The language of suffering: Media discourse and public attitudes towards the MH17 air tragedy in Malaysia and the UK

‘If it bleeds, it leads’, events characterised by fatalities, are likely to attract high levels of media coverage. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigate public discourses on the MH17 tragedy in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. First, corpus-based discourse analysis was employ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Discourse & communication 2019-10, Vol.13 (5), p.562-580
Main Authors: Theng Ong, Theng, McKenzie, Robert M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Corpus analysis
Discourse analysis
Keywords
Language attitudes
Mass media
Respondents
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
cited_by cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c351t-c03d92bb867a255501cada4713eaf80fe7e1d9611f45a1e2737e8fa776ad58fc3
cites cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c351t-c03d92bb867a255501cada4713eaf80fe7e1d9611f45a1e2737e8fa776ad58fc3
container_end_page 580
container_issue 5
container_start_page 562
container_title Discourse & communication
container_volume 13
creator Theng Ong, Theng
McKenzie, Robert M.
description ‘If it bleeds, it leads’, events characterised by fatalities, are likely to attract high levels of media coverage. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigate public discourses on the MH17 tragedy in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. First, corpus-based discourse analysis was employed to explore the construction of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy MH17 in four selected Malaysian and British newspapers. In addition, an attitudinal study examining 50 Malaysian and 50 UK nationals’ perceptions of the tragedy was conducted. Keywords analysis revealed an overall tendency for the news media to construct the air tragedy through classifications between ‘us’ and ‘others’. Specifically, important ‘Us’ (Malaysian elites) and non-important ‘Other’ (non-Malaysian) in the Malaysian newspapers, versus good ‘Us’ (the West) and evil ‘Others’ (Russia) in the British newspapers. The attitudinal analysis shows, for both the Malaysian and the UK respondents, the most salient associations with the MH17 tragedy related to ‘conflicts’.
doi_str_mv 10.1177/1750481319842455
format article
fullrecord <record><control><sourceid>proquest_cross</sourceid><recordid>TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2282766115</recordid><sourceformat>XML</sourceformat><sourcesystem>PC</sourcesystem><sage_id>10.1177_1750481319842455</sage_id><sourcerecordid>2282766115</sourcerecordid><originalsourceid>FETCH-LOGICAL-c351t-c03d92bb867a255501cada4713eaf80fe7e1d9611f45a1e2737e8fa776ad58fc3</originalsourceid><addsrcrecordid>eNp1kM1LAzEQxYMoWD_uHgOeVzPJZpP1JkWt2OKlPS_TTVJT1t2a7CL9781SURA8zTC89xveI-QK2A2AUregJMs1CCh1znMpj8hkPGW55nD8s4M4JWcxbhmTeSnyCYnLN0sbbDcDbiztHI2Dczb4dnNHF9Z4pMbHuhtCtBRbQ3fDuvE1xb73_WBspH33icGkmTiLGSiKPtA-JJrZU9_SBTa4j4kzukfR6uWCnDhsor38nudk9fiwnM6y-evT8_R-ntVCQp_VTJiSr9e6UMillAxqNJgrEBadZs4qC6YsAFwuESxXQlntUKkCjdSuFufk-sDdhe5jsLGvtilIm15WnGuuiuSVScUOqjp0MQbrql3w7xj2FbBqrLb6W22yZAdLTDF_of_qvwDyzXg6</addsrcrecordid><sourcetype>Aggregation Database</sourcetype><iscdi>true</iscdi><recordtype>article</recordtype><pqid>2282766115</pqid></control><display><type>article</type><title>The language of suffering: Media discourse and public attitudes towards the MH17 air tragedy in Malaysia and the UK</title><source>SAGE:Jisc Collections:SAGE Journals Read and Publish 2023-2024: Reading List</source><source>Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)</source><creator>Theng Ong, Theng ; McKenzie, Robert M.</creator><creatorcontrib>Theng Ong, Theng ; McKenzie, Robert M.</creatorcontrib><description>‘If it bleeds, it leads’, events characterised by fatalities, are likely to attract high levels of media coverage. