the relationship of exposure to news media with papers/jssh vol...tiga dimensi etos bangsa terhasil...

ISSN: 0128-7702Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 13 (2): 187-198 (2005) Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

The Relationship of Exposure to News Media withAttachment to the National Ethos

EZHAR TAMAM1, WENDYYEE2, FAZILAH IDRIS3, AZIMI HAMZAH4,ZAINAL ABIDIN MOHAMED5, WONG SU LUAN6 & MANSOR MOHD NOOR7

y, 2,4,5,6 jjniversity putra Malaysia, 43400 IJPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia3 National University of Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malays

7 Nor then University of Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

Keywords: News media, exposure, attachment, national ethos, youth,multicultural society

ABSTRAKKajian ini menguji andaian bahawa media berita memainkan peranan penting dalammeningkatkan etos bangsa dalam kalangan masyarakat Malaysia. Memandangkan belia adalahpengguna media yang paling ramai dan berperanan penting dalam membangunkan ekonomidan politik negara, maka adalah amat bertepatan untuk meneliti kekuatan etos bangsa dalamkalangan belia Malaysia dari pelbagai kumpulan etnik, dan perkaitan antara pendedahan kepadamedia berita dengan etos bangsa. Sejumlah 606 orang pelajar, berumur antara 18 hingga 27tahun, daripada sepuluh universiti dan kolej telah ditemu bual dengan menggunakan borangsoal selidik tadbir sendiri. Tiga dimensi etos bangsa terhasil daripada data kajian dan respondenmempunyai persepsi positif terhadap beberapa ciri negara ini. Namun demikian, terdapatperbezaan yang signifikan di antara tiga kumpulan etnik dalam tahap ikatan rnereka dalam ketiga-tiga dimensi etos bangsa yang dikenal pasti. Pendedahan kepada media berita mempunyaiperkaitan yang positif dan signifikan dengan dimensi identiti kolektif dan masa depan, dan dimensinilai dan perkongsian sejarah.

ABSTRACTThis study tested the assumption that national media played an important role in promoting astrong national ethos among Malaysians. As youth are heavy consumer of media and playimportant roles in further progressing the country economically and politically, it is very pertinentto examine the strength of the national ethos among the Malaysian youth of various ethnic groups,and the relationship between the exposure to the news media and strength of their nationalethos. A total of 606 students from ten universities and colleges aged between 18 to 27 years wereinterviewed in a national survey using a self-administered questionnaire. Three dimensions ofthe national ethos emerged from the data and the students had positive perceptions towardselected characteristics of the country. However, there is a significant difference among thethree ethnic groups in their degree of attachment to the three different dimensions of the nationalethos. An overall exposure to the news media has a positive and significant relationship with theshared identity and future dimension, and shared history and values dimension of the nationalethos.

INTRODUCTION *s obvious, but studies that specificallyThe significance of strong identification with examined the influence of the mainstreamthe national ethos in a multi-ethnic, multi- n e w s m e d i a a s a powerful socializing agent oncultural and multi-religion Malaysian society t h e deg"*5 of attachment to the national ethos

Ezhar Tamam et al.

among Malaysians are noticeably lacking.When it come to defining a nation, groupboundaries, collective memory and socialallegiance to national characters areparticularly essential.

Identification with ethos of the nation inthe context of pluralistic and multiculturalMalaysian society should provide a unifyingforce and function as an enabling factor ineffective management of a culturally diversesociety. As argued by Mohd Nor (2005), acollective memory and attachment to thedistinctive characters of the country providethe socio-psychological mechanism for positiveintercultural relations among the various socialgroups of the different ethnic and religiousbackgrounds, particularly in the times ofconflict.

While celebrating diversity is logical andexpected in a pluralistic Malaysian society, amore important issue in managing a pluralisticsociety is promoting and ensuring unity indiversity. A strong identification with ethos ofthe country, therefore, is imperative and is oneof the strategies of achieving unity in thediversity. This requirement is fundamentaland very critical in the context of sustainingeconomic and political development of thecountry. Building peaceful and harmoniousMalaysian society has been an importantpolitical agenda since Malaysia gainedindependency and will continue to be one ofthe thrusts of national development in all theMalaysia Development Plans pursued by thecountry.

