Virtual Booth

In Malaysia, the media has highlighted LGBT concerns, making it a notable focus in news reporting in recent years. News media, being a potent force in shaping societal perspectives, holds the ability to impact people’s views on the world and their attitudes towards different social groups. Nevertheless, due to the sensitivity of the subject, there remains a scarcity of knowledge regarding how Malaysian newspapers represent LGBT community. Hence, this study aims to examine the linguistic phenomena of how LGBT is being portrayed in Malaysian online newspapers by employing discourse-historical approach (DHA). Nvivo software will be employed to analyse the news articles in three mainstream languages (Malay, Chinese and English) taken from Star Online, Malaysiakini and Sin Chiew Daily published throughout 2023. This study seeks to bring to light the current language practices employed by news media in portraying the LGBT community, encouraging a critical understanding of media consumption and enhancing media literacy. The study carries three substantial impacts on society, providing valuable insights for educators and students, journalists, as well as policymakers, ministers, or representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The sentiment analysis of this study holds commercial value as it can be transformed into a software tool aiding journalists to assess content sensitivity pre-publication, thereby boosting the efficiency and accuracy of respectful reporting efforts.