News coverage, exposure, knowledge, attitude, and behavior of Pakistani and Malaysian students towards sexual harassment reports in newspapers
Sexual harassment (SH) is not a new issue in Malaysia and Pakistan. There has been no comprehensive investigation on SH reported in the national dailies of both countries in terms of level of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. The present study was conducted on the basis of content analysis,...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/98734/1/FBMK%202021%2043%20UPMIR.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/98734/ |
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| Summary: | Sexual harassment (SH) is not a new issue in Malaysia and Pakistan. There
has been no comprehensive investigation on SH reported in the national
dailies of both countries in terms of level of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.
The present study was conducted on the basis of content analysis, examining
SH news coverage published in Berita Harian daily of Malaysia and Daily Jang
of Pakistan to identify the patterns of SH news coverage. A total of 382 and
384 university students from Malaysia and Pakistan respectively, voluntarily
participated in a self-administered survey. The survey was carried out following
approval from the respective universities' Research Ethic Committees. The
survey examined SH news exposures, levels of SH knowledge, degrees of
intolerant attitudes toward SH, and propensity to act against SH among
university students in both countries. Knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP)
and Cultivation Theories, were applied in the study for assessing patterns of
coverage. At the conclusion of the study, results showed that both Berita
Harian and Daily Jang did not elevate awareness on SH among the survey
respondents. SH news in Daily Jang were not prominent, and had no thematic
frame or negative direction. Berita Harian had less than 50% SH coverage with
thematic frames set in positive direction but had no prominence. The majority
of the respondents from both countries had moderate levels of SH news
exposure, knowledge, intolerant attitudes toward SH, and propensity to act
against SH. Regression analyses on Pakistani respondents revealed that SH
news exposure had no significant relationship with intolerant attitude toward
SH and the propensity to act against SH but recorded a significant positive
relationship with SH knowledge. SH knowledge, in turn, had significant
relationships with intolerant attitudes toward SH and propensity to act against
SH. The Malaysian respondents revealed that SH news exposure had
significant positive relationship with SH knowledge. The results also showed
significant relationship with intolerant attitudes towards SH. The present study provided insights into similarities and differences in the nature of coverage on
SH in Malaysia and Pakistan. The study suggested that high exposure to
news, high level of knowledge, right attitudes and behavior with respect to SH
have yet to become a norm in Malaysian and Pakistani societies. The
relationships between knowledge, attitudes and behavior variables appeared to
be dependent on the societies' culture. |
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