Sin Chew puts readers to sleep with 'boring' BN manifesto details

Sin Chew Daily has always provided front-page headlines highlighting positive news while (intentionally? Unintentionally?) becoming the propaganda machine for the BN during election periods. This special treatment for the BN has been proven again in the coverage of election manifestos.

As predicted, the BN election manifesto was published on the first page. And not only the front-page, more news on the BN’s manifesto was found on the third, fourth and fifth pages in the national section. From the average reader’s perspective, it would appear that Sin Chew Daily has over-reported the boring manifesto in detail.

On the same day, the DAP election manifesto was marginalised to the page seven. From the day Parliament was dissolved to the coverage of the both the BN’s and the DAP’s election manifestos on 26 February, the DAP had only one chance with three successive days of negative news on the front-page (about the infighting over a constituency nomination).

What is the news value of placing the BN manifesto as headline news? Why not divide the front-page in two to provide equal coverage of the BN and DAP manifestos and to show fairness in coverage?

According to a local survey agency Merdeka Centre, almost 60 per cent of Chinese voters are pro-opposition. It is a fact that the Chinese Malaysian community is always more supportive of the DAP than the MCA. But an outsider would be forgiven for thinking that the reverse was true given the media coverage by a leading Chinese-language daily, which seemed not to reflect this reality and instead revealed its own pro-BN agenda.