Media Performance During General Election

Ika Karlina, Atika Budhi Utami, Tri Wahyuti

Universitas Paramadina

Keywords: Media, Performance, Coverage, Election, News

Abstract: Media play a vital role in democracy. Media functions as social control and as a means of information allow

the public to receive free access to information. In the age of openness, fact-checked information should be

provided to people rather than biased news. The research discusses the media coverage of the general

election, which was conducted simultaneously in Indonesia on 17 April 2019. The study is based on the

media performance concept by McQuail (Mazzoleni, 2015) that independence, objectivity, informativeness,

and diversity are the indicators to measure journalist performance. The method used is content analyses of

192,800 tweets of news site’s Twitter accounts and 800 samples of news gathered from February to April

2019. Samples are taken from tweets posted by seven accounts of major news sites in Indonesia: Detikcom,

Kompascom, Tempoco, Sindonews, Merdeka, Viva, and Okezone. Of the 192,800 tweets, 60,876 related to

the election. The main topics of the news coverage in the seven news sites in this study are the candidates

(49.08%), topics related to the election in general (15.58%), infrastructure (9.41%), law (7.08%), social

welfare (6.76%), environment (6.65%), economy (5.74%), energy (2.45%), national security (2.25%),

presidential debate (2.01%).

1 INTRODUCTION

Media play an important role in democracy.

Darmastuti (2012) stated that the functions of media

are to monitor, to educate, and to entertain. Media

monitor public activity based on its standard. Media

provide educative and informative messages as a

means of the learning process to the public. To

entertain, media deliver a relaxed and fun program

or coverage to the public. These ideal functions of

media have slightly evolved due to several factors.

One of those factors is technology. The

advancement of communication technology affects

all aspects of life, including the media. Online media

are mushrooming. Thus, media reporting and media

coverage have changed its course to compromise

with the characteristics of online media.

As a means of information, media is misused,

and political agenda is widely inserted in media

coverage. Political parties represented by political

figures and individuals try to steer media in such a

way that media often take sides and be partisan. This

has become a growing concern in a democratic

country like Indonesia. Some studies have revealed

this existing issue.

Studies about media and its role in democracy

mainly discuss media control, media freedom, new

media, and policy. We chose several studies

conducted abroad and in Indonesia. Research

conducted by Firmstone and Coleman (2014)

discussed the perception of local government,

journalists, and citizens towards the changing mode

of media from conventional to digital one in public

engagement. This research has revealed that both

conventional and new media are crucial to building

and maintaining communication with the public.

However, due to the transition between mainstream

and new media, instability over changing roles

occur. Another study conducted by Leschenko

(2014) was to describe press freedom during

Yanukovych administration. The media was

oppressed and used for government propaganda. As

a result, some journalists took to the street and

protested. This prompted the so-called EuroMaiden,

a reform movement in Ukraine. Indonesia, the third

world's largest democratic nation, faced strict media

control during the New Order reign. Media in the

New Order were controlled tremendously while

critics to the government were regarded as

subversive criminals. Wahyuni (2000) states that as

a social institution, media interacts with other

institutions, namely state, society, and market. This

Karlina, I., Utami, A. and Wahyuti, T.

Media Performance During General Election.

DOI: 10.5220/0009400500960101

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Anti-Corruption and Integrity (ICOACI 2019), pages 96-101

ISBN: 978-989-758-461-9

interaction intertwines and affects media expansion

and political communication in Indonesia. The

research describes that there are only two

administrations, namely President Habibie and

President Abdurrahman Wahid, who marked

compelling changes in media-related policy. Syam

(2006) studied that the reform in 1998 brought a

significant impact on the press. Press has found its

long-lost character: Freedom.

Since 2000 the Internet has thrived rapidly, and

as a result, it has converted the way people live,

communicate, consume, travel, and many more.

Media and journalism, as its core has faced a

revolutionary era when coverage, consumption,

distribution, and ownership transform. On the one

hand, this shift creates a positive impact, such as the

increase in media consumption through new media.

On the other hand, this brings to biased media

coverage due to a lack of verification and speed-

driven information.

This study argues about media coverage during

Indonesia's latest simultaneous and the most

complicated election.

2 RESEARCH QUESTION

1. What were the main topics of news coverage

during the 2019 Indonesia Presidential

Election?

2. Who were the main sources of news during

the 2019 Indonesia Presidential Election?

