1.0 INTRODUCTION

Media is a communication channel through which news, entertainment, education,

data or promotional messages are disseminated. However, the stories that are

published in the media could influence the society.

Media framing is the process by which an issue is portrayed in the news

media. In the agenda setting theory stated that the media does not tell people what

to think, but rather what to think about. However, the framing theory is more

focused. Framing theory is focuses on certain issues and then places them within a

field of meaning that can have an effect on the people’s belief, attitudes and

behaviors by connecting a particular meaning or interpretation on an issue.

The study wants to investigate the framing of media on Islam and

Terrorism, which become a massive issue all around the world. According to Otto

J. Helweg (2006) since the religiously motivated attacks on the United States of

September 11, so much has been written about terrorism and Islam. As the issue

becomes big, the media play a main role to publish about it and it is very

important deliver messages to the public. There is a misconception that has

developed, which links Islam and terrorism together. The media has been a big

contributor to this misconception in many ways.

1

International newspaper (United State) and Local newspaper (Malaysia)

had published different frame of the issue on Islam and terrorism. In this study,

the researchers intended to make a comparison between these two newspapers.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY

In this study, the researchers intended to study about the media framing

between local and international newspaper, which is News Strait Times

and New York Times. These two newspapers showed the differences

content about Islam and terrorism.

The researchers more focus on the framing of media about Islam

and Terrorism in these two newspapers. The media coverage on Islam and

terrorism has reached a peak during recent decades in the tragic of World

Trade Center in 2001. After the tragic, there lots of news that always

relates Islam with the terrorism in the international newspaper.

In this study, the researchers decide to focus on the specific issue,

which is the issue between Gaza and Israel. That is the latest issue that

relates Islam and Terrorism. There is lots of the news publishing in the

newspaper about the issue.

2

1.2 DEFINITION OF TERMS

The terms used are:

1) Framing:

Frames influence the perception of the news of the audience, this

form of agenda setting not only tell what to think about, but also

how to think about it.

2) Islam:

The religion of the Muslims, that believe there is no God but Allah,

and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.

3) Terrorism:

The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property

to intimidate population.

3

1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The researchers have intended to make a study on media framing about the

Islam and Terrorism. The media draws the public attention to certain is

issue, it decides where people think about.

The international newspaper portrayed that Islam is a terrorist right

after the issue of the September 11th, 2001. Most of the international

newspaper claimed that the terrorism had been repeatedly associated with

Islam. The international newspaper had tendency of labeling Islam as a

terrorist. The international newspaper published about the war between

Israel and Islam that showed that Islam as a terrorist, meanwhile Israel is

victims. As the researchers take the issue on Gaza and Israel, the

international newspaper always publishing the news that mention Gaza is

a terrorist and Gaza bombing the Israel state. They also claimed that Gaza

who the one that started the war.

The local newspaper claimed that the terrorist is not from Muslim

group (Islam). In the local newspaper also always published the news

about the violence that made by Israel on Gaza Strips. The local media not

only publish news, they also put pictures of the violence activity such

bombing the school in Gaza, shoot the children of Gaza and other.

4

The international media and the local media have a different idea

and perspective regarding Islam and terrorism. The media framing play a

big role because they delivered news or messaged to the society. It is the

issue relationship between Islam and terrorism.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

1) How frequent the local or international newspapers did the negative

reporting regarding the issue of Gaza and Israel?

2) How the local or international newspapers choose their style of reporting

on the issue of Gaza and Israel?

3) How does the content effect on Islam based on the media reporting on the

issue of Gaza and Israel?

1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

1) To identify the frequency of negative reporting on Gaza as terrorist based

on the conflict between Gaza and Israel.

2) To compare the style of reporting between international and local

newspaper.

3) To identify how the content effect on Islam based on the media reporting.

5

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

In this study, the researchers believe that this study will be able to give

some idea about the ideology on media framing about Islam and terrorism.

The study will helps the researchers to know more about the media

frame, relationship between Islam and terrorism by comparing the news

from international media and local media. Basically, it is about the content

of the news that had been reporting by these two newspapers.

