CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.4 SOUTH CHINA SEA ISSUE
2.4.3 The Republic of Singapore’s Claim
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the naval drill mainly focused on joint escort, joint search, hijacked vessel rescue and disaster relief (Yi, 2015, December 18). On March 24 2016, around 100 Chinese ships were reported in ‘Malaysia waters’ near the Luconia Shoals, engaged in what Chinese official called fishing activity (Zhou & Westcott, 2016 March 26). Malaysian government, on the other hand, said it has monitored and there is no encroachment by Chinese vessels (Parameswaran, 2016 March 29).
In 2002 and 2017, meetings between ASEAN and China were held, and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the SCS (DOC), Code of Conduct (COC) was agreed to prevent naval incidents in the SCS (Wu & Ren, 2003). However, there has been no consensus over territorial rights in SCS, and it lacks details (Storey, 2017 August 8) and legal binding (Lee, 2017 November 18).
2.4.3 The Republic of Singapore’s Claim
Singapore’s territorial claim does not overlap with China’s nine-dash line. On August 21, 2016, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong claimed Singapore has no claims in SCS. He further mentioned that ‘upholding international law’, maintain the ‘freedom of navigation’ and ‘a united and effective ASEAN’ matter to Singapore, and that the Singapore government ‘has to take a national point of view, decide what is in Singapore’s overall interests.’ (Loong, 2016 August 21). China, on the other hand, urged Singapore to stay out of SCS conflicts (Wong, 2016, August 16). The two countries have exchanged ‘a war of words’ on media because of disagreement in SCS policy (Zhu, 2016, October 7). Later China criticized Singapore for backing the Philippines’ position on the arbitration ruling, and questioned its opening of its port to the US Navy (Chan, 2016, October 2).
Singapore also established defense relationships with other countries, such as the
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US in late 2015 (Torode, 2017, August 8). In 1971, Singapore signed the Five Power Defence Arrangement with Malaysia, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. The multilateral agreement aims to maintain regional security, and is regarded as a platform for communication and security promise between these countries (Dobell, 2017 June 5).
2.5 Media Ownership and Their Standpoints
A study of each country’s media environment and media ownership is conducted to see if the later affect how BRI is reported. To focus on specific media, this research chooses media based on the ranking of internet traffic by Alexa.com and introduction of media by countries by 4 International Media & Newspapers (4imn, 2017). Three major presses that publish daily English news online for the Philippines and Malaysia are chosen. They are the Inquirer.net, Manilla Bulletin and Rappler.com for the Philippines, The Star Online, New Straits Times, and Malaysiakini for Malaysia. Due to Singapore’s population and media environment, only The Strait Times is chosen.
2.5.1 The Republic of Philippines
Press in the Philippines had been struggling between “open and subsidized collaboration with the establishment” and “association with the dissenters of the day”
according to newspaper editor Jose Luna Castro (as cited in Coronel, 2001). There have been no state-owned or party-owned presses, and all of them are private-owned, mainly driven by profits and political influence (Coronel, 2001).
After 1945, newspaper business was mostly still owned by businesspeople, such as The Manila Chronicle, and they used media for advocating legislative changes, attacking rivals or promoting allies (Ofreneo 1986; as cited in Coronel, 2001). On the
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newspaper and famous for its independent journalism in the 1960s (Coronel, 2001, p.114). Media control had existed in the Marcos era until 1986. The former ousted president Joseph Estrada was reported to control media by ‘systematic bribery, threatening the businesses of media owners with tax audits, and manipulating advertising’ (Coronel, 2001). In the modern day, newspapers, television and radio stations in Philippines have remained private-owned and closely associated with large and diversified corporations (Coronel, 2001). Journalism scholar Teodoro pointed out that ‘various political and business interests have long been in Philippine corporate media and it is reflected in how the media report on matters that affect those interests’
(Caña and Macaraeg, 2017, July 17).
Table 2.3 shows that Inquirer, Manila Bulletin and Rappler are all Manila-based.
The former two are owned by family business. Part of the shares of Rappler are owned by its workers. The Rufino-Prieto family had owned the Inquirer for 25 years and has extended its ownership into other fields such as real estate, restaurants and media such as digital services, radio, theater, and printing business (Tomacruz, 2017, July 18). In July 2017, the Rufino-Prieto family was in talks with Chinese-Philippine businessman Ramon Ang for selling the Inquirer group (Tomacruz, 2017, July 18). Ang is the owner of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corporation. In 2015, he also wanted to buy the country’s second biggest broadcaster by revenue, GMA Network, but failed. Duterte has described Ang as his ‘fast friend’ for contributing to his 2016 campaign and helping the construction of drug rehabilitation centers (Rappler, 2016, December 21). Ramon bought a majority of the stake of Philippine Daily Inquirer in November 2017 (Johnson, 2018, January 17).
