There are at least 33 periodicals have been established in Sabah since 1883. These include various monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual newspapers published between 1883 and 2022 in various formats including the trilingual newspaper’s format The focus of this study is to investigate the roles of local trilingual newspapers in Sabah and, at the same time, to distinguish between the gratification sought (gs) and the rewards received (gratifications obtained) by readers of the selected local trilingual newspapers in Sabah namely The New Sabah Times, Daily Express, and Borneo Post. The mixed-method research method was implemented to meet the research objectives. 159 respondents were randomly selected to participate in the online and offline questionnaires, and 10 of them were randomly selected to answer the interview. The findings of this study show that readers chose trilingual newspapers to satisfy their cognitive, social-integrative, escapist, and affective needs. 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Author Biographies
Elizabeth Joanny Openg, Department of Media and Communication Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Elizabeth Joanny Openg received her BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature Studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2012. She obtained her Master in English Language Studies from the same university in 2014 and is currently pursuing her postgraduate studies at University of Malaya. Her latest publication is a book that she co-writes with two USM academicians entitled Agnes Keith and other women colonial writers in Borneo.
Siti Ezaleila Mustafa, Department of Media and Communication Studies, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Siti Ezaleila Mustafa is a senior lecturer at the University of Malaya. She received her doctorate in New Media from the same university. She is a Committee Member of the Malaysian Board on Books for Young People (MBBY) and Secretary and life member of the Malaysian Editor Association. She is one of the expert panels for the National Occupational Service Standard (NOSS) for the Editorial field. Her research interests include publishing/ media technology, children's books and literacy, and social media consumption
Mohammad Rashidi Pakri, School of Humanities, University Science Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
Mohammad Rashidi Pakri is an Associate Professor of English at the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia. He earned his PhD from the University of Malaya, Malaysia. His research interests include colonial literature and history, postcolonial criticism, biographical writing, and Malaysian English Literature