In realizing the development agenda, thelocal mainstream news media is expected tosocialize the Malaysian public to the ethos ofthe country. Indeed, news on nationalaspiration and achievement, social cohesionand harmonious co-existence of the variousethnic and religious groups in the countryhave been and will continue to be among thedominant themes and narratives in the localmainstream media (Abdul Ghani 2003). Inspite of the centrality of the national ethos tonation-building and integration objective, anempirical evidence on the nature ofidentification to the national ethos and its

theoretical linkages with exposure to the newsmedia has not been examined; thus not clearlyand adequately understood.

To address this knowledge gap, thepresent study assessed and discussed thestrength of attachment to the national ethosamong the Malay, Chinese and Indianuniversity students, and identified therelationship of exposure to news of publicaffairs in the mainstream news media with thestrength of attachment to the national ethos.The present study focused on youth of 18 yearsto 25 years because they made up a largesection of the Malaysian society. Policy,theoretical, and methodological implicationsof the findings of the study are discussed inthe paper.

REVIEW OF LITERATURENational ethos can be viewed as the expressedwishes of those who command authority withina nation and it is the means by whichindividuals within the country are committedto what is deemed natural, proper and right.Al-Haj (2005) argued that national ethos canbe considered a major part of the collectivecultural rights, and every group should beautonomous in deciding what sort of nationalethos is required for maintaining its collectivememory and developing its identity. Inconceptualising the meaning of the nationalethos (a society collective identity), Lomsky-Feder and Rapoport (2001) tied the conceptof the national ethos with the nation's moraldemand. Along the same line, Donnelly(2000) purported that ethos are both formalexpressions of the authorities' aim andobjective that wield a certain amount of powerto condition people to think and act in anacceptable manner, and informal expressionsof the members emerging from the socialinteraction that tend to reflect the prevailingassumptions, beliefs and norms. Donnelly(2000) further commented that ethos learnedformally in official document or defined bythe authorities often departs considerablyfrom the ethos that emerges from theintentions, interaction and behaviour of thepublic.

188 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005

The Relationship of Exposure to News Media with Attachment to the National Ethos

For a country to embrace a truly distinctand uniform ethos, the values and belief ofthose in the authorities must reflect andreinforce those of the public. When respectfor the authority is considerably weakened, thedisparity and incongruence between formaland informal ethos will be more noticeable.While perception of the public may differ anddepart from that required by the government,some degree of congruence must beestablished. This is due to the fact that theway people define their attachment to theethos of their country can have a profoundconsequence on the intercultural relationspractices in a pluralistic country. Thus, theagenda of strengthening identification to thenational ethos is too crucial to be taken lightly.Meier-Pesti and Kirchler (2003) pointed outthat since a nation is a large category, peopledevelop their social representation of theirnation and conceive the nation as an imaginedcommunity. The higher the subjectivecongruence between the self perception andsocial representation of the nation the morelikely people feel close to their nation andshow high identity.

The present study assumed and arguedthat the collective memory and consciousnessof the selected national characters is anenabling environment that can foster a mutualrespect and understanding in times of normaland problematic situations regarding eventsand issues of inter-ethnic relations. Anattachment to the national ethos reinforcescivic responsibility. It is also viewed thatadherence to national characters and hence.Malaysianness must be ideological rather thanpragmatic. In the context of building aprogressive, peaceful and harmoniousMalaysian society as envisioned in the Vision2020, the previous Prime Minister, Dr.Mahathir Mohammad strongly argued that:

"Building a nation out of diverse peoplewith differing historical, ethnic, linguistic,religious, cultural and geographicalbackgrounds is something more than justfostering consensus on the basic characterof a state or nation. It involves thefostering of (1) shared historical

experiences, (2) shared values, (3) afeeling of common identity, (4) shareddestiny that transcends ethnic boundswithout undermining ethnic identity, (5)loyalty, (6) commitment, and (7) anemotional attachment to the nation, andthe flowering of distinctly national ethos."(Jalaluddin^a/. 2004:9).

Accordingly, educating the public, involvesa conscious effort by state and the news mediainstitutions particularly the youth of today wholive in an information society characterized bygreater access to the mass media, with thespecific national aspirations and values to servestate interest involves a conscious effort by stateand the news media institution.

