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DOI: 10.1177/1748048517707440

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Article

Framing the flight MH370mystery: A contentanalysis of Malaysian,Chinese, and U.S. media

Lindsey M BierUniversity of Southern California, USA

Sejin ParkRepublic of South Korea Army, Republic of Korea

Michael J PalencharUniversity of Tennessee, USA

Abstract

This study analyzes frames related to the flight MH370 disappearance in Malaysian

(N¼ 93), Chinese (N¼ 155), and U.S. (N¼ 150) newspapers. The results provide

insight about media orientations in an international crisis, particularly regarding national

interests and international citizenship. Attribution of responsibility is the dominant

frame; secondary frames vary among conflict and human-interest frames, demonstrating

that attribution of responsibility is the most important frame even with unknown con-

trollability and ambiguous intentionality. Results also demonstrate significant differences

in national interest frames and in the roles in the societal evaluation of risk. This study

contextualizes the results in media systems, diplomatic relations, and cultures.

Keywords

Crisis communication, framing, international citizenship, international crisis, national

interests

On 8 March 2014, about an hour after takeoff, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370mysteriously disappeared from radar. In a news release to media after the dis-appearance, Malaysia Airlines confirmed the flight was carrying 239 passengersand crew from 14 different nationalities. The passengers included 154 Chinese,50 Malaysian, seven Indonesian, six Australian, five Indian, four American,

Corresponding author:

Sejin Park, Public Affairs Officer, Republic of South Korea, PO Box 501, Key-Ryong Si, Choong-Nam,

Republic of Korea 32801.

Email: sj4297@gmail.com

three French, two New Zealander, two Ukrainian, two Canadian, one Russian, oneItalian, one Dutch, and one Austrian (Malaysia Airlines, 2014).

In the days and weeks after the mysterious event, international media reportedextensively on the missing airplane. Such coverage doubled television audiences,increased primetime ratings, and generated immense internet traffic (news.com.acu,2014). While many speculated the plane accidentally crashed with the fuselage nowresting at the bottom of the Indian Ocean, others contended hijackers hid the planeto accomplish malicious purposes at a later time or supernatural forces snatchedMH370 from the sky. Whether a rogue pilot, terrorists, or mechanical failure wasattributed to blame, each story was nothing more than a conjecture becausetechnological evidence about the actual fate of the flight remains sparse.

The MH370 investigation continues as the most expensive in aviation history(Australian Transport Safety Bureau, 2016; Wardell, 2014). Inhabitants of LaReunion, a remote Indian island, discovered debris on 29 July 2015, more than ayear after the plane’s disappearance. French and Malaysian authorities confirmedthe debris was from MH370 (Jamieson and Ciganinero, 2015). In October 2016,authorities confirmed wing fragments, discovered in May 2016 in Mauritius and inJune 2016 in Tanzania, came from MH370 (Westcott, 2016). However, the locationof the fuselage and the conditions under which the plane disappeared remain amystery that, more than three years after the event, continues to receive internationalmedia attention. For example, a British journalist released a book about MH370 inMarch 2016 (Quest, 2016) and an episode of the Australian edition of ‘60 Minutes’broadcast in July 2016 with accusations that the Malaysian government concealedits knowledge of the true fate of MH370 (Vankin, 2016). Further, the mystery of themissing plane still causes emotional suffering and anxiety for the 239 passengers’loved ones and has resulted in dozens of lawsuits (Glum, 2016).

The MH370 mystery permits a unique inquiry into media coverage of a crisisbecause multiple nations are involved and there is no clarity about what happenedto the flight: This is a crisis without a known cause and, thus, without an individ-ual, organization, or nation to attribute blame. Further, aviation crises are ofinterest because aviation is one of the technologies credited for creating a globalcommunity. According to the International Air Transport Association (2014), air-lines safely transported more than 3.3 billion passengers, and, while doing so,sustained 58 million jobs and stimulated $2.4 trillion of economic output.Critical actions of large organizations, particularly aviation corporations such asMalaysia Airlines, attract global media attention and influence how the homecountry is perceived in other countries (Gotsi et al., 2011).

Media are a primary source of information about international events andissues, and coverage helps construct perceptions about and evaluations of unfamil-iar nations, cultures, and ideologies for global audiences (Kucherenko andChristen, 2014; Orgeret, 2010). Media shape public opinions, particularly incrisis situations (Coombs, 2007; Knight, 1999). Considerable scholarly attentionhas been devoted to the manner in which media frame crises and to the relationshipbetween national interests and media coverage of political events and wars

Bier et al. 159

(Downing, 1988; Paletz and Vinson, 1994; Zaremba, 1988), but little empiricalresearch has been conducted to elucidate the relationships among national inter-ests, international citizenship, and communication about international crises.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the framing of the disappear-ance of flight MH370 in English-language newspapers from Malaysia, China, andthe United States to provide insight about media orientation in an internationalcrisis, particularly in relation to national interests and international citizenship.

Literature review

Theoretical framework

Media frames are ‘schemata of interpretation’ (Goffman, 1974: 21). Framing ana-lysis investigates which attributes of an event or issue are presented as important bymedia (McCombs et al., 1997; Scheufele and Tewksbury, 2007). Thus, framinganalysis is the interpretation of a reality in a message (McCombs, 2005).Through exposure to media with manifest and latent frames, audiences constructshared expectations and values, which affect behavior (Scheufele and Tewksbury,2007). Therefore, in a strategic attempt not unlike persuasion, the media presen-tation of an event or issue influences public opinion and collective behavior(Ghanem, 1997).

National interests and media frames

National interests relate to the political, economic, militarist, sociocultural, andsecurity objectives of a country and comprise value choices by policymakers tominimize costs and to maximize benefits for the good of the country (Li, 2003).Journalists employ national interest frames by explicitly highlighting or makingimplicit assumptions about these objectives and value choices to explain an eventor issue and to resonate with domestic audiences (Brewer, 2006; Novais, 2007). Inthis manner, media reduce the complexity of foreign cultures (Said, 1993) andimpose elite-defined national interests and agendas onto international matters(Akhavan-Majid and Ramaprasad, 1989; Dorogi, 2001). Although media oftenclaim to offer a plurality of viewpoints, they are typically limited to those reflectingviewpoints from official sources (Ruigrok and Van Atteveldt, 2007) and there is aclose relationship between media organizations and government agendas (Entman,1991; Hook and Pu, 2006; Paterson, 1999). For example, national interests areprominent in U.S. media coverage of China, which commonly utilizes an antic-ommunist frame (Dorogi, 2001; Lee et al., 2011; Mao, 2014), whereas media aboutU.S.–Japan relations and U.S.–South Korea relations often employ a cooperativeframe (Park, 2013).