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigate public discourses on the MH17 tragedy in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. First, corpus-based discourse analysis was employed to explore the construction of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy MH17 in four selected Malaysian and British newspapers. In addition, an attitudinal study examining 50 Malaysian and 50 UK nationals’ perceptions of the tragedy was conducted. Keywords analysis revealed an overall tendency for the news media to construct the air tragedy through classifications between ‘us’ and ‘others’. Specifically, important ‘Us’ (Malaysian elites) and non-important ‘Other’ (non-Malaysian) in the Malaysian newspapers, versus good ‘Us’ (the West) and evil ‘Others’ (Russia) in the British newspapers. The attitudinal analysis shows, for both the Malaysian and the UK respondents, the most salient associations with the MH17 tragedy related to ‘conflicts’.</description><identifier>ISSN: 1750-4813</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1750-4821</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1177/1750481319842455</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>London, England: SAGE Publications</publisher><subject>Corpus analysis ; Discourse analysis ; Keywords ; Language attitudes ; Mass media ; Respondents</subject><ispartof>Discourse &amp; communication, 2019-10, Vol.13 (5), p.562-580</ispartof><rights>The Author(s) 2019</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c351t-c03d92bb867a255501cada4713eaf80fe7e1d9611f45a1e2737e8fa776ad58fc3</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c351t-c03d92bb867a255501cada4713eaf80fe7e1d9611f45a1e2737e8fa776ad58fc3</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><link.rule.ids>314,780,784,27924,27925,31269,79364</link.rule.ids></links><search><creatorcontrib>Theng Ong, Theng</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>McKenzie, Robert M.</creatorcontrib><title>The language of suffering: Media discourse and public attitudes towards the MH17 air tragedy in Malaysia and the UK</title><title>Discourse &amp; communication</title><description>‘If it bleeds, it leads’, events characterised by fatalities, are likely to attract high levels of media coverage. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigate public discourses on the MH17 tragedy in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. First, corpus-based discourse analysis was employed to explore the construction of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy MH17 in four selected Malaysian and British newspapers. In addition, an attitudinal study examining 50 Malaysian and 50 UK nationals’ perceptions of the tragedy was conducted. Keywords analysis revealed an overall tendency for the news media to construct the air tragedy through classifications between ‘us’ and ‘others’. Specifically, important ‘Us’ (Malaysian elites) and non-important ‘Other’ (non-Malaysian) in the Malaysian newspapers, versus good ‘Us’ (the West) and evil ‘Others’ (Russia) in the British newspapers. The attitudinal analysis shows, for both the Malaysian and the UK respondents, the most salient associations with the MH17 tragedy related to ‘conflicts’.</description><subject>Corpus analysis</subject><subject>Discourse analysis</subject><subject>Keywords</subject><subject>Language attitudes</subject><subject>Mass media</subject><subject>Respondents</subject><issn>1750-4813</issn><issn>1750-4821</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2019</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>7T9</sourceid><recordid>eNp1kM1LAzEQxYMoWD_uHgOeVzPJZpP1JkWt2OKlPS_TTVJT1t2a7CL9781SURA8zTC89xveI-QK2A2AUregJMs1CCh1znMpj8hkPGW55nD8s4M4JWcxbhmTeSnyCYnLN0sbbDcDbiztHI2Dczb4dnNHF9Z4pMbHuhtCtBRbQ3fDuvE1xb73_WBspH33icGkmTiLGSiKPtA-JJrZU9_SBTa4j4kzukfR6uWCnDhsor38nudk9fiwnM6y-evT8_R-ntVCQp_VTJiSr9e6UMillAxqNJgrEBadZs4qC6YsAFwuESxXQlntUKkCjdSuFufk-sDdhe5jsLGvtilIm15WnGuuiuSVScUOqjp0MQbrql3w7xj2FbBqrLb6W22yZAdLTDF_of_qvwDyzXg6</recordid><startdate>201910</startdate><enddate>201910</enddate><creator>Theng Ong, Theng</creator><creator>McKenzie, Robert M.</creator><general>SAGE Publications</general><general>SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC</general><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>7T9</scope></search><sort><creationdate>201910</creationdate><title>The language of suffering: Media discourse and public attitudes towards the MH17 air tragedy in Malaysia and the UK</title><author>Theng Ong, Theng ; McKenzie, Robert M.