A meta-analysis study of the media effectby Emmers-Sommer and Allen (1999) showedthat mass media are a significant source oflearning, and media can influence attitude andbehaviour. Many social sciences scholars (seefor Al-Haj 2005, for instance) believe that thesocial instrument such as the news media canbe effectively used for the creation of socialbeliefs that together constitute a national ethosand strengthen the nation to cope withemerging intercultural tension and conflict.Accordingly, messages and narrative presentedto the Malaysian public by the local newsmedia, which is regulated by the state shouldfoster intercultural understanding, civicculture and society. Abdul Rahim (1992) andKim (2003) in their studies of ethnicintegration in Malaysia argued that the newsmedia has the potential as a determinant ofthe ethnic integration provided the messagesin the new media educate the public towardsintercultural understanding.

While knowledge on how the media affectsthe perception, attitude, emotion andbehaviour is still not clear, many studies havefound that the media has a profound influenceon the audience. Many studies have observedthat students and adults at all level are heavilyinfluenced not only by their families andschools but also by the media, as pointed byZevin (2003). For instance a recent study ofcollege students' media use and stereotype onthe different ethnic groups, revealed that the

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. 8c Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005 189

Ezhar Tamam et al.

respondents' perception is influenced by themedia used (Lee et al. 2003).

In the age of increasing media availabilityand influence, it is very pertinent to examinehow the young people in the higherinstitutions declare their allegiance to thecountry or their social belief andrepresentation of the country. Both theagenda setting and the cultivation theories areparticularly relevant in anticipating the roleof the news media in promoting andenhancing collective memory andidentification to core characteristics of anation. The question of identity has becomeincreasingly central in studies on media withmore attention being paid to the role themedia plays in the cultural constitution ofcollectivities, specifically the nations, aspointed out by Schlesinger (1993).

As suggested by previous studies (e.g.,Wanta et al. 2004), news coverage does indeedhave an agenda-setting effect. The agendasetting function of the news media is expectedas the news organizations usually subscribe toa particular ideology, which in turn shape thenature the direction of their coverage. As partof the national agenda in nation building,editors and journalists of the Malaysian newsmedia should advocate the objective ofbuilding a Malaysian society characterizes withstrong attachment to the national ethos byinforming and reinforcing the national ethosnarratives in the mainstream news media, asadvocated by many for instance, Karim (2003)and Abdul Ghani (2003). As pointed by Willsand Mehan (1996) critics of multiculturalismargued that what is needed in a multiculturalsociety is not an emphasis on diversity throughmulticulturalism, but a unifying of societythrough a common core curriculum and acommon historical narrative. The cultivationtheory postulated that the more time peoplespend with the news media (research oncultivation theory has primarily been ontelevision effect), the more likely it is that theirconception of social reality will reflect what isseen or read in the media (Synder etaL 1991).

The national narratives of national interestin the mainstream news media are a goodinstrument to cultivate the sense of

togetherness and collective consciousness.The narratives offer opportunities for teachingmoral demand in fostering mutual respect anda sense of partnership and belonging.Collective narratives, as defined by Salomon(2004), are stories, beliefs, aspirations,histories and the current explanation that agroup holds about the group itself and itssurrounding, viewing that collective narrativesare accounts of a community's collectiveexperience, embodied in its belief system andpresent the collective's symbolicallyconstructed shared identity. Thus, it is proventhat the news media has become one of themost effective tools of any politicalsocialization provided that it is used properly.A missed opportunity by the news media infostering strong identification with thenational ethos is something that should notbe allowed to happen. An ambivalentidentification to the national ethos would poserisk to the nation building process.Constructing a collective identity for diversepeople is the key principle of the socio-culturaland political economic cohesion. Soen (2002)aptly pointed out that creating a civic collectiveidentity is a pre-condition for a harmoniousmulticultural society.