National interests are reflected in culture and operate with the legitimacy of acountry’s citizenship, government, and/or economic activities. Such legitimacy maybe justified with the fabrication of political authority and the coercive control of

160 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

cultural values. Culture is the expression of the character of a group of social actorsand is molded by their backgrounds, languages, and beliefs (Bereciartu, 1994).In this sense, the framing of national interests can be further examined and under-stood from culture, for culture provides the foundation for social actors to generateknowledge and to assign meaning to external phenomena (Hall, 1997). Mediacontent is a direct reflection of culture (Hall, 1980) and media frames are a partof culture (Entman, 1993; Goffman, 1974), for they link cognition and culture(Gamson et al., 1992; Lee and Basnyat, 2013). Media producers use culturalvalues in content and present them to audiences (Shoemaker and Reese, 1996),and culture functions to provide understanding between media producers andmedia consumers (Van Gorp, 2007).

Amid increased global interconnectedness from technological advancements inmedia and travel capabilities, national interests are often in tension with a coun-try’s desire to be perceived as a respectable international citizen. Internationalcitizenship, also called global citizenship, lacks a singular definition but is oftenrelated to neoliberal economic policy or a sense of cosmopolitanism based onmoral responsibility to the global population. Journalists can function as agentsto promote various facets of international citizenship (Schattle, 2015). Accordingto Pert (2014), international citizenship is described according to the followingframes: a legal frame featuring compliance with international law, a cooperationframe featuring support for bilateral or multilateral agreements, a willingnessframe featuring completion of international tasks, an ethics frame featuring gooddeeds outside its national boundaries, a leadership frame featuring works to raiseinternational standards, and a global peace frame as a primary actor in globalpeace and stability (Pert, 2014).

Generic roles in the societal evaluation of risk

Palmlund (1992, 2009) identified six generic roles in societal evaluation of risk,which can be used to examine media crisis frames, especially in relation to attri-bution of risk concerning individuals or organizations responsible for the crisisevent or responsible for managing the crisis event. According to Palmlund’sresearch, risk bearers are the victims of the negative consequences of the risk orperceive themselves as such. Risk bearers’ advocates speak on behalf of the riskbearers. Risk generators create and/or fabricate the risks or are at least thought todo so by others involved. Risk researchers work through various methods to deter-mine what occurred, why and how it can be abated or mitigated. Risk arbiterswork to protect risk bearers from present or future risks, while risk informers arenot directly affected or involved yet provide information and commentary.

Framing an international aviation crisis

While framing is a factor in media coverage, it becomes even more important incrisis communication because media frames affect audience perceptions of

Bier et al. 161

organizations and behavior in emergency situations (Coombs, 2007). Entman(1993) identified four basic explicit and implicit media frames in crisis situations:definition of problem, specification of causes, conveyance of moral assessments,and endorsement of remedies. Such frames manifest in media through word choice,metaphors, exemplars, descriptions, arguments, and visual images (Pan andKosicki, 1993). More recent studies, including those conducted by crisis commu-nication scholars with a nuanced understanding of crisis frameworks, identified fivemedia frames commonly utilized in crises, which will be the focal point of thispresent analysis: attribution of responsibility, conflict, economic consequences,human interest, and morality (An and Gower, 2009; Cho and Gower, 2006;Coombs and Holladay, 1996; Liu and Pennington-Gray, 2015; Neuman et al.,1992; Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000). In crisis situations, the morality framesituates the event within the context of moral or religious values (An andGower, 2009; Neuman et al., 1992). The human-interest frame presents an emo-tional angle (An and Gower, 2009; Cho and Gower, 2006; Semetko andValkenburg, 2000). The economic consequences frame reports the financial impli-cations, either positive or negative, for individuals, groups, organizations, or coun-tries (An and Gower, 2009; Neuman et al., 1992). The conflict frame highlightsdisagreements among individuals, groups, organizations, or countries (An andGower, 2009; Neuman et al., 1992; Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000). Finally, theattribution of responsibility frame offers causes of or potential solutions (An andGower, 2009; Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000).

Sociopolitical factors in Chinese, Malaysian, and U.S. crisis frames

The mysterious disappearance of the MH370 flight is a crisis involving severalcountries and, thus, diverse national interests and ideologies: Malaysia Airlines,a corporation in which the Malaysian government holds majority ownership, oper-ated the flight; most of the 239 passengers onboard the flight were Chinese; andBoeing, a U.S. corporation with $81 trillion annual revenue, manufactured theaircraft (Defense News, 2013). While scholars and practitioners have acknowledgedmedia play an important role in disseminating information about crises (Coombs,2007), Schultz et al. (2012) contend U.S. media and foreign media present unlikesolutions to crises. Molleda’s research (2011) shows how media frame conflictsdifferently according to their geographic location in relation to the crisis location.

Moreover, countries have dissimilar journalistic standards and norms that affecthow media frame crises. While objectivity is considered a universal journalisticnorm, power relations within Malaysia, China, and the United States, respectively,influence media production, distribution, and consumption. Such power relationsas well as Western and Asian cultural values, respectively, alter conceptualizationsof objectivity and press freedom (Ramanathan, 2016). China is an especially inter-esting case because it is one of the few remaining communist states, and differentpolitical systems result in different media expectations (Mehra, 1993). The Chinese

162 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

media model is based on government censorship as Chinese media are state-ownedextensions of the government that receive daily directives from the PublicityDepartment of the Communist Party of China (World Press Freedom Index,2014). Economic reform has brought the expansion and diversification ofChinese media, but China still uses media to promote the government image(Zhao, 2000). Both mainstream print and broadcast as well as online media arecontrolled by legal restrictions, although online media expand the boundaries ofpermissible reporting (Hassid and Repnikova, 2016).