The researchers want to highlight the used of words in the

international and local newspaper. It is the comparison of these two

newspapers.

1.7 LIMITATION

The researcher challenges is when conducting the study is the researcher

lack of time to complete the study. The duration of the study takes about 2

months. It is very important to refer to the article, journal or previous

research to get the guidelines for this study. Due to lack of time, the

researcher does not have enough sources for supporting this study.

6

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEWS (15 sources)

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The role of media is not only about presenting and describes information

and images, they also have the ability to shape opinions and presenting a

particular version as reality. Based on this view, all parties whether the

terrorists or the authorities have put an effort to cooperate with media

since they are regarded as the only agent in giving information and and

make foster awareness to the society about some crucial issues. According

to Walter Laquer (2002), the media play a major role in making any

terrorist operation a success and this was one of the main reasons for the

shift from rural guerrilla to urban terror in the 1960s. As we can see in the

role of media in the issue Gaza and Israel found that eight Israeli human

rights groups wrote a letter to newspaper editors, broadcasters and

websites claiming, “opinions critising the decision to launch the offensive

or the army's conduct during the war are hardly heard.” Critics pointed to

newspaper headlines describing the surprise airstrikes against Gaza,

including the Yedioth Ahronoth headline 'Better Late Than Never” and the

Maariv headline “Fighting Back”.

Terrorism can be defined as the use of threat for the purpose of

advancing a political, religious or ideological cause of actions that

involves serious violence against any person or property.“Terrorism”,

according to Silke (2003) is the term used to show a violated act and the

7

act is considered as violated and violent due to its nature which against the

norm and human rights. The term “terrorism” has no precise or widely

accepted definition. According to Brinkly (1988), says that if one person

claims himself as “freedom fighter”, other people may label him as

“terrorist”. He illustrates what happened at the end of World War II, when

Great Britain still held a power over Palestine, many Israel's guerillas

promoted warfare against the British. According to Haberman (1992) on

the other hand points out that many Israeli news articles refer to

Palestinians as terrorists, regardless of the target of the attacks, either the

armies or civilians.

2.2 MEDIA AND TERRORISM

There are several views on the role of media in relation to terrorism.

Media sometimes are known as the main agent in transmitting messages to

society on the danger of terrorism. Despite all contributions made by the

media in creating awareness of the danger of terrorism, which then leads

to havinga sense of hatred among society, media are said to be able to give

publicity as well as legitimacy to certain terrorist political agenda due to

some failures made by the government. The researchers on terrorism

believe that one of the reasons of any terror acts or sabotage done by

terrorists is for publicity or to attract society's attention. According to Arda

Bilgen (2012), argues that terrorists are primarily interested in audience,

not the victims, and emphasizes that how the audience reacts is as

8

important as the act itself. Accordingly, winning the attention of the

media, national and foreign publics, and decision-makers in a government

is one of the primary goals of terrorists. To this end, terrorists carefully

select the places in which they carry out their attacks in order to provide

the best media coverage.As will be addressed later in greater detail, the

obvious example of this is the 9/11 attacks in the US, where a wide variety

of media covered the story immediately.Not only was the media able to

capture this incredibly visual attack, but the people who were in New

York City, residents and tourists alike, were also able to document this

event with pictures, videos and personal stories.

According to Mc Quail (1995), in certain conditions, media can

help the government dealing with terror issues by giving a negative label

or name to terrorist groups and generating some panic situations to

terrorists through the information spread. According to Lowenthal (1989),

claims that without the collaboration of the media, terrorism would be

impotent. By dramatizing the terrorist threats and demands and by

refusing to condemn them outright, the media often contribute to the moral

confusion, which tends to romanticize the terrorist and leave his victim

forgotten

9

Based on this role, Winegar (2008), claims that all parties namely

the government and terrorist seemed to work to have a good relationship

with the media. Should the media refuse, they will experience harmful

effects the government may implement any hindrance such as some strict

filtrations of any information disseminated by the media while allowing

only information on terrorism provided by the government itself. Hence,

based on Hashim (2009), stresses out that media and terrorism related

issues are always perceived from three aspects terrorists objectives on

media, government's objectives on media and media's own objectives on

related incidents linked to terrorism.

