Media Coverage on Religious Conflict in Malaysia: A preliminary Study on how The Star and Utusan Malaysia Framed the Attempts to Subvert the Faith and Believe of Muslims in a Multiracial Thanksgiving Dinner at DUMC

This study proposes to examine and compare how two mainstream newspapers in Malaysia with different languages – The Star and Utusan Malaysia reported one of the most controversial religious problems encountered in Malaysia's history which was the attempts to subvert the faith and belief of Muslims in a multiracial Thanksgiving Dinner at DUMC in Jalan 13/1, organised by Harapan Komuniti on 3rd August, 2011. The actions taken by the Enforcement Division of the Selangor Department of the Religion of Islam (Jais) which carried out a search at the Thanksgiving Dinner attracted a great attention from the mainstream media. Considered as a sensitive issue among Malaysians, it is an interesting case to examine and compare how major local media represented this conflict. The Star and Utusan Malaysia were analyzed with the objectives determining (1) the pattern of coverage of this issue; (2) the predominant news sources used by both newspapers; (3) the news framed used by the newspapers; and (4) slant of the news articles towards the parties in conflict.