Media expectations are different in democratic countries than in communistcountries (Mehra, 1993). Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy, and the UnitedStates is a democratic republic. While various political systems have long employedmedia to propagandize, spread ideology, and defend regimes, controlled commu-nication has been an outcome of governments deemed communistic more so thanof governments deemed democratic. In the case of Malaysia, however, media arecensored more than media in most democracies (Freitag and Stokes, 2009).Ownership patterns and legal restrictions impact the content of mainstreammedia in Malaysia, whereas online media are fairly unrestricted (Brown, 2005;Jalarajan Raj and Sreekumar, 2012; Steele, 2011; Willnat and Wong, 2013). TheMalaysian government uses media as instruments for national development, and,thus, Malaysian journalists generally report positively about their government(Jalarajan Raj and Sreekumar, 2012; Ramanathan, 2016). This ‘development jour-nalism’ model (Taylor and Kent, 1999: 138) as well as Islamic cultural principlesdiscourage journalists from divulging negative information (Steele, 2011, 2013).Unlike American journalists, Malaysian journalists often carefully ponder the con-sequences of their writings in accordance with Islamic social values (Steele, 2011,2013). Malaysian journalists must practice ‘responsible journalism,’ particularlywhen reporting on race, religion, and politics—and some fear arrest for reportingin a manner deemed inappropriate by the government (Jalarajan Raj andSreekumar, 2012: 25).

Free and open media have long been considered crucial to a healthy democracy.The U.S. media model, in theory, is based on diversity of viewpoints, program-ming, outlets, and ownership (Scherer, 2016). The concentration of U.S. mediaownership, however, allows for information control. Moreover, journalisticnorms change as U.S. society changes. For example, U.S. media historicallyreflected moderate viewpoints, but as viewpoints in society become more polariz-ing, so do media representations (McLuskey and Kim, 2012). While journalists inSoutheast Asia exhibit values toward promoting national loyalty and building asense of community, especially in print media (Massey, 2000; Menon, 1998), jour-nalists in the United States and other Western countries are more likely to engagein ‘aggressive journalism,’ including the criticism of national leaders (Ramanathan,2016: 23). According to the 2014 World Press Freedom Index, the United Statesranks 46, Malaysia ranks 147, and China ranks 175 out of 180 countries in terms ofa free and open media without government censorship.

Bier et al. 163

Study rationale and research questions

Although framing theories have long been tested quantitatively through contentanalysis, Carragee and Roefs (2004) posit that a problem with framing research is itoften fails to examine the framing process within the broader political and socialcontext, and Park (2013) calls for additional framing research to provide a morecomprehensive understanding of international media coverage. Van Gorp (2007)avows research does not adequately consider the influence of culture on archetypalmedia frames, and Hume (2010) indicates mediated communication as it pertainsto culture is ripe for investigation. Lee (2004) suggests Western crisis frameworksare generalizable, but more research is necessary to understand differences in cross-cultural crisis communication. Pinsdorf (1991) argues an organization, particularlyan airline operating transnationally, must reflect varying cultural values for sur-vival after a crisis. Since the disappearance of flight MH370, Malaysia Airlines hasincurred financial loss, and the future of the organization is bleak (Centre forAviation, 2014; Skynews.com.au, 2016). Understanding how international mediaframe an aviation crisis without an obvious cause provides insight toward organ-izational survival by responding to publics with different political, social, and cul-tural backgrounds. As such, this present study addresses several of theshortcomings of the content analyses identified herein and extends the discussionbeyond descriptive findings while maintaining the strengths of quantitative contentanalysis.

Furthermore, scholars suggest future framing research should pursue ‘issue-spe-cific frames related exclusively to a particular topic’ (Santos et al., 2013: 67).Although the only crisis plagued by ongoing mystery, the MH370 flight was oneof several aviation crises that made 2014 one of the deadliest years for flying inalmost a decade (Grant, 2014). Thus, this study has implications for future researchabout response strategies for international aviation crises. Based on a synthesis ofprevious research, an analysis of English-language newspapers in Malaysia, China,and the United States elucidates variations in framing the flight MH370 crisis byanswering the following research questions:

RQ1: How is the MH370 crisis framed in English-language Malaysian, Chinese, and

U.S. newspapers in terms of attribution of responsibility, conflict, economic conse-

quences, human interest, and morality?

RQ2: How does MH370 coverage in English-language Malaysian, Chinese, and U.S.

newspapers reflect national interests in terms of the political, economic, militarist,

sociocultural, and security objectives within each respective country?

RQ3: How does MH370 coverage in English-language Malaysian, Chinese, and U.S.

newspapers reflect international citizenship in terms of each respective country’s com-

pliance with international law, cooperation with or toward formal agreements, will-

ingness to work with other countries, ethical behavior, global leadership, and

promotion of world peace and stability?

164 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

Method

Research design

Framing is one of the most commonly applied research approaches in the commu-nication field (Bryant and Miron, 2004). This study employs a quantitative contentanalysis design to analyze statistically the differences among international mediaframes and to make inferences about communication about a crisis without anobvious cause. Content analyses are essential for understanding communicationmessages, and ‘communication content merits systematic examination because ofits assumed role as cause or antecedent of a variety of individual processes, effects,or uses people make of it’ (Riffe et al., 2005: 11). The researchers conducted ananalysis to reflect the overall trends of MH370-related coverage in English-language Malaysian, Chinese, and U.S. newspapers and counted frequencies andmade comparisons to elucidate the significance of the frames.

Data collection and sample

Data were collected from Malaysian, Chinese, and U.S. sources based on (1) mediaprimacy in each country, (2) the availability of newspapers in English, and (3) theavailability of newspapers in the LexisNexis Academic database to ensure system-atic sample collection. Malaysia was selected because it is the country of origin forMalaysia Airlines, China was selected because the majority of the MH370 passen-gers were Chinese citizens, and the United States was selected because it is thecountry of origin for the Boeing aircraft. English-language newspapers were used inpart because of the researchers’ language abilities but also because English-language media present global issues to an international readership and, thus,provide insight into the relationship between national interests and internationalcitizenship. The oldest remaining newspaper and one of the top English newspapersby circulation in Malaysia is New Straits Times, a source used in comparativecommunication research among international sources (Massey, 2000; Park et al.,2016; Ramanathan, 2016); further, the New Straits Times is a part of the largestmass communication organization in Malaysia (Ramanathan, 2016). The topEnglish newspaper in China is China Daily, which is state-owned and has beenused in Chinese media content analyses (Luther and Zhou, 2005; Tai and Sun,2007; Zhang et al., 2014). The New York Times is regarded as a model newspaper, isa top newspaper in the United States by circulation, and is frequently used incomparative research among international sources (Nossek, 2004; Tunstall, 1977).

