The Construction of Refugees in News Headlines : A Critical Discourse Analysis on Rohingya Refugees in Malaysia and Thailand

As news coverage regarding refugees have increased in the past decades, the media representation of refugees in the host countries tend to more or less portray them as national security risk. This study questions the differences between the news discourses in main recipient countries and the less recipient countries asking what factors determine the portrayal. This study seeks to fill the already existing field of research on media representation on Rohingya as available research is conducted on main recipient countries, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The countries chosen for this study are Malaysia and Thailand as they are considered third point of exit countries, they are in same region and as each country has same religious belief as either Myanmar or the Rohingya. Thus, the objective of the study is to understand how the news discourse in Malaysia and Thailand present their ideological perspectives on Rohingya in a subtle way to influence the opinion of the general public. Furthermore, it seeks to reveal how language is used in news reports to frame Rohingya and the underlying factors in which determines the approach of their news reporting. To answer the objective, this research analyses in total 40 news headlines by using the method of Critical Discourse Analysis. Moreover, the results indicate that the news discourse in Malaysia predominantly reports on the Rohingya emphatically and portrays them as active actors in the crisis doing anything to survive the Myanmar violence. The situation of Rohingya is also emphasized in the news discourse in Thailand, though not to same extent as in Malaysia. Thailand rather reports on the crisis itself and how the other actors involved urge and criticize one another. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that portrayal of Rohingya differs depending on who they are to the affected country as well as the international political relationship between the countries affected