Newspaper Coverage of the Rohingya Crisis in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Malaysia

The ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis, which originated in Myanmar, has seen more than a million people displaced since the 1990s (UNHCR, n.d.). The latest round of violence, beginning in August 2017, has driven nearly 940,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh alone (UNHCR, n.d.). The study examines news frames of Rohingya refugees in the newspapers of record of three countries in South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Pakistan. A number of research studies have shown how specific frames in media representations of refugees have a bearing on the tone of public discourse and ultimately affect matters of aid and policy (Esses et al., 2013; Greussing & Boomgaarden, 2017; Holzberg et al., 2018; Lawlor & Tolley, 2017; Smith & Waite, 2019). Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding of refugee representations and their link to larger cultural frames so that we can strive for better alternatives. It is also important to study media coverage in neigboring countries because they often end up hosting the largest numbers of refugees, especially in the short term.