3. What was the dominant method of news

coverage during the 2019 Indonesia

Presidential Election?

4. How was the media performance structure

used?

3 LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Online Journalism

The development of online news media in Indonesia

is growing rapidly. This is based on the needs of

people in the current digital era who are

experiencing the need to search for information in

digital form. With the public's need for news

presence on a digital platform, much conventional

print media began to turn to online media. Even

some of the print media in Indonesia has been

closed. The development of online news media has

not only changed the way of delivery from the

conventional era to the digital era, but also the

workings of journalists who have also changed, as

we are familiar with the term online journalism.

According to James Glen Stovall (in Hadi, 2009),

online journalism is known for its dimensions of

flexibility, capacity, immediacy, and permanence.

Reporters can enter their news reports in various

forms for information, both in full text, accompanied

by biographical information on sources, diagrams,

maps, and images that can help readers understand

the subject matter of the news. It can even include

audio from sources and video scenes where the news

is taken. This is the flexibility of the internet media

rather than print or broadcast. However, in online

journalism, there are also restrictions that are located

on the server computer in terms of quota or data

space where the information is stored and the length

of time for access. Online journalism can send news

instantaneously and simultaneously (instantaneous

reporting) in the form of breaking news events

according to its context with global coverage.

Something that is felt difficult for broadcasters to

provide information on breaking news. This is what

is called immediacy. Meanwhile, online journalism is

called permanent because reporters work long hours

for a digital document that can be stored in a

computer server for a long time and maintained

quality. The quality of information stored online is so

powerful, easy to be traced but also prone to

duplicate. Because the web is an open medium and

full of networked technology, so it is easily

duplicated and stored in a different location from the

original.

According to Hadi (2009), interactivity in online

journalism is a relationship between reporters and

their readers (public) and a meaningful relationship

with a new form of journalism. According to

Williams, Rice, and Rogers (in Hadi, 2009), defining

interactivity as "the degree to which participants in

communication processes have control over, and can

exchange roles in, their mutual discourse." So

internet communication control is on the user. One

study of the use of the internet gets six dimensions

of interactivity, namely (1) the internet is able to

provide information rather than just persuasion; (2)

control lies with internet users; (3) many activities

are carried out by (active) users; (4) communication

that occurs in both directions; (5) the time spent in

communication is more flexible than scheduled and

(6) communication takes place in a place that is

'created' by consumers.

Although the digital age has developed rapidly,

the role of journalists in carrying out their work must

be maintained; on any platform, a journalist delivers

Media Performance During General Election

the news. According to McNair (in Elridge II, 2018),

key roles of journalists include being: (1) source of

information, (2) a watchdog on power, (3) a

mediator between government and people, (4) an

advocate of social issues. These four roles must be a

reference in conveying the news. As a source of

information, a journalist is required to be able to

give the right message to the public. Whereas the

role of the watchdog on power can be interpreted as

a journalistic activity that carries out the function of

controlling the running of the government, thus the

journalist becomes a mediator between the

government and the community. In carrying out this

role, journalists are also expected to be an advocate

on social issues in society.

A professional journalist is also required to be

able to do work as a journalist who understands his

work. On news that appears on platforms such as

print and online, the news content at least fulfills the

following basic things (Wendratama, 2017: 38-55):

(1) Focus, (2) Facts (accurate and verified), (3)

News Value, (4) Answers, (5) Sources, (6) Clarity,

(7) Ethics. Focus is the most important element in

the good news. Focus can also be interpreted as a

news angle. The second element is Facts. This is

related to how deep news has passed verification to

be feasible to be conveyed to the public. The

purpose of verification is to obtain the truth. The

third element is the News Value. News Value is the

journalist's reference when presenting the news.

Some considerations can be made, such as the value

of novelty, importance, interest, irregularities, and so

on. The next element is the Answer. This is related

to news that has met the formula 5W + 1H. The next

element is the Source, which is interpreted as the

ability of journalists to deliver news sources so that

they can be trusted. The element that is considered

important is also Clarity, which is interpreted as the

working principle of journalists in presenting an

issue that must have good clarity in the structure of

news writing to provide evidence such as

photographs or multimedia that reinforce the content

of the news delivered. The last is the element of

Ethics, and journalists must do the right way, both

justified according to universal rules and the rules of

the society in which the journalist works.

