| Summary: | We propose a hybrid of the Social Amplification of Risk Framework and the Social
Semiotic Theory of Multimodality to explore how discourses on risks from Lynas
rare earth project in Malaysia are represented by Malaysian online newspapers.
Evidence suggests that re-contextualizing voices in environmental reporting and
framing reflect changes in relationship between stakeholders in Malaysia. There is
also evidence of neglect of the plights of affected people and communities in
environmental reporting in Malaysia’s mainstream print media. However, there is a
dearth of evidence on how discourses by social actors on risks, especially on
emerging technologies like rare earth in Malaysia are represented in Malaysian
online newspapers. Yet the Malaysian online audience are active and enormous. In
addition, Lynas’ rare earth project in Malaysia generated controversial discourses on
the Internet, but not much is known about how these discourses were represented.
Meanwhile, the Lynas plant in Kuantan got a two-year full operating license in 2014,
already gulped over three billion Malaysian Ringgit, and stirred protests and heated
debates at the highest levels amid allegations of inadequate long term plans for
disposing radioactive toxic wastes which can have diverse risks. Supposedly, the
fears draw from previous experiences from the Asian Rare Earth plant in Bukit
Merah, Perak, which left radioactive wastes that caused workers and residents to
suffer from leukemia, congenital diseases, lead poisoning and deaths. Statistically,
the Kuantan plant produced 1,089 tonnes of rare earth oxides in the first quarter of
2014 and targets 11,000 tonnes yearly. This is 10 percent of global production in
2012. Therefore, this study proposes to explore types of risks represented, how the
risks are defined and the relationship between the risks (if any). It also seeks to
explore social actors who define, amplify or attenuate these risks; identify the modes
used to convey meanings of the risks; and how the modes convey meanings of
specific risks as represented in mainstream and alternative Malaysian online English
language newspapers.
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