All full-text articles related to flight MH370 from 8 March 2014 to 28 January2015, inclusive, were obtained from New Straits Times, China Daily, and The NewYork Times through LexisNexis by key words. The time parameters were deter-mined by the day flight MH370 disappeared to the day the Malaysian governmentdeclared MH370 likely crashed without survivors to allow insurers to pay the nextof kin. The key words applied in headlines and full articles were ‘MH370’ and

Bier et al. 165

‘Malaysia Airlines’ and ‘370.’ Duplicates of articles were deleted. Associated Pressarticles published in The New York Times were included in the sample because it isa U.S. news agency and The New York Times in this study represents the U.S.perspective. Some articles related to flight MH370 also covered other aviationcrises in 2014, particularly Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and Air Asia FlightQ78501; these articles were included in the sample. The search yielded 93 articlesfrom New Straits Times, 155 articles from China Daily, and 150 articles from TheNew York Times for a total of 398 articles.

Coding scheme and intercoder reliability

The unit of analysis for this study was the article. The coding scheme was based onthe premise that media frames ‘can be detected by probing for particularwords. . .that consistently appear in a narrative and convey thematically consistentmeanings’ (Entman, 1991: 7). However, because multidimensional and abstractconcepts are complex to study from a social scientific perspective (Riffe et al.,2005), the researchers developed precise conceptual and operational definitionsof variables in a codebook.

The coding instrument was initially designed based on previous literature andprior to observation of the sample. The codebook explained the measures to theextent that each coding category allowed for replicability. First, the codebookconsisted of basic information about the article such as publisher, publicationdate, and author of the article to ensure one particular journalist was not framingthe crisis entirely differently than other journalists. The rest of the codebookfocused on the appearance of the five media frames used in crisis communicationand identified in previous literature (attribution of responsibility, conflict, eco-nomic consequences, human interest, and morality), the presence of national inter-ests (operationalized as economy, military, sociocultural values, political system,and security), and the mention of international citizenship (operationalized as legalissues, cooperation in formal agreements, willingness to work together, ethicalbehavior, and global leadership).

To measure nuance within the crisis media frames, the researchers adapted the20-question coding scheme used by Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) about attribu-tion of responsibility, conflict, economic consequences, human interest, and morality.A total of 18 questions were added to account for the distinct attributes of theMH370 disappearance as an international crisis with an unknown cause. For exam-ple, the codebook included codes that distinguished between foreign and domesticgovernments both as a cause of the crisis and as a postcrisis alleviator, codes for therole of a corporation as a cause and as an alleviator, and codes for the presentationof multiple credible causes for the crisis. In total, there were 13 items about attribu-tion of responsibility, eight items about conflict, nine items about economic conse-quences, five items about human interest, and three items about morality.

Because this study aims to investigate research questions rather than to supporthypotheses, two authors served as the coders (Park and Reber, 2010). The coders

166 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

Table 1. Coding schemes.

Coding scheme Explanation

Five crisis frames Attribution of

responsibility

Offers causes of or potential solutions for

the crisis and a way of attributing

responsibility

Conflict Highlights disagreements among individ-

uals, groups, organizations, or countries

Economic

consequences

Reports the financial significance of the

crisis for individuals, groups, organiza-

tions, or countries

Human interest Presents a human face or an emotional

angle to the crisis

Morality Situates the event within the context of

moral or religious values or social

prescriptions

National interests Economy Discusses the country’s activities related to

the production, exchange, or consump-

tion of goods

Military Includes information about the country’s

military, soldiers, or military affairs

Culture and/

or society

Gives information about the beliefs, myths,

values, norms, special artifacts, and/or

social practices of the country

National security Offers information about how the country

is protecting citizens

Political system Contains messages about the country’s

political system

International

citizenship

Legal issues Presents the country’s compliance with

international law

Cooperation Expresses the country’s support for bilat-

eral or multilateral agreements

Willingness Reports the country’s willingness to com-

plete international tasks

Ethics Offers to do good deeds outside national

boundaries because it is moral or right

Leadership Highlights the ways that the country is

raising international standards

Global peace Situates global harmony as a priority for

the country or the country as a primary

actor in global peace

Bier et al. 167

completed three independent practice sessions, based on eight, 12, and 48 articles,respectively, prior to the actual coding. Between practice sessions, they discussedand agreed upon the classification of frames according to operational definitionsand the codebook was modified as necessary. Intercoder reliability was assessedaccording to Cohen’s Kappa. The scores ranged from .76 to .95, which are accept-able coefficients for a content analysis (Neuendorf, 2002).

The coders then independently read each article of the sample one at a time andcoded frames in the article according to the codebook while disregarding outsideknowledge about flight MH370 and other issues discussed in the article. Aftercoding, the relationships among media frames and variables associated withnational interests and international citizenship were examined statistically toanswer the research questions about communication about an international crisiswithout an obvious cause.

Results

Before analyzing the five crisis media frames, though, the number of newspaperarticles published was analyzed. As Table 2 shows, the majority of New StraitsTimes and The New York Times articles were published in the first month (n¼ 98,66.6% and n¼ 89, 62.7%, respectively). In contrast, more than half of China Dailyarticles (n¼ 48, 51.2%) were published more than a month after the crisis hap-pened. The difference among the three publishers was statistically significant,�2 12ð Þ ¼ 34.06, p< .01.

Research question 1

The first research question explores crisis media frames in New Straits Times, ChinaDaily, and The New York Times. For all three publishers, attribution of responsi-bility was the dominant frame used (New Straits Times: n¼ 97, 62.6%; China Daily:n¼ 67, 72.0%; and The New York Times: n¼ 100, 70.4%). However, as shown inTable 3, the second most frequently used frames were different among the

Table 2. Number of articles published by publisher.

