| บทคัดย่อ(English) |
The objective of this research is to study ways in which Thainewspapers present issues that have ideological dimensions and the forms inwhich these ideologies are reproduced in their news coverage. Preliminaryhypothesis sees two positions in the media's ideological role - as promoterof state's power or as an open platform/terrain for all types of competingideologies in society. The study also examines whether there is arelationship between the newspapers' ideological approaches and theirselection of news sources and their rationalization process in the news. Toanswer the above inquiries, the study uses news reports about thecontroversy surrounding Wat Phra Dhammakaya as a case study. This research involves a comparative content analysis of news reportsabout the Wat Phra Dhammakaya controversy in five Thai newspapers; namely,~iThai Rath, Daily News, Thai Past, Khao Sod, and Mati Chon~i from November1998 to July 1999. Two ideological categories are outlined as a benchmarkfor the analysis - ideologies that support state power and ideologies thatdo not support state power. The study also seeks to examine therelationship between the presence of these ideological positions in thenewspapers and approaches used by the papers in selecting news sources andin rationalization. The research finds that Thai newspapers tend to present issues withideologies that promote state power rather than issues that reflect aposition of open platform for different ideologies. Meanwhile, the studyalso finds the newspapers' selection of news sources and the newspapers'rationalization in the Wat Phra Dhammakaya case correspond to theseideological positions since they also work in support of state power. |
