Framing halal : the effects of halal brand on corporate image and reputation in Malaysia

Abstract

The reporting of Halal issues in Malaysia had increased with the aspiration of Malaysia to become the World Halal Hub. The increasing awareness among Muslims of their consumer rights had also contributed towards higher media coverage of the Halal issues. Do the media reports on Halal issues affect the corporate image and reputation of companies that adopt the Halal co-branding? Quantitative content analysis of four main newspapers in Malaysia, two Malay and two English, was carried out to answer this question. Framing theory is used to analyze the coverage in order to see how the Malaysian newspapers reflect upon the Halal issues. A case study of the Halal status of sausage casings, which broke out in March 2005, was selected for this study. A total of 76 articles were analyzed and five hypotheses had been tested and supported. The study found that Malay language newspapers give more coverage to the Halal issues, and present them differently compared to the English newspapers, the government as source of news gave positive statements while Non-government organization as source of news gave negative statements and the government was used as the source of news more than the other sources.