Week postcrisis

1

n(%)

2

n(%)

3

n(%)

4

n(%)

5–8

n(%)

9–12

n(%)

12+

n(%)

NST 13(8.4)a 36(23.2)a 33(21.3)b 16(10.3)b 24(15.5)b 16(10.3)a 17(11.0)b

China Daily 16(17.2)b 10(10.8)a 11(11.8)a 8(8.6)a 16(17.2)b 9(9.7)b 23(24.7)b

NYT 43(30.3)b 20(14.1)b 19(13.4)a 7(4.9)b 23(16.2)b 8(5.6)a 22(15.5)b

NST: New Straits Times; NYT: The New York Times.

*�2(12)¼ 34.06, p< .01.aHigher than expected value.bLower than expected value.

168 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

newspapers. For example, the conflict frame (n¼ 21, 13.5%) was the second forNew Straits Times, while the human-interest frame was the second for China Dailyand The New York Times (n¼ 14, 15.1% and n¼ 22, 15.5%, respectively). Overall,the proportions of frames in each newspaper were significantly different,�2(8)¼ 23.57, p< .01.

To explore the details of the five crisis media frames employed by New StraitsTimes, China Daily, and The New York Times, Semetko and Valkenburg’s (2000)coding scheme was adapted to suit an international crisis with an unknown cause.Some interesting results were found in the data. First, one of the coding items askedwhether the publisher ‘suggests that some level of domestic government has theability to alleviate the crisis.’ Among the 97 articles in New Straits Times that usedthe attribution of responsibility frame, 82.5% (n¼ 80) of the articles suggested thedomestic government, in this case the Malaysian government, was an alleviator.The percentages for China Daily and for The New York Times, however, wererelatively low (n¼ 38, 56.7% and n¼ 39, 39.0%, respectively).

Second, a coding item asked whether the publisher ‘suggests that some level offoreign government has the ability to alleviate the crisis.’ Among the 100 articles inThe New York Times that used the attribution of responsibility frame, 86.0%(n¼ 86) suggested a foreign government was an alleviator. This compares withNew Straits Times and China Daily in which 76.3% (n¼ 74) and 71.6% (n¼ 48)of articles, respectively, suggested a foreign government was a postcrisis alleviator.

Lastly, a coding item asked whether the article ‘makes reference to God or ahigher being or other religious tenets.’ In New Straits Times, 50% (n¼ 8) of articleswith a morality frame referred to a higher being or religious tenets. In The NewYork Times, 66.7% (n¼ 2) of articles with a morality frame referred to a higherbeing or religious tenets. No China Daily articles mentioned God or a higher beingor any religious tenets.

A crosstab test yielded that the generic roles in the societal evaluation of riskwere different among the newspapers, �2(10)¼ 47.72, p< .01. As Table 4 indicates,the top three roles of each publisher were different. For example, risk arbiters, riskadvocates, and risk informers were used most frequently by New Straits Times and

Table 3. Crisis frames by publisher.

Attribution of

responsibility

n(%)

Conflict

n(%)

Economic

consequence

n(%)

Human

interest

n(%)

Morality

n(%)

NST 97(62.6)a 21(13.5)a 3(1.9)a 18(11.6)a 16(10.3)b

China Daily 67(72.0)b 5(5.4)b 6(6.5)b 14(15.1)a 1(1.1)b

NYT 100(70.4)b 11(7.7)b 6(4.2)b 22(15.5)b 3(2.1)a

NST: New Straits Times; NYT: The New York Times.

*�2(8)¼ 23.57, p< .01.aLower than expected value.bHigher than expected value.

Bier et al. 169

China Daily. However, in articles in The New York Times, the dominant roles wererisk informers followed by risk arbiters and risk bearers.

Research question 2

The second research question examines whether national interests were frameddifferently among the three newspapers. Table 5 shows the majority of NewStraits Times articles did not contain any national interest frames (n¼ 102,65.8%). Sociocultural (n¼ 30, 19.4%) frames followed by military (n¼ 15, 9.7%)frames appeared in New Straits Times articles. Likewise, the majority of ChinaDaily and The New York Times articles did not have national interest frames(n¼ 70, 75.3% and n¼ 108, 76.1%, respectively). Both China Daily and The NewYork Times articles included military (16.1 and 22.5%, respectively) frames fol-lowed by sociocultural (n¼ 7, 7.5% and n¼ 1, 0.7%, respectively) frames.

Table 4. Generic roles in the societal evaluation of risk by publisher.

Risk

bearers

n(%)

Risk

advocates

n(%)

Risk

generators

n(%)

Risk

researchers

n(%)

Risk

arbiters

n(%)

Risk

informers

n(%)

NST 5(3.2)a 37(23.9)b 6(3.9)a 10(6.5)a 63(40.6)b 34(21.9)b

China Daily 8(8.6)b 9(9.7)a 4(4.3)b 8(8.6)b 40(43.0)b 24(25.8)b

NYT 16(11.3)b 6(4.2)a 11(7.7)a 12(8.5)b 40(43.0)b 24(25.8)b

NST: New Straits Times; NYT: The New York Times.

*�2(10)¼ 47.72, p< .01.aLower than expected value.bHigher than expected value.

Table 5. National interest by publisher.

Economy

n(%)

Military

n(%)

Cultural/

society

n(%)

National

security

n(%)

Political

system

n(%)

Nothing

n(%)

NST 2(1.3)a 15(9.7)b 30(19.4)a 5(3.2)a 1(0.6)a 102(65.8)b

China Daily 1(1.1)a 15(16.1)a 7(7.5)b 0(0)b 0(0)b 70(75.3)a

NYT 0(0)b 32(22.5)a 1(0.7)b 1(0.7)b 0(0)b 108(76.1)a

NST: New Straits Times; NYT: The New York Times.

*�2(10)¼ 44.28, p< .01.aHigher than expected value.bLower than expected value.

170 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

The difference among the three publishers in terms of overall national interestframes was significant, �2(10)¼ 44.28, p< .01.