Given the centrality of the national ethosin a multicultural Malaysian society and thepower of the media in influencing people asdiscussed above, the present study, posed tworesearch questions: (1) What is nature ofattachment to the national ethos amongMalaysian university students in the country?and (2) What is the relationship betweenexposure to news media and attachment to thenational ethos? The findings of the study willprovide insight into contours of the identityand national ethos, and the role of themainstream news media in fostering strongattachment to the national ethos,

METHODOLOGYThe study reported here is part of a largernational study on 'Youth as a foundation ofunity: A survey of ethnic tolerance amongMalaysian youth". The study employed asurvey design as it attempted to assess the

190 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005


TABLE 1Profile of the respondents

Attribute

GenderMaleFemale

AgeRangeMean

Discipline of studyBusiness, humanities and social sciencesHard sciences & IT

Place where you were raisedCityTownRural

Malay (n= 325 )

30.5%69.5%

20-27 years22.3 year

41.1%58.9%

33.4%30.7%35.9%

Statistics (N=606)

Chinese (n=211)

30.8%68.2%


30.3%69.7%

51.7%29.4%19.0%

Indian(n=40)

32.5%67.5%


17.5%82.5

64.1%17.9%17.9%

perception and attitude towards amulticultural society. The dependent variableof concern in this report is attachment tonational ethos. In addition to the key socio-demographic variables, the survey alsoincluded variable on exposure to news media,the key independent variable. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed tothe students in class and participation wasvoluntary. The survey took approximatelytwenty-five minutes to complete.

SamplesA random sample of 606 students in tenuniversities and colleges in the countryparticipated in the study. A proportionedstratified random sampling was used inselecting the samples. Effort was made so thatthe samples adequately represented the Malay,Chinese and Indian student population in thecountry. From this total sample of students,Indian youth samples constitute about 7.0%,while the Malay and Chinese samplesconstitute 54.0% and 35.0%, respectively. Theother category constitutes about 4.0%. Thesamples were also stratified by discipline ofstudies so that humanities and social sciences,

and hard sciences students were adequatelyrepresented.

About 53.7% of the student respondentswere from business, humanities and socialsciences discipline, and another 46.3% fromhard sciences and IT. A majority of the sampleswere females, i.e. 69.3%, and 30.4% weremales. The Muslim respondents constituted54.3% of the samples, while the non-Muslimwere 45.7%. The age of the respondentsranged from 18 to 27 years, with an averageage of 22.3 years (SD=1.441). Table 1summarizes the profile of the samples.

InstrumentAttachment to national ethos was measuredby asking the respondents to indicate theiragreement (from 1= strongly disagree to5=strongly agree) to all the 16 five-point Likertitems developed for the study. The items weredeveloped and used by one of the researchteam member in his previous study based onthe notion of the national ethos as defined byMahathir Mohamed. Two of the items wereabout shared historical experience, two itemsrelated to shared values, two items focused onthe sense of common identity, two items onshared emotional attachment, two items on

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005 191

Ezhar Tamam et al

TABLE 2Factor analysis and reliability of attachment to national ethos scale

Item Factor 1Shared identity

and future/destiny

Factor 2 Factor 3Shared Sharedhistory loyalty/

and values commitment

I accept Islam is the official religion of the country.I will not leave the country, regardless of what ever

happen to the country.I am confident that this country will always care

of my well being.I try act in responsibly relating to national problem

faced by the country, although I questioned theaction taken by the government.

I will sacrifice my life and wealth to defend thecountry when it is under threat.

I fully accept the view that Malaysia is an Islamic country.Monetary control introduced in 1998 make the country

free from being colonized by rich countries.Power sharing among the various ethnic groups has

ensured political stability in the country.I accept the democratic system practiced in the country.I am proud that this country is a multi-ethnic,

multi-cultural and multi-religious country.I accept the vision 2020 wholeheartedly.Ethnic clash such as the May 13 1969 incident

must be avoided.I am proud when a Malaysian's achievement is

recognized internationally.It is not important to abide to the government

PLKN programI don't care if the country is not respected.It is not important to give priority to Malaysian

made productsEigenvaluePercentage of variance explainedAlpha value

.739

.793

.696

.548

.755

.668

5.59122.44.834

.562

.685

.635

.704

.559

.631

.428

2.88118.01.776

.719

.747

.8292.00112.51.695

commitment, two items on loyalty, and finallyfour items on shared destiny that transcendsethnic bounds without undermining theethnic identity. A rotation factor analysis ofthe attachment to national ethos scale yieldedthree distinct factors. The three dimensionsof attachment to the national ethos werelabelled as shared identity and future/destiny(Factor 1, Eigenvalue= 5.75, percentage ofvariance explained= 33.83), shared history andvalues (Factor 2, Eigenvalue= 1.81, percentage

of variance explained= 12.08) and sharedloyalty/commitment (Factor 3, Eigenvalue=1.32, percentage of variance explained= 8.82).The Alpha values of the three sub-scales were.834 for shared history and values, .767 forshared identity and future/destiny, and .695for shared loyalty/commitment.