Both Inquirer and Rappler have criticized Duterte’s drug war. In return, Duterte has attacked Prieto family’s alleged non-payment of taxes on its Mile Long Building in
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Makati City, and he threatened to take back and return the property to the government (Caña and Macaraeg, 2017, July 17). Duterte said Rappler produced ‘fake news’ and he tried to revoke Rappler’s media license by accusing its ownership is controlled by foreign entities (Johnson, 2018, January 17). Under his claim, Rappler violates the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, which limits the ownership and management of mass media to citizens of the Philippines.
The Yap family, who owns the U.S. Automotive Co., Inc. and USAutoco, Inc., has been the major stake holder of Manila Bulletin of the Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation since 1960s (VERA Files & Reporters without Borders, 2016b). In addition to publishing, the Yap has business in shipping, pharmacy, banking, tourism and education (Coconuts Manila, 2014, April 7). Manila Bulletin has released articles of the government’s denial of extralegal killing (Kabiling, 2018, July 20) and supporting Duterte’s drug war (Tiglao, 2018, September 26). The Duterte administration has never been reported criticizing Manila Bulletin as of January 2019.
2.5.2 Malaysia
In 1974, the Printing Presses and Publications Act forbids foreign ownership of printing press and newspaper, which offers the opportunity for the state to directly acquire the shares of presses (Guan, Suryadinata, 2011). Malaysian newspapers are mainly in Bahasa, English and Chinese (Audit Bureau of Circulations Malaysia, 2016).
Based on official statistics, the number of daily publications have been shrinking since 2012 (Audit Bureau of Circulations Malaysia, 2017).
According to Reuters Institute (2017), political parties and their investment companies are the main owners of Malaysian media. Media Prima, an integrated media company invested by UMNO, own major commercial television such as TV3, NTV7,
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TV9, radio stations, and newspapers such as the New Straits Times, Harian Metro and Berita Harian. Table 2.3 shows that the major shareholders of Media Prima are Employees Provident Fund (11.9 percent), Government of Malaysia (11.1 percent), and Permodalan Nasional Bhd. (9.2 percent). Employees Provident Fund is managed by the Ministry of Finance of Malaysia, and the Permodalan Nasional Bhd is a government-linked investment company.
MCA owns 42.46 percent of shares of the Star, the largest circulation English-language newspaper in Malaysia (MIDF Research, 2016 September 13). In addition, MCA also holds 20 percent of shares of the Nanyang Press, which is the publisher of Nanyang Siang Pau (The Star, 2006 October 18). The Star Online has a stronger political tendency leaning to UMNO compared to New Straits Times and Malaysiakini since Malaysian Chinese Association, the third-largest party in the Barisan Nasional alliance, is its main shareholder. Media Prima, who owns New Straits Times, is the biggest media group in Malaysia (Media Prima, 2018).
Online news blog and portal such as Malaysiakini and Malaysia Today have also made their marks since the 2000s. The former claims to be an independent media organization that does not linked to any political party or commercial interest (Malaysiakini, 2018a). The latter is famous for criticizing both ruling and opposition parties. Similar to Rappler, workers of Malaysiakini also own some shares of the company.
Malaysia is ranked 145th out of 180 in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders. Independent journalists might face the threat of Sedition Act and accusations of spreading false news by the authority (Reporters Without Borders, 2019).
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2.5.3 The Republic of Singapore
Media environment is mostly controlled by the government (BBC, 2017, September 5), and there is a culture of censorship on opposing political expressions (Gomez, 2005). Reporters Without Borders ranks it as 151st out of 180 countries in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index for the strong control of government and self-censorship among media (Reporters Without Borders, 2019). Although its Constitution claims to protect every citizen’s right to freedom of speech and expression, the Singapore Parliament can still impose restrictions to serve the interest of the security of Singapore (Gomez, 2005, p.17). The Infocommunications Media Development Authority (IMDA) of Singapore is in charge of regulating media content and sectors (IMDA, 2018).
The Strait Times of Singapore is owned by Singapore Press Holdings. The majority shares of Singapore Press Holdings is owned by corporate banks such as Citibank, DBS, HSBC (Singapore Press Holdings, 2017, October 3). Singapore Press Holdings own every newspaper in Singapore, including the Strait Times (Gomez, 2005). MediaCorp, a company owning most of Singaporean TV channels, also has close connections to the People’s Action Party (PAP), the ruling party of Singapore since 1959.
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Table 2-3 Major English news agencies from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. Three news station based on traffic ranking from Alexa.com and 4imn.com are selected for the Philippines and Malaysia, and one for Singapore.