3.2 Media Performance

In seeing whether a journalist's performance is

appropriate in carrying out its functions, there are

various concepts by which data are used as a

reference. But there is one concept that can be used

as a reference, namely the concept conveyed by

McQuail. According to McQuail (in Mazzoleni,

2015), the four main indicators that can measure

journalist performance are independence,

objectivity, informativeness, and diversity. The

concept of independence is an indicator that is

difficult to assess because when making these

measurements, we also measure the structure that

occurs in the media, such as media regulations that

are based on law, economic regulations, and others.

How the media really uses their freedom is another

story and more difficult to judge, although evidence

can be obtained from observing practice. Thus, the

more critical, investigative, argumentative,

participatory, and stimulating media are in reporting

journalists, the more independent they can be

justified.

The second indicator is the objectivity. In this

context, journalists are prosecuted to be neutral and

concentrate on facts that can be verified and avoid

bias. A more developed view expressed about the

objectivity of journalists is measured how capable

they are giving confidence to the public by

conveying information that has a level of trust and

reliability.

The third indicator is the informativeness.

Informativeness can be interpreted as a term that

refers to some basic features of the public role given

to, or accepted by, mass media in modern society.

This has several sub-principles. First, there must be

comprehensive monitoring of events and conditions

in the national community and in the wider

international environment, important for warning of

risks, hazards, or problems that arise and are

relevant to public outreach. Second, the information

published must be based on good evidence and as far

as possible in accordance with observed reality. This

must be sufficiently complete in terms of essential,

accessible, and understandable, and presented in

ways that are effective in achieving learning

outcomes and increasing public awareness of

relevant facts.

The fourth indicator is diversity. The basis for

assessing the diversity of media settings is the extent

to which content and sources or media voices reflect

population composition in proportional and relevant

terms, for example, in relation to political allegiance,

social class, ethnicity, geographical location, and so

on.

3.3 Structural and Performance

Differences on Media

According to McQuail (2010:162), there are three

levels of media operation: structure, conduct, and

ICOACI 2019 - International Conference on Anti-Corruption and Integrity

performance. However, in this paper, we only

discuss the structure and performance of the media.

Media structure lays the media system, while media

performance indicates the content.

Based on the freedom principles, media structure

includes the independence of channels, access to

channels, and diversity of contents. Media

performance encompasses reliability, critical stance,

originality, choice, change, and relevance (McQuail,

2010: 165).

At the level of structure, media freedom means

no censorship, equality of information access, and

independence from ownership intervention. These

values are basically conflict-driven because absolute

freedom is futile. Media freedom is limited by

power, controller, and owners or those who have no

power like the audience. Meanwhile, at the level of

performance, media freedom evaluation is somewhat

difficult to conduct due to the misuse of

communication freedom itself. Therefore, the media

should fulfill the investigation and verification of

their coverages. Media performance should be

innovative and independence that would lead to

ingenuity, resourcefulness, and variety.

4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this study, we conducted a content analysis of

192,800 tweets from news sites' Twitter accounts

and 800 samples of news that we gathered from

February 22 to April 24, 2019. Content analysis

involves setting categorizations, measuring the

reliability of the categorizations, classifying samples

into the categorizations, and drawing conclusions

based on the frequencies and contexts of the

messages (Riffe, Lacy, & Fico, 2005). We

operationalized the news into two types of

information units: words and symbols (Riffe, Lacy,

& Fico, 2005). We used words to analyze the topics

of news coverage and symbols to investigate the

news sources, method of news coverage, and method

of verification.

Due to the difference in the unit of analysis, we

took different samples from the population of

collected news articles. To examine the main topic

of news coverage, we took the whole population of

tweets posted by seven accounts of the major news

sites in Indonesia: Detikcom, Kompascom,

Tempoco, Sindonews, Merdeka, Viva, and Okezone.

Today, as people get their daily news from social

media, news sites post every article on Twitter to

reach more audiences. The unit of analysis in this

sample was a word, and the categorizations were

referred to like the topics of presidential debate

(Indonesia Commission of General Election, 2018):

economy, energy, law enforcement, infrastructure,

national security, environment, social welfare, and

the presidential debate. We added three categories

for the topics, which were the candidates (Jokowi

and Prabowo) and the general election.

To examine the main news source and method of

news gathering, we took 800 samples from the 192,

800 population. Before we choose the sample, we

cleaned the data and only selected news related to

the general election. From the population, we

randomly selected samples based on the proportion

of articles that each of the news sites posted during

the data collection.

