How Newspapers in China, India and Bangladesh Framed the Rohingya Crisis of 2017

摘要

The Rohingya persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017 attracted intense international media attention. In light of normative theory, media of different countries are assumed to cover an issue differently because of differences in the socio-political systems involved. This study examines how media from three different countries framed the Rohingya Muslim issue. These systematic and qualitative content analyses of six newspapers from three neighboring countries --- China, India and Bangladesh --- examines media framing of Myanmar in light of Robinson's (2001) Policy-Media Interaction model. The timeframe of the study was one month, starting on the first day of Myanmar's Rohingya crisis on August 25, 2017. The results of 50 qualitatively analyzed news reports and 258 quantitatively analyzed news reports found significant differences in the style of covering the Rohingya issue by the media of three neighboring countries. In Indian and Bangladeshi newspapers the human interest and protest frame emerged as the most important frame, while Chinese media used the conflict and security frame most. In Bangladesh, aid agencies appeared to be the most cited sources in newspapers while in Indian newspapers, national officials were cited most. The Myanmar government appeared top in the list of source used in Chinese newspapers.