Research question 3

Finally, the third research question investigates international citizenship frameswithin the three newspapers. In each of the three newspapers, the majority ofarticles did not include any frames about international citizenship and, thus,were coded as ‘nothing.’ The second most dominant frame for each of the threepublishers was the willingness to work together to complete international tasks.Nevertheless, the proportions of the categories were significantly different,�2(8)¼ 43.40, p< .01. For example, the majority of articles in The New YorkTimes (n¼ 117, 82.4%) did not include any information about international citi-zenship, and only 16.9% of articles in The New York Times discussed the willing-ness of the United States to complete international tasks. However, for New StraitsTimes and China Daily, the proportion of the ‘nothing’ category decreased (n¼ 78,50.3% and n¼ 63, 67.7%, respectively) and the proportion of the ‘willingness’category increased (n¼ 62, 40.0% and n¼ 29, 31.2%, respectively). Interestingly,New Straits Times published articles about cooperation in formal agreements(n¼ 7, 4.5%), ethical behavior (n¼ 6, 3.9%), and global leadership (n¼ 2, 1.3%).For all three newspapers, there were no articles about legal issues and global peace.

Discussion

This study investigates media frames associated with an international crisis withouta known cause and reveals that crisis frames, national interest frames, and inter-national citizenship frames differ according to the country of origin of thepublisher. Malaysia, China, and the United States have different media systems,and media ‘reflect the values of the political and economic systems of the nationswithin which they operate’ (Hachten, 1987: 16). Because the Chinese government

Table 6. International citizenship by publisher.

Legal

issues

n(%)

Cooperation

n(%)

Willingness

n(%)

Ethics

n(%)

Leadership

n(%)

Global

peace

n(%)

Nothing

n(%)

NST 0(0) 7(4.5)a 62(40.0)a 6(3.9)a 2(1.3)a 0(0) 78(50.3)a

China Daily 0(0) 1(1.1)b 29(31.2)b 0(0)b 0(0)b 0(0) 63(67.7)a

NYT 0(0) 0(0)b 24(16.9)b 0(0)b 1(0.7)b 0(0) 117(82.4)a

NST: New Straits Times; NYT: The New York Times.

*�2(8)¼ 43.40, p< .01.aHigher than expected value.bLower than expected value.

Bier et al. 171

established China Daily to present information about China to an internationalEnglish readership (Luther and Zhou, 2005), its articles are considered to charac-terize China as the Chinese government wishes China to be characterized within theglobal community (Ostini and Fung, 2002). In the MH370 disappearance, ChinaDaily predictably focused on the activities of the Chinese government in relation tothe crisis. For example, China Daily depicts Chinese officials as advocates forChinese citizens, which supports previous comparative media framing researchsuggesting that during crises Chinese media frame the Chinese governmentpositively whereas U.S. media frame the Chinese government negatively (Fenget al., 2012).

Diplomatic relations between and among countries also affect media coverage ofan international aviation crisis (Yan and Kim, 2015). Malaysia–U.S. relations,although strained at times because of U.S. involvement in Islamic countries, areimproving. China–U.S. relations are complicated as the two countries vie for globaleconomic and militaristic power. The most salient diplomatic relationship inmedia coverage of the MH370 crisis, however, is Malaysia–China relations withMalaysians as the risk generators and Chinese as the risk bearers. Prior to theMH370 disappearance, Malaysia and China were organizing various activitiesthroughout 2014 to celebrate diplomatic friendship between the two countries.China is well known for its panda diplomacy, or the gifting of Chinese pandasto a country as a sign of friendship and cooperation, but the scheduled delivery ofpandas to Malaysia in honor of the 40th anniversary of China–Malaysia relationswas initially postponed after the MH370 crisis. New Straits Times covered thepanda delay and other aspects of China–Malaysia relations such as the Chineseboycott of Malaysia tourism more prominently than did China Daily and The NewYork Times. Though not state owned, New Straits Times is pro-government andnationalistic (Sani, 2005).

However, in an attempt to maintain good standing with the regional super-power, New Straits Times accepted China as a hegemon and emphasizedMalaysia did not want the MH370 crisis to damage its cordial exchanges withChina. With this background in mind, the three research questions are discussedin relation to the findings and literature review.

Crisis media frames

The first primary objective of this study was to assess how English-language news-papers in Malaysia, China, and the United States framed the MH370 crisis in termsof attribution of responsibility, conflict, economic consequences, human interest,and morality. Overall, the most common frame was attribution of responsibility,which involved responsibility for causing the disappearance of flight MH370 aswell as responsibility for alleviating the harms resulting from the crisis. Among thethree publishers, The New York Times most frequently employed informationabout causality within articles with the attribution frame and most frequentlysuggested multiple causes as credible, including accidental pressure loss or engine

172 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

failure, terrorism plots, and a pilot suicide mission. The New York Times alsoreported a CNN poll that indicated 9% of Americans believed space aliens hijackedthe plane. In contrast, China Daily assigned causality the least frequently. Tworeasons likely explain this result. First, from a cultural perspective, Chinese aremore comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity than are Malaysians and evenmore so than are Americans (The Hofstede Center, n.d.). Second, similar to theresponse of Chinese media during a 2013 aviation crisis, China Daily might bereluctant to ascribe causality in order to bolster a reputation as a good inter-national citizen, as opposed to one as a menace, in the global community(Yan and Kim, 2015).

Entman (2005) contends a central function of media frames is to propose solu-tions to problems. In organizational crises, however, U.S. media and foreign mediaoffer different solutions to problems associated with an international crisis (Schultzet al., 2012). Among the three publishers, New Straits Times most often attributedresponsibility to the domestic government, provided solutions to the crisis, andspecified the crisis required immediate action. For example, a 26 March 2014 articlein New Straits Times reported ‘the Malaysian investigation team has set up aninternational working group, comprising agencies with expertise in satellite com-munications and aircraft performance, to take this work forward’ (Abas et al.,2014: 7), and a 27 March 2014 article reported Malaysia Airlines personnel were‘taking care of the next of kin and crafting ways and means to nurse the strugglingairline back in shape’ (Hamid, 2014: 6). Such responses are expected consideringthat in March 2014 the Malaysian government owned almost 70% of the MalaysiaAirlines stock and a prompt, appropriate resolution to the crisis would increase thelikelihood of organizational survival.