2.3 THEORY OF FRAMING

In this theory there is a relationship between news coverage and the media

agenda and a theory that comes into place that called the theory of

framing. According to Tankard & Severin (2001) the'frame' can be defined

as an idea arrangement for news contents that provide context and

suggestions of what issues that happen. Framing can be looked at two

main ways frame building and frame setting. The term frame building

refers to the factors that influence the structural qualities of news frames.

Framing is applied to how journalists select stories. The journalist frame

stories in particularways in order to get people to either read or view on

the newspaper.

10

These important factors influence how a frame is built. The

researcher has shown that frames do affect how viewers view stories on

the newspapers News Straits Times and New York Times in the way of

the frequency of negative reporting the news about Gaza. In particular, the

way a story is farmed can affect what appears as most important, who the

victim appears to and who is blame on the issues og Gaza and Israel.

According to Claes H.de Vreese (2013), newsmakers may employ

many different frames in their coverage of an issue, scholars agree that

this abudance in choice in how to tell and construct stories can be captured

in analyses as certain distinctive characteristics. According to Fairhurst &

Sarr (1996), framing consists of three elements: language, thought and

forethought. Language helps us to remember information and acts to

transform the way in which we view situations. To use language, people

must have thought and reflected on their own interpretive frameworks and

those of others. Leaders must learn to frame spontaneously in certain

circumstances.

2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The researchers use qualitative method to quantify data and generalized

result from a local newspaper (News Straits Times) and international

newspaper (New York Times).

11

Independent DependentVariable variable

The conceptual framework shows the relationship between independent

and dependent variable. The dependent of variable on this case study will

be of Framing on Islam terrorism between local and international

newspapers. Based on Figure 1, its show that independent variable had

been divided into three sections, which is style of reporting, frequency of

reporting and content of reporting.

Framing of media

Style of reporting

Frequency of reporting

Content of reporting

12

3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Methodology is the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied

to a field of study. It comprises the theoretical analysis of the body of

methods and principles associated with a branch of knowledge. Typically,

it encompasses concepts such as paradigm, theoretical model, phases and

quantitative or qualitative techniques.

Research Methodology is a way to find out the result of a given

problem on a specific matter or problem that is also referred as research

problem. In Methodology, researcher uses different criteria of solving the

problem. The process used to collect information and data for the purpose

of making business decisions and it may include publication research,

interviews, surveys and other research techniques, and could include both

present and historical information.

In this chapter, the data will be collected through the research

method that had been chose a construct by the researchers. The method

needs to be carried out and organize carefully, so it can achieve the

objectives of the study. There are several sub topics that falls under the

research methodology which are research design, research instrument,

administrative, date and time of collecting data, location and frequency of

collecting data.

13

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

The research designs in the methodology are divided into two methods

which is Quantitative and Qualitative. Quantitative research aims to

measure the quantity or amount and compares it with past records and tries

to project for future period. The objective of quantitative research is to

develop and employ mathematical models, theories or hypothesis

pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is central to

quantitative research because it provides fundamental connection between

empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative

relationships. Quantitative research involving the use of structured

questions, where the response options have been pre-determined and large

number of respondents is involved.

Qualitative research presents non-quantitative type of analysis.

Qualitative research is collecting, analyzing and interpreting data by

observing what people do and say. Qualitative research refers to the

meanings, definitions, characteristics, symbols, metaphors, and description

of things. Qualitative research is much more subjective and uses very

different methods of collecting information, mainly individual, in-depth

interviews and focus groups. The nature of this type of research is

exploratory and open ended. Small numbers of people are interviewed in

depth and or a relatively small number of focus groups are conducted.