The respondents were asked to indicatehow frequent they used television, newspaper,radio, newsmagazine, and the internet to

192 PertanikaJ. Soc. ScL & Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005


obtain news on a 4-point scale (l=veryfrequently, 2= somewhat frequently, 3=seldom,and 4=never). The respondents were alsoasked to indicate how much attention theypaid to the news in the news media on a 3-point scale (l=very much attention, 2= someattention, 3=not at all). The news media usedscore was multiplied with the news attentionscore to create an overall index of exposureto the news media. The higher the score, thegreater the exposure to the news media usedwill be.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe first research question of the present studyaddressed the issue of the nature ofattachment to the national ethos among theMalay, Chinese and Indian university students.Although the measurement has been usedbefore, no information is available on thenature of the national ethos construct. Threedimensions of the national ethos emergedfrom the data: (1) shared identity and future/destiny, (2) shared history and values and (3)shared loyalty/commitment to the country.Tables 3a, 3b and 3c summarize thedistribution of respondents on theirattachment to the three dimensions of thenational ethos.

The data revealed that, on the whole, therespondents had positive perceptions andattitudes toward the selected characteristics ofthe country. In short, they shared the socialrepresentation of the nation. As shown inTable 3a, many of the respondents fell into themoderate and high degree of attachmenttowards the shared identity and future/destiny,with a large majority in the high category. Thefinding suggests that the respondents readilyidentify Malaysia as an Islamic nation and Islamas the official religion, and they also share theperception that the country has a good futureand have a social belief that their well-being isadequately addressed by the country.Although the degree of attachment to theshared identity and future/destiny wasfavourable, there was a significant differenceamong the three ethnic groups in their degreeof attachment to the shared identity and

future/destiny (F=14.043,p=.000). The resultsof a Scheffe test showed that the mean scorefor the Malay is significantly higher than themean score for the Chinese, suggesting thatthe Malay respondents are significantly ormore strongly attached to the shared identityand future/destiny than that of the Indianrespondents. The Scheffe test also showed nosignificant difference in the mean differencebetween Malay and Indian, and Chinese andIndian.

Similarly, the study revealed that therespondents had favourable identify withselected history and values of the country.They had collective memory of the May 13 riotincident and the monetary control introducedby the government, shared acceptance of thepracticed democracy system in the country andthe sharing of power among the variousethnics groups as well as readily identify withthe vision 2020. As shown in Table 3b manyof the respondents fell in the moderate andhigh categories with a majority in the highcategory, except for the Chinese group. A testof group means difference was foundsignificance (F=l 1.325, p=.000). The Scheffetest showed that the mean for the Malayrespondents was significantly higher than thatof the Chinese, suggesting that the Malayrespondents are significantly more stronglyattached to shared history and valuesdimension of national ethos although bothhad favourable identification.

The respondents were also found to havea favourable degree of loyalty/commitmenttowards the country, that is, they take pride inthe country and supported the national serviceprogram and Malaysian-made products andthe country. As shown in table 3c, many ofthe respondents fell in the moderate and highcategory of attachment to loyalty/commitment. A majority of the Malay and theIndian group were clearly in the high category,except for the Chinese group. A test of groupmeans difference showed significantdifference. The result of the Scheffe testshowed that the mean for the Malayrespondents was significantly higher than thatof the Chinese, suggesting that, the Malay


Ezhar Tamam et al

TABLE 3aAttachment to shared identity and future dimension of national ethos by ethnic

Malay (n=325)Chinese (n=211)Indian (n=40)

Mean(Standard Deviation)

26.03 (3.22)24.49 (3.49)25.15(3.19)

Low

1.53.82.5

Percentage

Moderate

15.432.222.5

High

83.164.075.0

Note. Higher mean indicates greater attachment to the shared history and values.ANNOVA test of group means (F= 14.043, Sig.= .000).Scheffe test of mean difference showed that the mean for Malay is significantly higher than the meanfor Chinese at the .05 level.