New Straits Times, China Daily, and The New York Times each suggestedforeign governments are necessary to help alleviate the crisis and recognized theneed for multiple actors in the global community to collaborate in the searchfor the missing aircraft. For example, in a 10 March 2014 article, China Dailypraised China’s ‘all-out efforts to locate the missing passengers’ and asserted‘experts have weighed in on the importance of China’s role in the salvage mis-sion’ (China Daily, 2014a: A1). Li Jinming of Xiamen University said China’s‘marine forces are better equipped compared with many neighboring countries’(China Daily, 2014a: A1). By highlighting China’s advanced military technologyand patrol vessels, the article reminded the world that China is indeed a regio-nal, if not global, power. However, China Daily also emphasized internationalcollaboration. For example, a 7 April 2014 article urged Chinese to voice frus-trations ‘in a proper and reasonable manner’ because ‘all the nations involved inthe search need the cooperation and support of the [Chinese] people’ (Zhao,2014: A12). In an article published on 18 June 2014, The New York Timesaccentuated the coordinated military efforts among Australia, China, Japan,Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United States—even ‘countriesthat have had considerable frictions lately’—in the MH370 search (Bradsher,2014: A4).

Bier et al. 173

The conflict frame was second most common in New Straits Times articles, whilethe human-interest frame was second most common in both China Daily and TheNew York Times articles. For example, amid international criticism of the MalaysiaAirlines’ handling of the MH370 crisis, a 27 March 2014 article in New StraitsTimes used the conflict frame by reporting many Malaysians support MalaysiaAirlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya because he ‘handled the MH370 crisis in acomposed and calm manner, and that there was no ground to call for his resigna-tion’ (Lingan, 2014: 12). Furthermore, New Straits Times articles addressed thedomestic political conflict concurrent with the MH370 crisis in which governmentcritics and civil society disparaged the hegemony of Malaysia’s ruling elite. Forexample, a 9 April 2014 article accused the opposition party of posting MH370-related information online ‘to provoke and incite hatred towards Malaysia’ (NewsStraits Times, 2014: 8).

The human-interest frame most often employed personal vignettes to emphasizehow the MH370 disappearance affected the next of kin. For example, The NewYork Times (2014) articles emphasized the anger, pain, and tears of Chinese whosechildren were on board MH370. China Daily articles accentuated the pain ofChinese, for example, by naming those who lost their lives and by quoting awoman who lost her mother on MH370: ‘An airliner not only carries passengersbut also the destinies of hundreds of families’ (Hou and Zhu, 2014). An and Gower(2009) show the human-interest frame is commonly applied in coverage about crisisvictims. Although it is logical for China Daily to provide a ‘human face’ on thecrisis because most of the victims were Chinese, the congruence between ChinaDaily and The New York Times partially deviates from previous framing studies.Molleda (2011) claims media frame differently according to their geographic loca-tion in relation to the crisis location. According to this argument, New StraitsTimes and China Daily would frame the crisis more similarly since they are geo-graphically much closer to the organization responsible for the crisis and to thevictims of the crisis than is The New York Times. In the context of an Asian healthcrisis, frames in China Daily were unlike frames in U.S. media (Luther and Zhou,2005). However, like this present study, previous aviation crisis research indicatesChinese and U.S. media frames tend to mirror each other (Yan and Kim, 2015).

In coverage of the Asiana Airlines flight 214 crash in 2013, attribution of respon-sibility was the dominant frame and morality was second most common frameemployed in Chinese media (Yan and Kim, 2015). The frequent use of the moralityframe is presumably because all passengers except for three Chinese teenagerssurvived the crash and some of the survivors credited a higher being for theirsurvival (Yan and Kim, 2015). This present study, however, is consistent withother crisis research in which morality was one of the least used frames(Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000). While the morality frame was not a dominantframe for any of the three publishers, the morality frame was lowest for ChinaDaily. Fearing that religion will influence politics and detract from devotion to thegovernment, the Communist Party of China discourages religious practice.According to the Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, China is the most

174 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

atheistic among all countries, while Malaysia ranks very high for religiosity(Gallup, 2012). The dominant Islamic religious ideology in Malaysian cultureimpacted media frames as New Straits Times used the morality frame the mostamong the three publishers to relay moral messages and to offer social prescrip-tions for behavior. For example, Nazrin Shah, the Sultan of Perak in Malaysia,addressed the opening of the state legislative assembly by stating, ‘Humans canonly plan for the best, but Allah decides everything’ (Hussain et al., 2014b: 7).Additional articles in New Straits Times made references to prayer and trusting inAllah, although the Malaysian government distanced itself from reports that ashaman with magic bamboo binoculars assisted with the search efforts.

National interest frames

The second primary objective of this study was to assess how English-languagenewspapers in Malaysia, China, and the United States used national interestframes. While Yan and Kim (2015) show that political context and nationalinterests affect media coverage of an aviation crisis as far as the types of sourcesthat journalists utilize, this present study analyzed the nuance of national interestframes in international media. New Straits Times used the sociocultural framemost frequently, which is consistent with previous research indicating that jour-nalistic norms in Southeast Asia promote national loyalty and a sense of com-munity (Massey, 2000; Menon, 1998). The sociocultural frame includedinformation about the beliefs, myths, values, norms, special artifacts, and/orsocial practices of the country. For example, New Straits Times referred toMalaysian songs and poetry recitations to pacify mourners and to the educationaland scientific endeavors of Malaysians, e.g., Dr Mohd Rizal Arshad of theUniversity of Science in Malaysia, an expert on acoustic imaging devices, andDatuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the director-general of Malaysia’sDepartment of Civil Aviation, an expert in search-and-recovery missions(Arumugam, 2014; Hussain et al., 2014c). Chinese and U.S. media were againcongruent and employed the military frame most frequently. For example, ChinaDaily articles emphasized the use of Chinese satellites and naval vessels, includingamphibious landing vessels, missile destroyers, and supply ships, to solve theMH370 mystery (China Daily, 2014b).