14

The research design of this study is Qualitative Research. The

method that we use to collect data is content analysis. Content analysis

refers to a general set of techniques useful for analyzing and

understanding collections of text. Not only that, it is a method for

summarizing any form of content by counting various aspects of the

content. This enables a more objective evaluation than comparing content

based on the impressions of a listener.

In this study, the researchers analyze the content of the newspaper

to search on how frequent the local or international newspapers did the

negative reporting regarding the issue of Gaza and Israel, on how they

choose their style of reporting, and the content effect on Islam based on

the media reporting. The result from this content analysis is to relate and

determine the research objective which is to identify the frequency of

negative reporting on Gaza as terrorist based on the conflict between Gaza

and Israel, to compare the style of reporting between international and

local newspaper and to identify how the content effect on Islam based on

the media reporting

15

3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

3.4.1 ADMINISTRATIVE

The researchers observe the content of the newspaper by

themselves, in duration of 4-6 weeks to analyze the content that

relates to the research objectives.

3.2.1 DATE AND TIME OF COLLECTING DATA

The researchers analyze and collect data starting from 6th of

October 2014 to 16th of November 2014. These processes have

been carried out by the researchers roughly from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

3.4.3 LOCATION

This research process was carried out at the Shah Alam areas,

Unisel, Shah Alam and as well as Library Raja Tun Uda in Section

13, Shah Alam.

3.4.4 FREQUENCY OF COLLECTING DATA

Date

(6th October – 16th November 2014)

Number of newspaper analyzed

International Local

6th Oct – 19th Oct 10

20th Oct – 2nd Nov 10

3rd Nov – 16th Nov 10

16

4.0 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 INTRODUCTION

In this research, researcher chooses newspaper from local and

international. Which is New Street Time from local and New York Times

from international to find the difference of news that they giving to

readers. Besides, both of news also giving the different content and

because of that, we as readers also give different feedback to these two

newspapers. As we know, both media will give good news to their readers

and at the end of the day, we as readers, will find out either that news true

or not. In these findings, researcher will do the difference either style of

reporting in international newspaper for local and international, Repetition

news on local and international newspaper and Message content on local

and international newspaper.

17

4.1 CHOICE OF WORDS IN LOCAL NEWSPAPER

Table 1 shows the style of reporting in local newspaperNewspaper Element Date Description Dialogue

New Street

Times (NST)

Style of

reporting in local

newspaper

21 July 2014 KP1M to bring injured

Palestinians to Malaysia

for treatment

KP1M president Datuk Seri

Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim

said they would be brought to

the country in stages for

medical treatment.

4 July 2014

PM Najib: Malaysia

does not condone

atrocities by IS militants

Prime Minister Datuk Seri

Najib Razak said the country

strongly condemned their

actions, saying such actions

were against the peaceful

teachings of Islam.

09 August

2014

Boycott but respectfully,

or we are no different

than the zionists

One of the organisers, Mohd

Nurhafizuddin Abdul Rani, 20,

said the peaceful protest to

stop using Israeli goods on a

large scale in a bid to cripple

the regime’s economy albeit

gradually.

20 august 2014 Permit needed to collect

Gaza, Palestine

donations

Said Inspector-General of

Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu

Bakar, comment on syndicates

trying to make profits by

collecting donations,

purportedly for the

Palestinians in Gaza.

18

24 august 2014 Israelis, Gaza militants

fight on, defying truce

efforts

"They condemned the

resumption of rocket fire and

called for an immediate

cessation of hostilities leading

to a sustainable ceasefire," the

White House said in a

statement about a call between

the two leaders.

4.2 CHOICE OF WORDS IN INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPER

Table 2 shows the style of reporting on newspaper New York TimesNewspaper Element Date Description Dialogue

New York

Times

Style of

reporting in

international

21 July 2014Two Americans killed in

Gaza fighting for Israel

We can confirm the deaths of

US citizen max Steinberg and

Sean carmeli in Gaza,”

19

newspaper spokesperson jean Psaki

24 July 2014 Israel air strike kills two

in gaze.