TABLE 3bAttachment to shared history and values dimension of national ethos by ethnic



26.45 (3.03)25.13 (3.33)25.77 (4.52)

Low

4.08.52.5

Percentage

Moderate

34.544.547.5

High

61.546.950.0

Note. Higher mean indicates greater attachment to the shared identity and future.ANNOVA test of group means (F= 11.325, Sig.= .000).Scheffe test of mean difference showed that the mean for Malay is significantly higher than the mean forChinese at .05 level.

TABLE 3cAttachment to shared loyalty/commitment dimension of national ethos by ethnic



11.96(2.55)11.28(2.46)11.55(2.73)

Low

7.17.110.0

Percentage

Moderate

30.243.125.0

High

62.749.865.0

Note. Higher mean indicates greater attachment to the shared loyalty/commitment.ANNOVA test of group means (F= 4.835, Sig.= .008).Scheffe test of mean difference showed that the mean for Malay is significantly higher than the meanfor Chinese at the .05 level.

respondents have a significantly stronger sense Malay and Indian, as well as between Chineseof loyalty/commitment to the country. The and Indian.Scheffe test also showed no significant The second research question is used todifference in the mean difference between reveal the relationship between exposure to

the news media and the degree of attachment

194 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005


TABLE 4Degree of overall exposure to news media by ethnic

Mean(Std. Deviation)

Percentage

Low Moderate High


3.26(1.27)3.01 (1.34)3.61 (1.67)

19.730.421.6

55.650.735.1

24.818.843.2

Note: Higher mean indicates greater exposure to news mediaANNOVA test of group means (F= 4.173, Sig.= .016).Scheffe test of mean difference showed that mean for Indian is significantly higher than mean forChinese at the .05 level.

TABLE 5Bivariate correlations of exposure to news media and attachment to national ethos

Dimension of Attachment to National Ethos

News media Shared Identityand Future

Shared Historyand Values

Shared Loyalty/Commitment

News in televisionNews in newspaperNews in newsmagazineNews in radioNews in internetOverall news media exposure

.151 (.000)

.066 (.110)

.038 (.361)

.086 (.038)

.063 (.127)

.114 (.006)

.137 (.001)

.086 (.038)

.065 (.116)

.103 (.013)

.025 (.548)

.103 (.012)

.023 (.585)

.007 (.864)

.045 (.276)

.033 (.427)

.004 (.932)

.014 (.731)

Note. Two-tail tests of significance

to the national ethos. It is worthwhile to firstlook at the distribution of the respondents interm of their extent of exposure to the newsmedia. As shown in Table 4, the data revealeda variation in the extent of utilization of themedia for news among the respondents. Amajority was in the moderate category, exceptfor the Indian group. Nevertheless, the overallfindings suggest that the respondentsfrequently keep themselves updated with thenews in the media. A test of group meandifference showed a significant difference(F=4.173, p=.000). The Scheffe test showed asignificant difference between the mean of theIndian group with the mean of the Chinesegroup. Nevertheless no significant differencewas observed between the Malay and Chinesegroups, or between the Malay and Indiangroups. The findings suggest that when

comparing among the groups only the Indianrespondents are significantly more exposed tothe news media when compared with theChinese but not with that of the Malay group.The Malay and the Chinese have no significantdifference in their degree of exposure to thenews media.

A bivariate correlation analysis wasperformed to examine the relationship ofexposure to the news media and the strengthof attachment to the three dimensions of thenational ethos. Table 5 summarizes thepatterns of findings of the association betweenexposure to the news media and its attachmentto the national ethos. Overall exposure tonews media was computed from the individualmedia used. Table 5 clearly shows thatgenerally, the exposure to the news media hada positive and significant relationship with the


Ezhar Tamam et al

shared identity and future/destiny (r=.114,p=.006) as well as with shared history andvalues (r=.103, p=.O12), but not with sharedloyalty/commitment. The examination byindividual news media revealed that theexposure to both the television and radio newspositively and significantly correlated with theattachment to shared history and values, butnot with shared loyalty/commitment.Exposure to newspaper correlated positivelyand significantly with only one dimension ofthe national ethos, i.e. shared history andvalues. The patterns of findings suggest that,while the overall exposure to the news mediais positively related with shared identity andfuture/destiny dimension and shared historyand values dimension of the national ethos, itis important to closely examine the influenceof the different mainstream news mediaindividually as observed in the present study.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONThe present analysis provides insight into thesense of identification to the national ethosamong the university and college students inthe country, and the role of news media infostering identification with the ethos of thecountry. The construct of attachment to thenational ethos is a multi-dimensional. Threedimensions emerged from the study, namelyshared identity and future/destiny, sharedhistory and value as well as shared loyalty/commitment dimension.