Another interesting point related to national interest frames is New Straits Timesemployed all five of the national interest frames (economy, military, socioculturalvalues, political system, and security) among the articles in the dataset, while ChinaDaily and The New York Times articles applied only three national interest frameseach. This is concurrent with research proposing journalists express more nationalloyalty when the news is perceived as ‘ours’ rather than ‘theirs’ (Nossek, 2004). NewStraits Times was arguably closest to the crisis among the three publishers; thus, itwas ‘our’ crisis and necessitated national interest frames within the dominant ideo-logical culture. For example, in a 14 March 2014 statement, Defense and actingTransport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia has a

Bier et al. 175

‘duty to follow every lead. We owe it to the families. And we will not give up’(Hussain et al., 2014a: 3). China Daily and The New York Times reported on ‘their’crisis, which did not require as many national interest frames. For example, TheNew York Times reported on a meeting between Chinese officials and the familiesof MH370 passengers at which Liu Zhi, deputy secretary general of the Beijinggovernment, indicated China was doing everything it could but the crisis wasclearly Malaysia’s responsibility; however, Liu contended ‘the quality of theMalaysians’ response would certainly be lower if the Chinese government werenot involved’ (Feng and Wong, 2014: A6). These findings support Dai andHyun’s (2010) summary of their research that ‘lends support to the transform-ational view of globalization, which suggests that the nation state still mattersin a globalized world, but is being recontextualized in a more complex world ofpolitics and culture’ (p. 299).

International citizenship frames

The third objective of this study was to assess how English-language newspapers inMalaysia, China, and the United States employed frames about international citi-zenship. While Yan and Kim (2015) focus on national interests within an aviationcrisis, this present study expands a theoretical understanding of international citi-zenship frames within the context of a crisis with an unknown cause. The dominantframe for New Straits Times, China Daily, and The New York Times was the will-ingness to work together to complete international tasks, probably because of theenormity of the effort required to search for MH370 in the expansive Indian Ocean.New Straits Times used four of the frames (cooperation in formal agreements,willingness to work together, ethical behavior, and global leadership), whileChina Daily and The New York Times only used two distinct international citizen-ship frames each. For example, a 16 March 2014 article in New Straits Times usedthe ethical behavior frame by defending Malaysia’s withholding of information,which was ‘the responsible thing to do to avoid causing more anguish to familymembers’ (Andres, 2014: 23). Further, a 15 May 2014 New Straits Times articleused the cooperation frame as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak ‘urged theInternational Civil Aviation Organisation to increase regulations for real-timetracking of airliners’ and the leadership frame as Najib commended Malaysia forovercoming diplomatic and military sensitivities and uniting 26 countries for thesearch (Latif, 2014: 2).

Another observation associated with international citizenship is the timing ofarticles among the three publishers. The New York Times published the highestnumber of articles about MH370 in the first week after the aircraft’s disappearance.This is consisted with research that shows U.S. media typically report on aviationcrises the most during the first week (Vincent et al., 1989; Yan and Kim, 2015). Thisstudy offers evidence that New Straits Times disseminated information about theMH370 crisis quickly to support the Malaysian global image and reputation ascompetent. New Straits Times published the highest number of articles in the

176 the International Communication Gazette 80(2)

second week after the MH370 disappearance. China Daily, however, published thehighest number of articles 12 weeks after the aircraft disappeared. Perhaps as timecontinued without much evidence to indicate what actually happened to MH370, itbecame more important for the Chinese government to establish an identity as acaregiver who helps citizens. For example, a 25 August 2014 article in China Dailyquoted a Chinese graduate student: ‘Malaysia Airlines and others are not doingtheir jobs, so we have to organize’ (China Daily, 2014c: A2). China Daily focusedon the Chinese perspective and rarely expressed an international perspective. In thismanner, China Daily seemingly functioned as an official voice for the Chinesegovernment in the MH370 crisis, while New Straits Times was more internationallyfocused during the crisis. Because Malaysia Airlines is an extension of theMalaysian government, Malaysia had to present itself as a good internationalcitizen to preserve its global reputation.

Conclusion

An and Gower (2009) argued that attribution of responsibility is especially dom-inant in crises with controllability and intentionality. The results of this presentstudy confirm previous research that indicates attribution of responsibility is themost commonly applied frame in crisis communication (Semetko and Valkenburg,2000). In addition, this present study adds another dimension to theoretical know-ledge in that attribution of responsibility is yet the most important frame evenwhen the controllability of the crisis is unknown and the intentionality isambiguous.

This present study further expands previous knowledge about the secondcommon frame in an aviation crisis with an unknown cause. In business crisesthe economic consequences frame is the second most used (An and Gower,2009), and in political crises the conflict frame is the second most used(Semetko and Valkenburg, 2000). The conflict frame in New Straits Times andthe human-interest frame in China Daily and The New York Times were thesecond most used.

This present study’s unique combination of media frames with national interestsand international citizenship in the crisis context is a response to previous quanti-tative content analysis research. The results extend beyond descriptive analysis toprovide insight about media orientations during an international crisis. Althougheach newspaper employed a different focus of responsibility, attribution ofresponsibility was the dominant frame, which demonstrates it is the most import-ant frame even with unknown controllability and ambiguous intentionality. Resultsalso demonstrate significant differences in national interest frames perhaps partiallyinfluenced by different national media systems and by diplomatic relations betweenand among countries, which reinforces the findings of Yan and Kim (2015). Thispresent study differentiates international citizenship frames and considers thetiming of information dissemination to give a more nuanced understanding ofcrisis media frames.

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Since this present study is one of the first to frame a crisis with ambiguouscausality, additional research to consider national interests and culture, inter-national citizenship, and media related to a crisis without direct causality is war-ranted. Specifically, additional research is necessary to understand the interactionsamong national interest, international citizenship, and media frames. Furthermore,replication of this study is important to substantiate its findings. The results ofadditional studies combined with the present results have the potential to influencecrisis typology research, attribution theory research, and even paracrisis-focusedresearch.

Research with a greater sample size beyond English-language newspapers wouldbe helpful to understand more acutely the frames employed in such crises to reachdomestic and international audiences. Coauthoring with international scholarswho study the culture and understand the nuances of other languages involvedin international crises would strengthen this line of research.

Overall, this study advances theoretical knowledge about media frames withinthe context of an aviation crisis with an unknown cause. This study was a uniqueexploration of the role of national interest frames and international citizenshipframes in media coverage of the flight MH370 disappearance, a mysterious inter-national crisis without precedent.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, author-ship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publicationof this article.

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