The unit of analysis in this sample was a symbol,

as Riffe, Lacy, and Fico (2005) define it as a

"discrete unit of content that contains meaning." In

this study, we operationalized the news source into

ten categories: politician, candidates, campaign team

or spokesperson, university professor, expert, survey

agency, non-government organization (NGO),

Indonesia Commission of General Election, or KPU,

citizen, and other. We also operationalized the

method of news gathering into eight categories:

face-to-face interview, mediated interview, field

coverage, press conference, press release, social

media conversation, public discussion, and other.

The reliability scores for both categorizations were

0.78 and 0.80.

In addition, we investigated whether any effort of

verification in each article and if whether any

potential impact the news had on citizens’ life or

public discussion related to the general election.

5 FINDINGS

From all the 192,800 tweets, we found 60,876

related to general elections. During the 2019

Indonesia general election, the main topics of the

news coverage in the seven news sites in this study

were the candidates (49.08%), followed by topics

related to the election in general (15.58%),

infrastructure (9.41%), law (7.08%), social welfare

(6.76%), environment (6.65%), economy (5.74%),

energy (2.45%), national security (2.25%),

presidential debate (2.01%). Although the post about

candidates dominated the news coverage, we found

that there were more articles related to the

incumbent candidate President Joko Widodo/Jokowi

(27.42%) compare to other candidates Prabowo

Subianto (21.66%). This finding also accoutred in

the 800 samples of news articles that we chose. We

Media Performance During General Election

found 1,891 words related to Jokowi and only 1,381

words related to Prabowo. Meanwhile, words related

to the election, in general, were only 498.

The main news sources related to the 2019

Indonesia general election were the candidates

(22.76%), followed by campaign team or spoke

person (19.21%), politician (18.75%), others

(15.39%), Indonesia Commission of General

Election or KPU (8.2%), citizens (4.66%), NGO

people (3.45%), survey agency (2.79%),

academician (2.79%), and expert (1.95%).

The main method of newsgathering that the

online news sites applied was face-to-face interview

(51.22%), followed by field coverage (24.94),

mediated interview (7.34%), quoting press releases

(4.23%), press conference (3.89%), public

discussion (3.11%), others (3.11%), social media

conversation (2.11%).

In addition to those three findings, we

investigated whether any effort of verification in

each article. Apparently, 69.92 percent of the articles

did not contain any verification method, and only

one third (30.07%) of the articles mentioned that the

news had been verified. When we looked further

into what verification method that the journalist did

to check the information, most of them just referred

to the previous articles that they run before

(41.66%). Other verification methods were checking

the information with the press releases sent to the

news media (29.58%), phone interviews (15.83%),

social media posts (10%), and interviews via texting

or messenger (2.91%).

Furthermore, we analyzed whether the news

contents had any potential impact on citizens' lives

in the next three months. We found that most of the

news would not bring any changes to citizens' lives

for the next three months (67.91%) and only 32.08

percent of the articles that would potentially bring

changes to citizens' lives. Most of the news,

however, could contribute to the public discussion

related to the election (66.2%) and 33.79 percent of

the news could not even contribute to enriching the

public discussion related to the general election.

The last finding of the media performance

structure used in the research displays uniformity of

coverages. During the election periods, online media

tend to play safe. This was probably due to the strict

control and interruption from the media owners and

also a reluctance to being different.

6 DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSION

The 2019 Indonesia general election was the first

election where voters chose the presidential

candidates, members of parliaments, house

representatives, and local representatives at the same

time. Issues related to the election logistics, elections

officers and supervisors, and the performance of the

Indonesia Commission of General Election, 2018,

needed more attention from the journalists and mass

media. Unfortunately, the mass media tended to

cover news related to the political debates initiated

by the candidates

Politicians—candidates, political party

representatives, and campaign team/spoke person—

dominated the news coverage during the 2019

Indonesia general election. The category of “Others”

also dominated the news coverage. When we

analyzed further, most of the news sources fell in

this category were government officials and

ministers in Jokowi’s administrations. Voices from

the citizens, who would use their votes and

determine the election results, apparently were not

considered important by the mass media. At the

same time, there were only 8 percent of news came

from the Indonesia Commission of General Election.

This commission role was critical as they continued

to show poor performance in managing this first

simultaneous election.

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