Six members of the Al-Aftal

family, including a five-year-

old girl and a boy of three,

were killed,” said emergency

services spokesman Ashraf al-

Qudra, bringing the number

killed today to 18

9 August 2014 Israel presses deadly

Gaza strikes

Gaza emergency services said

two men were killed in a strike

on a motorcycle in Al-Maghazi

camp and that the bodies of

three others were pulled from

the rubble of the Al-Qassam

mosque in the Nuseirat camp

20 August Israeli strike killed Gaza

commander’s wife and

child

“The wife of the great leader

was martyred with his

daughter,” in a strike Tuesday

night, Hamas’s exiled deputy

leader Mussa Abu Marzuk

24 August

2014

An Israeli air strike on

Gaza Sunday killed two

Palestinians and

wounded five,

Emergency services said, a day

after Egypt called for an open-

ended ceasefire to enable new

truce talks.

4.3 REPITITION NEWS ON ISLAM AND TERRORISM IN LOCAL

NEWSPAPER

Table 3 shows repetition news on Gaza and Israel in Local NewsNewspaper Element Date Description Dialogue

20

New Street

Times (NST)

Repetition news

on Gaza and

terrorist in Local

news

21 July 2014-

24 July 2014

-Repetition news started

when we as Malay

citizen keep update

about Gaza and worried

about Gaza.

-Many of them were wounded in the stomach and limbs by firing weapons from the Zionist military and KP1M is currently cooperating with several hospitals in Egypt to accommodate them temporarily before being brought to Malaysia later.

-“Muslims around the world have watched in horror as a new conflict tears into Syria and Iraq. As reports of mass executions and killing of civilians surface, and graphic evidence of brutality emerges, we have been appalled.

09 August

2014,

20 August

2014,

24 August

2014

The journalist focuses

on news about

awareness accident in

Gaza at Malaysia.

- More than 2,000 local youths

participated in a peaceful

demonstration and campaign

yesterday to boycott Israeli

products.

- Individuals or organizations

wanting to collect donations

for humanitarian fund have to

obtain permit from the Royal

Malaysia Police (PDRM

4.4 REPITION NEWS ON ISLAM AND TERROSIM IN

INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPER

Table 4 shows the repetition news on Gaza and Israel on New York TimesNewspaper Element Date Description Dialogue

21

New York

Times

Repetition news

on Gaza and

terrorist in

international

news

21 july 2014-

24 July 2014

Repetition news started

because they just want to

manipulate with their

agenda and started to

killed person.

-Two American members of

the Israeli Defence Force

have been killed in Gaza

fighting

- Including two young

children, was killed today in

an Israeli air strike in the

south of the Gaza Strip

09 August

2014,

20 August

2014,

24 August

2014

They used same approach

about enabling ceasefire

but the war still goes on

continuously

- Israeli warplanes carried

out 30 air strikes over Gaza

on Saturday and leaving

international mediators

scrambling to rescue

ceasefire talks.

- an Israeli air strike killed

the wife and child of its

Gaza military chief, as a

temporary ceasefire went up

in smoke and Cairo truce

talks froze.

- An Israeli air strike on Gaza

Sunday killed two Palestinians

and wounded five, emergency

services said, a day after Egypt

called for an open-ended

ceasefire to enable new truce

22

talks.

4.5 MESSAGE CONTENT ON ISLAM AND TERRORISM IN LOCAL

NEWSPAPER

Table 5 shows the message content on Gaza and Israel in Local NewspaperNewspaper Element Date Description Dialogue

New Street

Times (NST)

Message content

on Gaza and

Israel in Local

21 july 2014- -News local shows to

reader about humanity.

make a move to giving

medicine to victims of the

23

Newspaper Palestinians

24 July 2014 - Local news is more to

community

Such as how they boycott

about Israel products such as

mcd, Nike, Maybelline,

Guess and esso. In addition,

make a donation to Gaza

victim.

09 August

2014,

20 August

2014,

24 August

2014

-Message content in local

news more careful and not

too straightforward like

what international media

gave to us.

