Ideological Representations of People with Mental Illness in Malaysian Online Newspapers: A Critical Discourse Analysis
Abstract
The news media’s role in shaping knowledge about mental illness has long been recognised as one of the primary conduits through which the public learns about people with mental health conditions. Despite a proliferation of research on media portrayals of mental illness, there seems to be a lack of studies critically examining how people with mental illness (PwMI) are constructed in mainstream and independent newspapers, especially in the Malaysian context. The present study aims to comparatively examine how PwMI are ideologically represented in mainstream and independent online newspapers. Predicated on van Dijk’s (1980) theory of semantic macrostructures and van Dijk’s (1998) ideological square model, twelve news reports from each newspaper were analysed. Findings revealed that the semantic macrostructures constructed from the news reports mainly centred on the topic of the dangerousness, vulnerability, and human rights of PwMI. The prominent “othering” of PwMI was particularly evident in both newspapers, as they were not only depicted as dangerous and violent but also as vulnerable, dependent, and powerless, in juxtaposition to those without mental illness. In addition to providing insights on how online newspapers contribute to the ideological construction of PwMI via topicalisation, the study’s findings have potential implications for media literacy programmes aiming to empower news consumers with critical reading skills in deconstructing public discourses on mental illness.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Al-Gamde, A., & Tenbrink, T. (2020). Media bias: A Corpus-based Linguistic Analysis of Online Iranian Coverage of the Syrian Revolution. Open Linguistics, 6(1), 584–600. https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2020-0028
Al-Hejin, B. (2015). Covering Muslim women: Semantic macrostructures in BBC News. Discourse & Communication, 9(1), 19–46. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1750481314555262
Al-Radhi, H., Pandian, A., & Mehdi, T. S. T. (2016). Arab spring…islamists-seculars struggle to control Egypt a CDA study from AJE’s ideological perspective. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 5(4), 142–153. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.5n.4p.142
Alkaff, S. N. H., & McLellan, J. (2017). "Same News, Different Stances"? A Comparative Media Discourse Investigation of Hard News Texts in the New Straits Times and Berita Harian. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 25(2), 511–540.
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/57856/1/JSSH%20Vol.%2025%20%282%29%20Jun.%202017%20%28View%20Full%20Journal%29.pdf
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Publishing.
Arboleda-Flórez, J., & Stuart, H. (2012). From sin to science: Fighting the stigmatization of mental illnesses. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 57(8), 457–463. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371205700803
Assaf, E. A. (2020). Hidden Power: Journalistic Representations of Mental Health Labels. Ph.D. thesis, Chapman University Digital Commons. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/322964954.pdf
Balfour, J. (2020). A corpus-based discourse analysis of representations of people with schizophrenia in the British press between 2000 and 2015. Ph. D. thesis, Lancaster University. https://doi.org/10.17635/lancaster/thesis/1008
Bell, A. (1991). The Language of News Media. Blackwell.
Bilkay, H. İ., Yaman, Ö., Gürhan, N., & Yilmaz-Bingöl, T. (2023). A study on the representation of mental disorders in Turkish newspapers. Journal of Mental Health. 1-8.https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2023.2245908
Boysen, G. A., Isaacs, R. A., Tretter, L., & Markowski, S. (2020). Evidence for blatant dehumanization of mental illness and its relation to stigma. Journal of Social Psychology, 160(3), 346–356. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2019.1671301
Chan, J. M., & Lee, F. L. F. (2017). Introduction. In J. M. Chan & F. L. F. Lee (Eds.), Advancing Comparative Media and Communication Research (1st ed., pp. 1–11). Taylor & Francis.
Corrigan, P. W., Watson, A. C., Gracia, G., Slopen, N., Rasinski, K., & Hall, L. L. (2005). Newspaper stories as measures of structural stigma. Psychiatric Services, 56(5), 551–556. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.56.5.551
Dauda, S., & Nik Hasan, N. N. (2018). Framing the sustainable development goals in Malaysian online news. SEARCH:The Journal of the South East Asia Research Centre for Communication and Humanities, 10(1), 1–24. https://fslmjournals.taylors.edu.my/wp-content/uploads/SEARCH/SEARCH-2018-10-1/SEARCH-2018-P1-10-1.pdf
Delahunt-Smoleniec, N., & Smith-Merry, J. (2020). A Qualitative Analysis of the Portrayal of Young People and Psychosis in Australian News Reports A Qualitative Analysis of the Portrayal of Young People and Psychosis in Australian News Reports. Journalism Practice, 14(7), 847–862. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1640071
Erubami, J., Bebenimibo, P., Ezeah, G. H., & Muobike, O. (2023). Mass media depiction of mental illness in Nigeria. Journal of Public Health in Africa, 14(11), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2023.1527
Fatihi, A. R. (Ed.). (2023). Linguistics of News [Ebook]. In Media Linguistics in South Asia Language, Culture and Communication (Issue 3). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003327004.2
Flick, U. (1998). An introduction to qualitative research. SAGE Publications.
Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the News: Discourse and Ideology in the Press (1st ed.). Routledge.
Goatly, A., & Hiradhar, P. (2016). Critical Reading and Writing in the Digital Age: An Introductory Coursebook (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Goethals, T., Mortelmans, D., Van den Bulck, H., Van den Heurck, W., & Van Hove, G. (2022). I am not your metaphor: frames and counter-frames in the representation of disability. Disability and Society, 37(5), 746–764. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2020.1836478
Goggin, G. (2009). Disability, Media, and the Politics of Vulnerability. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 1(19), 1–13. http://ro.uow.edu.au/apme/vol1/iss19/2%5Cnfiles/13096/2.html
Goulden, R., Corker, E., Evans-Lacko, S., Rose, D., Thornicroft, G., & Henderson, C. (2011). Newspaper coverage of mental illness in the UK, 1992-2008. BMC Public Health, 11(1), 796. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-796
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05279903
Halle, C., Tzani-Pepelasi, C., Pylarinou, N.-R., & Fumagalli, A. (2020). The link between mental health, crime and violence. New Ideas in Psychology, 58, 100779. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2020.100779
Hema Preya Selvanathan & Lickel, B. (2020). How mainstream and alternative media shape public attitudes toward social change: Evidence from two panel studies during Malaysia’s democratic transition. New Media and Society, 23(12), 3509–3538. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820954355
Hennink, M., Kaiser, B. N., & Marconi, V. C. (2017). Code saturation versus meaning saturation. Qualitative Health Research, 27(4), 591–608. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732316665344
Kelly, B. D. (2016). Dignity, Mental Health and Human Rights: Coercion and the Law. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.
Lai Fong Yang (2023). Stigmatisation or Destigmatisation? An Analysis of Newspapers Reporting on Mental Health Problems in Malaysia. An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry, 11(2), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.17646/KOME.of.5
Laily Murny Kamarulzaman. (2016). Ideological representations of Bersih 4.0 rally: A comparative study of selected mainstream and independent online newspapers. (Unpublished master’s thesis). Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Lim Shiang Shiang, Chibundu, I. S., & Sharon Jacqueline Albert Wilson. (2020). Media coverage of malaysian airline flight MH370: A preliminary study on the framing of the crisis in the Malaysian mainstream and alternative newspapers. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 36(1), 90–108.
https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2020-3601-06
Mariana Tumin, Md Mizanur Rahman & Zulkifli Jantan. (2022). Community Discrimination Towards Mental Illness: a Cross-Sectional Study in Rural Sarawak, Malaysia. Journal of Health and Translational Medicine, 25(1), 61–67. https://doi.org/10.22452/jummec.vol25no1.10
Marlina Jamal, & Malini Ganapathy. (2021). Framing the actors through thematic structures: The case of the Malaysian Orang Asli. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 10(2), 249–258. https://doi.org/10.36941/ajis-2021-0055
McCrae, N., Sharif, L., & Norman, I. (2019). Media portrayals of mental disorder in Saudi Arabia: a review of popular newspapers. Transcultural Psychiatry, 56(2), 428–442. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461518819117
McGinty, E. E., Webster, D. W., & Barry, C. L. (2013). Effects of news media messages about mass shootings on attitudes toward persons with serious mental illness and public support for gun control policies. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(5), 494–501. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.13010014
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. SAGE Publications.
Miller, A. N., Napakol, A., & Kujak, M. K. (2020). Representation of Mental Illness in Leading Ugandan Daily Newspapers: A Content Analysis. Health Communication, 35(14), 1782–1790. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2019.1663469
Mosurska, A., Clark-Ginsberg, A., Sallu, S., & Ford, J. D. (2023). Disasters and indigenous peoples: A critical discourse analysis of the expert news media. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6(1), 178–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221096371
Murni Wan Mohd Nor & Gale, P. (2021). Growing Fear of Islamisation: Representation of Online Media in Malaysia. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 41(1), 17–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2021.1903161
Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Eddy, K., Robertson, C. T., & Nielsen, R. K. (2023). Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023. Reuters Institute & the University of Oxford. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2023
Nor Fariza Mohd Nor, Novelia Bernice Jeffree & Hilwa Abdullah @ Mohd. Nor. (2021). Health is wealth: A corpus-driven analysis of the portrayal of mental health in Malaysian English online newspapers. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 21(2), 46–71. https://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2021-2102-03
Olstead, R. (2002). Contesting the text: Canadian media depictions of the conflation of mental illness and criminality. Sociology of Health and Illness, 24(5), 621–643. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.00311
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. SAGE Publications.