Country Media Main owner Ownership
type Major shareholders of the media group Headquarter Annual total revenue/
advertising income Other media outlets
Philippines*
Inquirer.net Inquirer Holdings Corporation
Private Pinnacle Printers Corporation (68.9%), Excel Pacific Holding Corp. (25%),
Mercedes Prieto (6.1%)
Private U.S. Automotive Co., Inc. (54.4%), USAutoco, Inc. (23.4%), Menzi Trust
Fund Incorporated (8.4%)
Manila US$23.08 million/$
21.69 million
TV: RHTV- Dream (Channel 10), RHTV- Cable link (Channel 9),
etc.. Radio:
DZRH 666, Radyo Natin Rappler.com Rappler Holdings
Corporation
Private Dolphin Fire Group (31.21%), Maria Ressa (23.77%), Hatchd Group (17.86%), Benjamin So (17.86%),
Others (9.31%)
Manila US$2.98 million/no data
none
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Malaysian Chinese Association (43%), Permodalan Nasional Bhd. (16%), Employees Provident Fund (8.54%)
and others
Media Prima Private Employees Provident Fund (11.9%), Government of Malaysia (11.1%), Permodalan Nasional Bhd. (9.2%), Altima, Inc. (7.96%), Edgbaston Investment Partners LLP (4.51%),
Public Mutual Bhd. (3.92%),
Malaysiakini Mkini Dotcom Sdn Bhd
Private Editor in Chief Steven Gan and CEO Premesh Chandran (60%), the Media Development Investment Fund (29%), current and former staff and others who
have contributed to the organization (Malaysiakini, 2018).
Citibank Nominees Singapore PTE LTD (10.6%), DBS Nominees PTE LTD (10.3%), HSBC (Singapore) Nominees PTE LTD (4.32%), DBSN
Services PTE LTD (2.57%)
Singapore US$0.77million/$0.5 million in 2017
Newspaper: Business Times. Radio: One FM
and Kiss 92 (English), UFM (Mandarin)
Sources: The Philippines – VERA Files & Reporters without Borders (2016a); Malaysia – 4traders (2018), Wong (2012), Media Prima (2018), The Star (2018), Malaysiakini (2013) & Malaysiakini (2018b); Singapore – BBC (2017, September 5), Singapore Press Holdings (2017, October 3) & Singapore Press Holdings (2018).
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2.6 Research Questions
To understand what kind of features BRI reports have, such as the amount of coverage, news origins, sources, topics and tendencies, the following questions are asked:
1. How did the amount of coverage of BRI change in Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media (RQ1)?
2. What news origins were used in Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media coverage of BRI (RQ2)?
3. What topics were selected and centered on by Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media in reporting on BRI (RQ3)?
4. Did Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media possess different tendencies while reporting on BRI (RQ4)?
5. What frames were selected and centered on by Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media in reporting on BRI (RQ5)?
6. What sources were represented in Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media coverage of BRI (RQ6)?
RQ5 and RQ6 help us understand the characters in BRI reports, and their standpoints toward BRI. Table 2-4 (see p. 37), which shows four kinds of economic and political frames, is created to answer RQ5. The design of these four frames are based on the review of former BRI studies, former international news framing and policy news framing studies and the countries’ economic, political background. The positivity of economic and political frames make up the meta-frame of development, which puts development as the first priority over political and economic concerns. On the other
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hand, the concern meta-frame consists of economic burden and political threat frames, which see China as the origin of problems. The distribution of these four frames can tell us how Philippine and Malaysian presses depict the BRI, and what do they emphasize when they need to make decisions about BRI.
To see how their attitudes toward BRI change, the following questions are asked:
7. How did BRI frames change in Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media through time, with different origins or sources (RQ7)?
RQ7 wishes to understand how did BRI frames change in Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media through time. It also looks for the relation between frames and
Meta-frame Frame Main argument
Development
Economic incentive
BRI is a win-win project that improves economy and
connectivity.
Political stability
Cooperation with China or joining BRI is not giving up
national interest. BRI promotes mutual trust and peace. China has no intention to interfere the affairs of other
countries.
Concern
Economy concern
Unrepayable loans and too many Chinese products will
harm local market.
Political threat
Cooperating means the concession of sovereignty
rights. Chinese Century.
Table 2-4 Frames and meta-frames of BRI in media.
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new origins and news sources.
To understand whether media ownership is an influential factor, RQ8 is asked.
8. How do media standpoints and ownership affect the way BRI is reported?
Which frame prevails when BRI is reported positively (economic incentive or political stability frame) and negatively (economic concern or political threat frame) in the same article (RQ8)?
Almost every news agency in this study have shares controlled by private companies, however, the composition of media ownership is different among Malaysian and Philippine media (see Table 2.5). Media such as Rappler from the Philippines and Malaysiakini from Malaysia are more critical to the government compared to others, since their workers can own part of the company. RQ8 studies the relation between BRI frames and media ownership. In order to find how local press think, only articles with a local origin will be analyzed. Furthermore, this research question seeks to find the tendency of Singaporean, Malaysian and Philippine media when both benefits and concerns of BRI are mentioned. The discussion section will show each country’s attitude toward BRI and explain their characteristics.