It was argued earlier that a strongattachment to national ethos is fundamentalin this multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religion country. A strong attachment onational ethos is viewed as a unifying force.On this point is encouraging to observe thatthe university and college students surveyedare not ambivalent in their perceptions andattitudes toward the selected characteristics ofthe country. They identify with the core socio-cultural, economic and political characters ofthe country, that provide the basis for commonor collective social identity. On the sharedidentity and future/destiny dimension of thenational ethos, they readily accept thatMalaysia is an Islamic country with Islam being

the official religion. More importantly, theycollectively see the country as having a goodfuture and care for the well being of its people.They also see that they have a social obligationin ensuring a peaceful, harmonious andprogressing pluralistic Malaysian society, inspite of the cultural and ideological differencesand contradictions across the ethnic groups.With regard to the shared history and valuesdimension of national ethos, the respondentsperceived some of the major historical eventsin the country such as the racial riot and theeconomic crisis encountered as collectivememory. They also readily accepted thatpower sharing among the ethnic-basedpolitical parties, democratic system ofgovernance and shared aspiration of thecountry as envisioned in the Vision 2020 asunique characteristics of the country. Finally,the respondents also readily identified andsupported the major national program andproduct of the country, such as the Malaysian-made good and national service trainingprogram. In sum, a feeling of commonidentity and sense of partnership that is thebuilding block for unity in diversity is there;hence what the government need to do furtheris to ensure is that such environment issustained and enriched.

Based on the observed relationship of thenews media exposure and identification withnational ethos, at a practical level it can beconcluded that the observed associationmeans that the news media in the country tosome degree has functioned as a change ordevelopment agent in the nation building, i.e.in the context of the present study, the newsmedia are harnessing a strong attachment tonational ethos. One practical implication ofthe relationship is that the news in the mediashould be used as educational material inrelevant civic and citizenship courses with theaim of building a civil multicultural society andpromoting better intercultural relations. Adiscussion of the relevant content of the mediapertaining to the issues of interculturalrelations in class should sensitise and educatethe students towards the cultural competency.However, in light of the implied differential

196 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. 8c Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005


influence of the different news media in thecountry on instilling attachment to nationalethos, more attention should be given on thecontent of each news media.

Theoretically, given the observedrelationship of the the news media exposurewith the attachment to national ethos, it canbe concluded that the news media exposureis a potential determinant of attachment tonational ethos. However, an interestinglyexposure to the news media has an influencemerely on the attachment to shared identityand future/destiny dimension and sharedhistory and values dimension of national ethosbut not on the shared loyalty/commitmentdimension. The reason for the difference isnot understood. It could mean that the effectof the news media exposure is more apparenton the instrumental rather than the emotionalaspect of attachment to the national ethos.Another theoretical contribution of thepresent analysis is it lends support on theagenda setting and framing function of thenews media as a partner of the nationaldevelopment

While the findings of the present studycould be generalized to a larger young adultstudent population, readers have to be carefulin doing so because of some methodologicalweakness. The sample size for the Indianrespondents is very small as compared to theMalay and Chinese respondents and this mayhave influence on the test of the meandifference among the groups. Another issueis the analysis is limited to only bivariatecorrelation analysis. The influence ofintervening or moderating variables has notbeen addressed. An additional analysis usinga multivariate analysis is required to determinethe actual contribution of exposure to the newsmedia on attachment to the national ethos.Potential confounding variables need to becontrolled by employing a more rigorousresearch design or controlled statistically.

Finally, items in the measurement of thenational ethos need to be further refined soas to include items that really reflect the

distinctive characters of the country.Identifying the core and distinctive charactersof the country is imperative in the nationbuilding process.

