a shift in the portrayal of the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, from positive to negative. Notably, although the MH370 incident was reported with a predominantly negative perspective, it did not persist for long. Positive sentiments towards all associated social actors, except Indonesia, have continued to grow, including China, Singapore, Australia, and ASEAN. This study portrays Malaysia as a promising partner in economic growth and development, an important player in regional and global relations, and a stable and enduring strategic ally. By employing an innovative combination of text mining techniques and discourse analysis, the research not only provides empirical evidence of the evolving discourse surrounding Malaysia but also offers methodological insights for applying computational tools in media studies.

 

Keywords: national image construction; text mining analysis; qualitative research software; media discourse analysis; diachronic study


Full Text:

PDF

References


Abas, N., Abdul Aziz, R., Turiman, S., & Mat Daud, N. S. (2023). A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of COVID-19 vaccination-related news discourse in the Malaysian mainstream media. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature, 29(3), 148-165. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2023-2903-11

Boulding, K. E. (1956). The image: Knowledge in life and society (Vol. 47). University of Michigan press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.6607

Chang, S. (2017). The multifaceted China: A study on the “other-constructed” national image of China--An example of the 2015 “China-U.S. relations” topic in The New York Times. Journalism University, 3, 138-145.

Chavez, L. R. (2023). Covering immigration: Popular images and the politics of the nation. Univ of California Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.8501066

Chen, L. (2018). The discursive turn in the study of China’s image. Foreign Language Research, 3, 33-37.

Chen, Z. T., & Whyke, T. W. (2022). Manufacturing and commodifying “Chineseness”: micro-celebrity Li Ziqi’s construction of an idyllic rural China and her media representation on YouTube. In China’s International Communication and Relationship Building (pp. 150-164). Routledge.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003254157-12

Fong, Y. L., & Ponnan, R. (2019). Framing the bilateral relations between Malaysia and China: The news coverage of flight MH370 SEARCH. Journal of Media and Communication Research, 11(1), 37-56.

Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the News[M]. London: Routledge.

Fowler, R. (2013). Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315002057

Goh, E., & Wilk, V. (2022). Showcasing Leximancer in tourism and hospitality research: a review of Leximancer-based research published in tourism and hospitality journals during 2014-2020. Tourism Recreation Research, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508281.2022.2129284

Karasti, H., Baker, K. S., & Millerand, F. (2010). Infrastructure time: Long-term matters in collaborative development. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 19, 377-415. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-010-9113-z

Khan, Z. A., Xia, Y., Ali, S., Khan, J. A., Askar, S. S., Abouhawash, M., & El-Rashidy, N. (2023). Identifying hot topic trends in streaming text data using sequential evolution model based on distributed representations. IEEE Access, 11, 98787-98830. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3312764

Lemus-Delgado, D. (2023). Opening ceremonies and national identity: Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020. National Identities, 25(5), 463-482. https://doi.org/10.1080/14608944.2023.2242792

Lin, Y. T., & Miao, X. W. (2023). Discourse construction of China’s national image in mainstream American media: A diachronic study based on text mining. Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages, 46(3), 87-95.

Liu, H., & Lim, G. (2020). The political economy of a rising China in Southeast Asia: Malaysia’s response to the Belt and Road Initiative. In China’s New Global Strategy (pp. 158-173). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429317002-11

Lyudmila, S., Anastasia, L., & Ilya, S. (2021). Media representation of the image of the Russian political leader in western online media (on the material daily news and der spiegel). International Journal of Media and Information Literacy, 6(2), 396-405. https://doi.org/10.13187/ijmil.2021.2.396

O’Kane, P., Smith, A., & Lerman, M. P. (2021). Building transparency and trustworthiness in inductive research through computer-aided qualitative data analysis software. Organizational Research Methods, 24(1), 104-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428119865016

Papadopoulos, N., & Heslop, L. A. (2014). Product-country images: Impact and role in international marketing. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315863931

Popova, E. O., Barabash, V. V., Burdovskaya, E. Y., Lavrentieva, M. Y., & Melnichenko, A. A. (2023). Russian Image Formation Through the Image of the President of the Country in the English-Language Media in 2020-2023 (Based on the Materials of the British and American Press). Kurdish Studies,

(2), 4599-4617.

Prieto, R. S. (2021). The Image of Spain in the Eyes of Austrian, Flemish, French, Italian, Polish and Bulgarian Facebook Users: Text-Linguistic Opinion-Mining for Detecting and Analysing National Stereotypes. In National Stereotyping, Identity Politics, European Crises (pp. 221-243). Brill.

https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004436107_013

Restad, H. E. (2020). What makes America great? Donald Trump, national identity, and U.S. foreign policy. Global Affairs, 6(1), 21-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2020.1734955

Robinson, P. (2000). The policy-media interaction model: Measuring media power during humanitarian crisis. Journal of peace research, 37(5), 613-633. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343300037005006

Rusciano, F. L. (1997). First-and third-world newspapers on world opinion: Imagined communities in the cold war and post-cold war eras. Political Communication, 14(2), 171-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/105846097199425

Rusciano, F. L. (2003). The Construction of National Identity -- A 23-Nation Study. Political Research Quarterly, 56(3), 361–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/106591290305600310

Sinaga, L. C. (2020). Xi Jinping, “China dream”, and Chinese military diplomacy to ASEAN. Journal of ASEAN Studies, 8(2), 173-190. https://doi.org/10.21512/jas.v8i2.6483

Siyu, L. I. U., & Feng, J. I. (2023). International sports communication and national image construction by mainstream media--An example of CGTN’s coverage agenda of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Journal of Physical Education/Tiyu Xuekan, 30(1).

Tai, K. W. (2023). Funds of knowledge for synchronous online language teaching: a translanguaging view on an ESL teacher’s pedagogical practices. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 1-48. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0096

Tjellander, A. (2022). Mining the imagery: A text mining and news media content analysis of the Swedish country image in the Guardian, 2010-2020 [Master’s thesis]. Uppsala University.

Van Dijk, T. A. (2013). News as discourse. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203062784

Van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford university press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195323306.001.0001

Wa-Mbaleka, S. (2020). The researcher as an instrument. In Computer Supported Qualitative Research: New Trends on Qualitative Research (WCQR2019) 4 (pp. 33-41). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31787-4_3

Wang, D., & Liang, S. (2024). Discourse construction of Chinese modernization from the perspective of Malaysian media. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03152-9

Wang, G. (2018). A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis of news reporting on China’s air pollution in the official Chinese English-language press. Discourse & Communication, 12(6), 645-662. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481318771431

Whyke, T. W., Chen, Z. T., & Lopez-Mugica, J. (2022). An analysis of cultural dissemination and national image construction in Chinese influencer Li Ziqi’s vlogs and its impact on international viewer perceptions on YouTube. The Journal of Chinese Sociology, 9(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-

-00173-2

Wu, X., & Zhang, K. (2016). National Image: Concept, Characteristics, and Research Paths Revisited. Modern Communication: Journal of Communication University of China, 1, 57-62.

Xu, W. W., & Wang, R. (2022). Nationalizing truth: digital practices and influences of state-affiliated Media in a Time of global pandemic and geopolitical decoupling. International Journal of Communication, 16, 29-30.

Yaakub, A. N. (2009). Malaysia and Indonesia: A Study of Foreign Policies with Special Reference to Bilaterial Relations. University of Western Australia.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/3L-2025-3103-05

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


 

 

 

eISSN : 2550-2247

ISSN : 0128-5157