Pendit, U. C., & Koo Ah Choo. (2020). Openness towards mental illness in Malaysia. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities,17(3), 46–56. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/openness-towards-mental-illness-malaysia/docview/2519043520/se-2
Price, H. (2019). The Discursive Construction of Mental Illness in UK Newspapers (1984–2014): A Critical Corpus Linguistic Analysis. Ph.D. thesis, University of Huddersfield. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/35163/
Riggs, A. (2020). Introduction. In Stylistic Deceptions in Online News: Journalistic Style and the Translation of Culture (pp. 1–18). Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved May 20, 2024, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350114203.ch-001
Sandelowski, M. (1995). Sample size in qualitative research. Research in Nursing & Health, 18(2), 179–183. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nur.4770180211
Shaeraine Raaj, Sujesha Navanathan, Myelone Tharmaselan & Lally, J. (2021). Mental disorders in Malaysia: An increase in lifetime prevalence. BJPsych International, 18(4), 97-99. https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2021.4
Simcock, P., & Lee, C. (2023). Disability, Social Justice & Human Rights: The Experience of the United Kingdom. In C. Cox & T. Maschi (Eds.), Human Rights and Social Justice: Key Issues and Vulnerable Populations. Taylor & Francis. https://www.google.com.my/books/edition/_/ACFJzwEACAAJ?
hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT0crug5uGAxWZ4TgGHe0hA3UQ8fIDegQIDBAK
Siti Munirah Mohd Ali, Wan Farah Wani Wan Fakhruddin, Wan Nur Asyura Wan Adnan, & Ezzan Amnie Azizan. (2024). Portrayal of Mental Illness in Malaysian Newspapers: A Thematic Analysis of Online News Reports. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 14(2), 1843–1854.
http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v14-i2/20860
Stella Jane Lakshman, Tuti Iryani Mohd Daud, Marhani Midin, Farah Ahmad, & Tommy, K. (2023). Validation of the Malay-Version of Recovery Knowledge Inventory among mental health providers in Malaysia. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1078423
Thornicroft, G., Sunkel, C., Alikhon Aliev, A., Baker, S., Brohan, E., el Chammay, R., Davies, K., Demissie, M., Duncan, J., Fekadu, W., Gronholm, P. C., Guerrero, Z., Gurung, D., Habtamu, K., Hanlon, C., Heim, E., Henderson, C., Hijazi, Z., Hoffman, C., … Winkler, P. (2022). The Lancet Commission on ending stigma and discrimination in
mental health. The Lancet, 400(10361), 1438–1480. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01470-2
Tronto, J. C. (2010). Creating Caring Institutions: Politics, Plurality, and Purpose. Ethics and Social Welfare, 4(2), 158–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2010.484259
Van Brunt, B., & Pescara-Kovach, L. (2019). Debunking the Myths: Mental Illness and Mass Shootings. Violence and Gender, 6(1), 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2018.0016
van Dijk, T. A. (1980). Macrostructures: An Interdisciplinary Study of Global Structures in Discourse, Interaction, and Cognition (1st ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
van Dijk, T. A. (1988a). News As Discourse (1st ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
van Dijk, T. A. (1988b). News Analysis: Case Studies of International and National News in the Press. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
van Dijk, T. A. (1991). Racism and the press. Routledge
van Dijk, T. A. (1998). Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach (1st ed.). SAGE Publications.
Wahl, O. F., Wood, A., & Richards, R. (2002). Newspaper Coverage of Mental Illness: Is It Changing? Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills, 6(1), 9–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/10973430208408417
Whitley, R., & Wang, J. (2017). Good News? A Longitudinal Analysis of Newspaper Portrayals of Mental Illness in Canada 2005 to 2015. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(4), 278-285. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743716675856
World Health Organization. (2022, June 8). Mental Disorders. Retrieved on August 2, 2023, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
Zul Azlin Razali, Suhaila Sanip & Rabi’atul ‘Adawiyah Md. Sa’ad. (2018). Mental illness portrayal in media: A summative content analysis of Malaysian newspapers. International Journal of Business and Society, 19(S2), 324–331. https://www.ijbs.unimas.my/images/repository/pdf/Vol19-S2-paper11.pdf
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/gema-2024-2403-04
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
eISSN : 2550-2131
ISSN : 1675-8021