REFERENCESABDUL GHANI, M. N. 2003. The role of mass media

in national development. In Membina BangsaMalaysia. Jilid 3: Kebudayaan dan Nilai ed.Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Rahimah A. Aziz,Abdul Rahman Embong, Mohamed YusofIsmail and Kamaruddin M. Said, pp. 87-99.Kuala Lumpur: Jabatan Perpaduan Negaradan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

ABDUL RAHIM, S. 1992. Peramal perpaduan antaraethnic: Implikasi terhadap perancangankomunikasi. Jurnal Komunikasi 8: 65-77.

AL-HAJ, M. 2005. National ethos, multiculturaleducation, and the new history textbooks inIsrael. Curriculum Inquiry 35(1): 47-71.

DONNELLY, C. 2000. In pursuit of school ethos.British Journal of Educational Studies 48(2): 134-154.

EMMERS-SOMMKR, T. and M. ALLEN. 1999. Surveyingthe effect of media effect: Ameta-analyticsummary of the media effect research inHuman Communication Research. HumanCommunication Research 25(4): 478-497.

JALALUDDIN, N. H, BAHARUDDIN, S. A, OMAR and M.MOHDNOOR. 2004. Identiti nasional dan ethosbangsa. Dewan Rudaya Ogos: 9-13.

KARIM, H. 2003. The media and national unity:An intercultural approach. In Membina BangsaMalaysia. Jilid 3: Kebudayaan dan Nilai, ed.Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Rahimah A. Aziz,Abdul Rahman Embong, Mohamed YusofIsmail and Kamaruddin M. Said, pp. 347-357.Kuala Lumpur: Jabatan Perpaduan Negaradan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

KIM, Y. Y, MD YUSOF, M, AHMAD and S. ABDUL RAHIM.2003. The impact of interethnic interactionand mass media on national unity: Someempirical findings. In Membina BangsaMalaysia. Jilid 2: Identiti Nasional ed. ShamsulAmri Baharuddin, Rahimah A. Aziz, AbdulRahman Embong, Mohamed Yusof Ismail andKamaruddin M. Said, pp. 197-207. Kuala


Ezhar Tamam et al.

Lumpur: Jabatan Perpaduan Negara danUniversiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

LEE, M. J., M. S. IREY, H.M. WALT and A. J. CARLSON.2003, September. College students' stereotypeof different ethnicities in relation to media use:What are they watching. Paper presented atAEJMC Conference, Kansas City, USA.

LOMSKY-FEDER, E and T. RAPOPORT. 2001.Homecoming, immigration, and the nationalethos: Russian-Jewish homecomers readingZionism. Anthropological Quarterly 74(1): 1-14.

MOHD NOOR, M. 2005. Unity the Malaysian way:Some empirical evidence. In Reading on EthnicRelations in a Multicultural Society, ed.Muhammad Kamarul Kabilan and ZaharahHasan, pp. 31-44. Serdang: Faculty ofEducation, Universiti Putra Malaysia.

MEIER-PESTI, K. and E. KIRCHLER. 2003. Nationalismand patriotism as determinants of Europeanidentity and attitude towards the euro. Journalof Socio-Economic 32(6): 685-700.

SALOMON, G. 2004. A narrative-based view ofcoexistence education. Journal of Social Issues60(2): 273-287.

SCHLESINGER, P. 1993. Wishful thinking: Culturalpolitics, media, and collective identities inEurope. Journal of Communication 43(2): 6-18.

SOEN, D. 2002. Democracy, the Jewish-Arabcleavage and tolerance education in Israel.International Journal of Intercultural Relations26(2): 215-232.

SYNDER, L.,C, RosERand S. CHAFFEE. 1991. Foreignmedia and the desire to emigrate from Beliz.Journal of Communication 41(1): 117-132.

WANTA, W., G. GOLAN and C. LEE. 2004. Agendasetting and international news: Mediainfluence on public perceptions of foreignnation. Journalism and Mass CommunicationQuarterly 81(2): 364-377.

WILLS, J. and H. MEHAN. 1996. Recognizingdiversity within a common historical narrative:The challenge of teaching history and socialstudies. Multicultural Education 4(1): 4-11.

ZEVIN, J. 2003. Perceptions of national identity:how adolescents in the United States andNorway view their own and other countries.The Social Studies 94(5): 227-231,

(Received: 29 August 2005)

198 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. 8c Hum. Vol. 13 No. 2 2005

the relationship of exposure to news media with papers/jssh vol...tiga dimensi etos bangsa terhasil...

Documents