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CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODS 3.1 Overview
The news websites of Inquirer (https://www.inquirer.net/), Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/), Rappler (https://www.rappler.com/) of the Philippines, the Star (https://www.thestar.com.my/), New Straits Times (https://www.nst.com.my/), Malaysiakini (https://www.malaysiakini.com/) of Malaysia and The Straits Times of Singapore (https://www.straitstimes.com/global) are used for collecting BRI media content. 1,328 BRI related articles (1,138 news, 190 commentaries) are collected from Malaysia press, 1,299 (1,013 news, 286 commentaries) from the Strait Times of Singapore, and 405 (329 news, 76 commentaries) from the Philippine press covering the period from September 1st 2013 to August 31st 2018.
To answer what are the characteristics in BRI news and commentaries from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines media, each article is coded with its date, trend, topics, tendency, news origins, (most prominent) source figures and (most prominent) frames. Coding sheets are created (see Appendix B, C, D, E) by Excel. SPSS is used to conduct cross analysis for variables, such governments’ attitudes towards BRI, media ownership, news sources, and news origins. A corpus analysis software, AntConc, designed by Professor Laurence Anthony, is used to help find paragraphs important to the construction of BRI frames, and also find the most mentioned figures.
3.2 Analysis Object and Time Frame
The unit of analysis is one piece of English written online news or commentary.
The reason for choosing online news is that most news agencies have an online version.
News websites become more significant when compared to paper and radio because of the growing of users online (Matsa and Lu, 2016; Shum and Liu, 2017). Online
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resources are also more convenient and easier to retrieve news for researchers abroad.
Keywords such as ‘belt’, ‘belt road’ are searched on various news websites, because ‘belt and road’ might not include news with ‘one belt one road’ or ‘belt & road’.
This study tried ‘China’ as keyword, but the search result are too diverse with topics unrelated to BRI. It will cost more time and effort to select and analyze so the author did not use it. News less related to the BRI are selected and removed manually.
News are usually expected to follow the principles of objectivity, while ideological perspectives are more obvious in commentaries (Fowler, 1991; Wahl-Jorgensen, 2008;
Ha, 2017). Editorials, opinions and letters to the editor all counted as commentaries in this research. Commentaries and news are distinguished by three steps: First is to check if there is a commentary note in the headline. Second is to see whether the article has a specific time for the incident or interview. News articles usually specify the time of the incident or interview. Lastly, the higher portion of opinions in the article will also make it as a commentary instead of news. Full texts of governmental articles or speeches are excluded.
The times frame for analysis starts from 2013 September, when BRI is first mentioned, to August 2018. This period is in Xi Jinping’s first term as the President of the PRC; Najib Razak and Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s terms as the Prime Minister of Malaysia; and across the terms of Aquino III and Duterte as the Philippine President.
The change of relationships and interactions between countries is also observable in a longer timescale. Pivotal points for the Philippines include 2016, when the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA, 2016) denied China’s nine-dash lines territorial claims in the SCS. In addition, President Rodrigo Duterte’s first visit to China in October 2016 is seen as a symbol for the Duterte administration turning its focus from the US to China.
The discussion of economic interests and sovereignty conflict can be observed in this
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period. Malaysia’s general election in May 2018 is also a pivotal point since Najib and Mahathir have disagreements in Malaysia embracing BRI.
The quantity of news will show the level of emphasis each country and press has on the Chinese project through time. It also indicates significant event that affects the trend and framing of BRI related articles.
3.3 Sampling
There are two steps used for sampling in this study. A systematic (interval) sampling is conducted in each country after answering RQ1. Systematic sampling offers a general view of BRI development through time. To cover the latest media coverage of BRI and match three countries’ total amount of analysis objects, samples start from late August and are chosen with a sampling interval of three. This will give Malaysia and Singapore four hundred articles each for analysis, and one hundred thirty for the Philippines. Purposive sampling is done after identifying the tendency of BRI articles, which is after answering RQ4. Only articles with positive, negative or mixed tendency will be further analyzed to answer RQ5 to RQ8. Purposive sampling can reduce the cost of time and human resources and present BRI articles with more obvious frames. To identify how local press think about BRI, only articles with local origins are used to answer RQ8.
3.4 Construction of Category 3.4.1. Topic
In order to understand the content of BRI news, a study of news topic is conducted by manual analysis. The categorization of news topics not only serves as the basis of
In order to understand the content of BRI news, a study of news topic is conducted by manual analysis. The categorization of news topics not only serves as the basis of