The content analysis study reviewed 19 newspapers in ASEAN countries, both English and local-language ones, and coded each ASEAN-related article according to nine indicators developed by IPS Asia-Pacific, ranging from format and topic to time frame of publication. The analysed articles were published during the periods February-March and July-August in 2009 and 2010, for a total of eight months.
The content analysis showed that the most prominent subjects of focus in the ASEAN articles were territorial disputes and conflicts, foreign affairs and diplomacy, which accounted for 22.03 percent of the ASEAN articles reviewed. The least-reported topics – with less than 2 percent of the total – were poverty, health, emergencies and natural disasters, education, unequal development and gender.
In terms of placing in the newspapers, majority or 51.49 percent of ASEAN-related stories appeared in the inside pages, while 17.27 percent were classified as foreign/international news.