Online news coverage of the sugar-sweetened beverages tax in Malaysia: Content analysis

Background: In Malaysia, the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) tax was announced during the parliament's 2019 Budget Speech. The tax was slated to be enforced by April 2019 but was later postponed to July 2019. The announcement has since generated significant media coverage and public feedback....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hanim, M.F.M (Author), Md Sabri, B.A (Author), Yusof, N. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications Inc. 2021
Series:JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Subjects:
tax
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
View in Scopus
LEADER 03939nam a2200397Ia 4500
001 10.2196-24523
008 220121s2021 CNT 000 0 und d
020 |a 23692960 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Online news coverage of the sugar-sweetened beverages tax in Malaysia: Content analysis 
260 0 |b JMIR Publications Inc.  |c 2021 
490 1 |a JMIR Public Health and Surveillance 
650 0 4 |a beverage 
650 0 4 |a Beverages 
650 0 4 |a Budget 
650 0 4 |a Cross-Sectional Studies 
650 0 4 |a cross-sectional study 
650 0 4 |a human 
650 0 4 |a Humans 
650 0 4 |a Malaysia 
650 0 4 |a Media content 
650 0 4 |a Media content analysis 
650 0 4 |a Netnography 
650 0 4 |a Obesity 
650 0 4 |a Public health 
650 0 4 |a Public health policy 
650 0 4 |a Sugar-sweetened beverages 
650 0 4 |a Sugar-Sweetened Beverages 
650 0 4 |a tax 
650 0 4 |a Taxes 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.2196/24523 
856 |z View in Scopus  |u https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85113301619&doi=10.2196%2f24523&partnerID=40&md5=0cc631e31997a2ce25b4c6af66bc8a5d 
520 3 |a Background: In Malaysia, the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) tax was announced during the parliament's 2019 Budget Speech. The tax was slated to be enforced by April 2019 but was later postponed to July 2019. The announcement has since generated significant media coverage and public feedback. Objective: This study presents a qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional study using netnography to examine how Malaysian online news articles responded to the SSBs tax after the announcement and postimplementation. Methods: Online news articles published on popular online news platforms from November 2018 to August 2019 were downloaded using NCapture and imported into NVivo for analysis using the inductive approach and thematic content analysis following the initial SSBs implementation announcement. Results: A total of 62 news articles were analyzed. Most of the articles positively portrayed the SSBs tax (46.8%) and highlighted its health impacts (76%). There were 7 key framing arguments identified in the articles. The positive arguments revolved around incentivizing manufacturers to introduce healthier products voluntarily, positive health consequences, the tax's impact on government revenue, and the use of the generated revenue toward beneficial social programs. The opposing arguments included increased operating costs to the manufacturer, the increased retail price of drinks, and how the SSBs tax is not a robust solution to obesity. The top priority sector considered in introducing the tax was the health perspective, followed by economic purposes and creating policies such as regulating the food and drinks industry. Conclusions: The majority of online news articles positively reported the implementation of the SSBs tax in Malaysia. This suggests media played a role in garnering support for the health policy. As such, relevant bodies can use negative findings to anticipate and reframe counteracting arguments opposing the SSBs tax. © Muhammad Faiz Mohd Hanim, Budi Aslinie Md Sabri, Norashikin Yusof. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (https://publichealth.jmir.org), 18.08.2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://publichealth.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. 
700 1 0 |a Hanim, M.F.M.  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Md Sabri, B.A.  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Yusof, N.  |e author 
773 |t JMIR Public Health and Surveillance