“Sinovac safe and halal”: The newsworthiness of religion on vaccine reporting in Malaysia

• Published in: SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research
• Main Author: Fatah F.A.; Omar N.A.M.; Zamri N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor's University Lakeside Campus 2022
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85137020170&partnerID=40&md5=5eb3df4bc54fd1ef1008631602822bc6

News media reporting on vaccines amid a global pandemic plays a vital role in not only communicating pertinent details, but also in shaping the public’s attitude towards vaccines. Indeed, despite global efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through vaccination, the public’s attitude towards vaccines has been varied. This qualitative study attempts to discern the relationship between media reports and public concern by exploring religion as a newsworthy aspect for media reporting on COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia. We drew upon insights from discursive news values analysis (DNVA) to examine news headlines from 10 Malaysian newspapers in English and Bahasa Malaysia. A focus group discussion (FGD) conducted with five selected members of the public supplemented the primary data. Findings show that religion is a newsworthy aspect of COVID-19 vaccine reporting in Malaysia, with newspapers utilising all nine discursive news values, particularly impact, eliteness, timeliness, and proximity, through the ways in which linguistic resources were utilised to frame the media reporting. This was particularly notable in the Bahasa Malaysia headlines, more than the English headlines. The FGD further reveals that religion is a powerful factor that can steer public reception for or against vaccines, a fact which has been exploited by the media. This paper, therefore, contributes to an emerging body of work on DNVA besides offering useful insights for media practitioners. © SEARCH Journal 2022.