Such as international keep

update about Gaza and

Who involved in the war,

those who were killed and

the incident happened there.

4.6 MESSAGE CONTENT ON ISLAM AND TERRORISM IN

INTERNATIONAL NEWSPAPER

Table 6 shows the message content on Gaza and Israel in International Newspaper

Newspaper Element Date Description Dialogue

24

New York

Times

Message content

on Gaza and

Israel in

International

Newspaper

-21 july 2014 Message content in international news very straight forward and more to violent news and not filteredBesides, their writing very emotional and downgrades Islam.

-The State Department said two US citizens were killed in Gaza violence and released their names, but did not immediately disclose their occupations.

-24 July 2014

-“Six members of the Al-Aftal family, including a five-year-old girl and a boy of three, were killed,” said emergency services spokesman Ash

-09 August

2014

-Gaza emergency services said two men were killed in a strike on a motorcycle in Al-Maghazi camp and that the bodies of three others were pulled from the rubble of the Al-Qassam mosque in the Nuseirat camp in the middle of the enclave.

-20 August

2014

An Israeli air strike killed the wife and child of its Gaza military chief, as a temporary ceasefire went up in smoke and Cairo truce talks froze.

-24 August

2014

The strike hit the western side of Gaza City at around 5:00 am (0200 GMT) and the two victims died of their injuries later in the morning.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the researchers conclude about the media framing of Islam

and terrorism regarding the findings that had been analyzed by the

25

researchers. The researchers also make a recommendation for the future

reference regarding this topic “ The Media Framing of Islam and

Terrorism”.

5.2 CONCLUSION

As conclusion, the media play a main role to deliver message to the

public. The media also need to be truth indeed to reached harmony in this

world. The media framing is the process by which an issue is portrayed in

the news media, which is been discussed in the findings and discussion

about the news on Gaza and Israel. It provides boundaries around a story

and decide what to include in a story and what to leave out some aspects

completely, a process that may be conscious, instinctive or culture-bound.

As what the conclusion that the researcher can make regarding in

this study, these two newspaper have a different style of reporting the

news on Gaza and Israel, which give an impact toward Islam and the

repetition news is want to approach the readers always remind about the

issue. It manipulates people mind with the repetition news.

This is clearly shown in the findings where most of the news

always related Islam with the terrorism. It is also shown that the

international media feeding the international readers with a negative

perception on Islam, as well it affect on Islam.

26

5.3 RECOMMENDATION

The researchers recommend that the future study need to do lots of

revision on the reference that are related towards this study. It is also can

be the guidelines for the future journalist in portraying a more fair issue

concerning to Islam and Terrorism

6.0 REFERENCE

Arda, B. (2012). Terrorism and the Media: A Dangerous Symbiosis. E-

Internationalrelations students. Washington.

Claes, H. D. V. (2005). New Framing: Theory and Typology. Associate Professor

and Post- doctoral Research. Information Design Journal. Amsterdam

27

Fairhurst and Sarr. (1996). Framing Europe Politics: A Content Analysis of press

and television news. Journal of Communication. London

Hashim. (2009). Islam and Terorisme: Indeks Pelabelan Media Cetak

Antarabangsa. Academia. Malaysia

Lowenthal, G. (1989). Terrorism: The Second or anti- colonial wave. Critical

concepts in Political Science. New York.

McQuil. (1995). The mass media reportage of crimes and terrorists activities:

The Nigerian experience. Asian Culture and History. Nigeria

Otto, J. H. (2006). Terrorism and Islam. Dean of the Engineering Department at

North Dakota State University. Iran.

Silke. (2003). Community preparedness and response to terrorism:

Communication and the media. Praeger perspectives. United States.

Walter, L. (1996). Postmodern Terrorism: New rules for an old game. Foreign

Affairs. United States.

Winegar. (2008). The coverage on Islam and Terrorism: A Framing Analysis of

the International News Magazines, Times and the Economist. Global

Media Journal. United State.

28