News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections

In response to the importance of social networking sites as sources of information, news media organizations have set up Facebook channels in which they publish news stories or links to articles. This allows for a wider news reach as well as audience participation. When audience members read and sub...

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Main Authors: Mohamed, Shafizan, Abdul Manan, Kamaruzzaman
Format: Proceeding Paper
Language:English
English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/4/74744%20News%20Online%20and%20Public%20Opinion.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/3/74744%20Slide%20-%20Semenyih%20%26%20Rantau.pdf
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author Mohamed, Shafizan
Abdul Manan, Kamaruzzaman
author_facet Mohamed, Shafizan
Abdul Manan, Kamaruzzaman
author_sort Mohamed, Shafizan
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description In response to the importance of social networking sites as sources of information, news media organizations have set up Facebook channels in which they publish news stories or links to articles. This allows for a wider news reach as well as audience participation. When audience members read and subsequently comment on news articles on Facebook, it becomes possible to identify public opinions and public sentiments on the issues being covered. Based upon this assumption, this study investigated whether there is a strong relationship between the news shared on Facebook and the public’s opinion on those news. The study broadly asked do online news set the agenda on Facebook? Content analysis was conducted on selected news and the Facebook comments on those news during the campaign weeks leading up to the Semenyih and Rantau by elections that were held in February 2019 and April 2019 respectively. The study found that while the notion of agenda setting is still strong in which the news still influenced the facebook users’ agenda, the relationship is now very much contested in that the networked environment of social media has created a more complex way to how public formed their opinions. In addition to this discovery, the study also contemplated on whether can online news effect election result?
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format Proceeding Paper
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institution International Islamic University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
English
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publishDate 2019
recordtype eprints
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spelling iium-747442019-10-29T01:53:11Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/ News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections Mohamed, Shafizan Abdul Manan, Kamaruzzaman H61.8 Communication of information JQ715 Politics and Government in Malaysia JQ719 Elections in Malaysia In response to the importance of social networking sites as sources of information, news media organizations have set up Facebook channels in which they publish news stories or links to articles. This allows for a wider news reach as well as audience participation. When audience members read and subsequently comment on news articles on Facebook, it becomes possible to identify public opinions and public sentiments on the issues being covered. Based upon this assumption, this study investigated whether there is a strong relationship between the news shared on Facebook and the public’s opinion on those news. The study broadly asked do online news set the agenda on Facebook? Content analysis was conducted on selected news and the Facebook comments on those news during the campaign weeks leading up to the Semenyih and Rantau by elections that were held in February 2019 and April 2019 respectively. The study found that while the notion of agenda setting is still strong in which the news still influenced the facebook users’ agenda, the relationship is now very much contested in that the networked environment of social media has created a more complex way to how public formed their opinions. In addition to this discovery, the study also contemplated on whether can online news effect election result? 2019 Proceeding Paper NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/4/74744%20News%20Online%20and%20Public%20Opinion.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/3/74744%20Slide%20-%20Semenyih%20%26%20Rantau.pdf Mohamed, Shafizan and Abdul Manan, Kamaruzzaman (2019) News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections. In: Post-GE14 By-Elections: Implications for GE15, 28th August 2019, Kuala Lumpur. (Unpublished)
spellingShingle H61.8 Communication of information
JQ715 Politics and Government in Malaysia
JQ719 Elections in Malaysia
Mohamed, Shafizan
Abdul Manan, Kamaruzzaman
News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections
title News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections
title_full News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections
title_fullStr News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections
title_full_unstemmed News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections
title_short News online and public opinion on Facebook during the Semenyih and Rantau by-elections
title_sort news online and public opinion on facebook during the semenyih and rantau by-elections
topic H61.8 Communication of information
JQ715 Politics and Government in Malaysia
JQ719 Elections in Malaysia
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/4/74744%20News%20Online%20and%20Public%20Opinion.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/74744/3/74744%20Slide%20-%20Semenyih%20%26%20Rantau.pdf