Discourse in Indonesian Newspaper Reports: A Case Study of Indonesian President Election Campaign from 2014 to 2019

Abstract

Today’s political realities of media are alignments. There is no political contestation that does not involve the media. There was a radical change in media institutions from watchdog to involved in power struggles. This is where the media becomes political actors. Media involvement in political contestation is realized by constructing news that benefits certain political parties or candidates. Then the news presented to the public will build discourse that benefits certain parties and candidates. Media alignments with certain candidates can be seen in the 2014 and 2019 presidential election campaigns. Amid in the political interests of the contestants, journalism as the main product of the media is challenged to remain in principle and the journalistic code of ethics. The focus of this research is the headlines news, including photographs in Kompas newspaper, Koran Sindo newspaper, and Media Indonesia newspaper, the 8th and 14th editions of April 2019. With a qualitative approach and using critical language analysis research methods of Roger Fowler et al, this study found. First, the news in Kompas newspaper, Koran Sindo newspaper, and Media Indonesia newspaper in the 2014 and 2019 presidential election campaigns took sides politically, either openly or secretly. Second, the reader must change the perspective of media reality today. The alignment of media politics with certain candidates is a necessity. The two findings have implications for the third finding, there must be a change in the journalistic code of ethics which now seems out of date.