</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c351t-c03d92bb867a255501cada4713eaf80fe7e1d9611f45a1e2737e8fa776ad58fc3</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2019</creationdate><topic>Corpus analysis</topic><topic>Discourse analysis</topic><topic>Keywords</topic><topic>Language attitudes</topic><topic>Mass media</topic><topic>Respondents</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Theng Ong, Theng</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>McKenzie, Robert M.</creatorcontrib><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)</collection><jtitle>Discourse &amp; communication</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Theng Ong, Theng</au><au>McKenzie, Robert M.</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>The language of suffering: Media discourse and public attitudes towards the MH17 air tragedy in Malaysia and the UK</atitle><jtitle>Discourse &amp; communication</jtitle><date>2019-10</date><risdate>2019</risdate><volume>13</volume><issue>5</issue><spage>562</spage><epage>580</epage><pages>562-580</pages><issn>1750-4813</issn><eissn>1750-4821</eissn><abstract>‘If it bleeds, it leads’, events characterised by fatalities, are likely to attract high levels of media coverage. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigate public discourses on the MH17 tragedy in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. First, corpus-based discourse analysis was employed to explore the construction of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy MH17 in four selected Malaysian and British newspapers. In addition, an attitudinal study examining 50 Malaysian and 50 UK nationals’ perceptions of the tragedy was conducted. Keywords analysis revealed an overall tendency for the news media to construct the air tragedy through classifications between ‘us’ and ‘others’. Specifically, important ‘Us’ (Malaysian elites) and non-important ‘Other’ (non-Malaysian) in the Malaysian newspapers, versus good ‘Us’ (the West) and evil ‘Others’ (Russia) in the British newspapers. The attitudinal analysis shows, for both the Malaysian and the UK respondents, the most salient associations with the MH17 tragedy related to ‘conflicts’.</abstract><cop>London, England</cop><pub>SAGE Publications</pub><doi>10.1177/1750481319842455</doi><tpages>19</tpages><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record>
fulltext fulltext
identifier ISSN: 1750-4813
ispartof Discourse & communication, 2019-10, Vol.13 (5), p.562-580
issn 1750-4813
1750-4821
language eng
recordid cdi_proquest_journals_2282766115
source SAGE:Jisc Collections:SAGE Journals Read and Publish 2023-2024: Reading List; Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
subjects Corpus analysis
Discourse analysis
Keywords
Language attitudes
Mass media
Respondents
title The language of suffering: Media discourse and public attitudes towards the MH17 air tragedy in Malaysia and the UK
url http://sfxeu10.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/loughborough?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_tim=2025-01-01T16%3A36%3A22IST&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=infofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com:primo3-Article-proquest_cross&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=The%20language%20of%20suffering:%20Media%20discourse%20and%20public%20attitudes%20towards%20the%20MH17%20air%20tragedy%20in%20Malaysia%20and%20the%20UK&rft.jtitle=Discourse%20&%20communication&rft.au=Theng%20Ong,%20Theng&rft.date=2019-10&rft.volume=13&rft.issue=5&rft.spage=562&rft.epage=580&rft.pages=562-580&rft.issn=1750-4813&rft.eissn=1750-4821&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177/1750481319842455&rft_dat=%3Cproquest_cross%3E2282766115%3C/proquest_cross%3E%3Cgrp_id%3Ecdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c351t-c03d92bb867a255501cada4713eaf80fe7e1d9611f45a1e2737e8fa776ad58fc3%3C/grp_id%3E%3Coa%3E%3C/oa%3E%3Curl%3E%3C/url%3E&rft_id=info:oai/&rft_pqid=2282766115&rft_id=info:pmid/&rft_sage_id=10.1177_1750481319842455&rfr_iscdi=true