Mass Media Attribution to Local Government Infrastructure Performance

Abstract

Mass media is a public communication channel for the government, as well as a detector of field situations, program observer, and reporter to the public on government performance. Responsibility attribution theory sees the presence of two types of attributions: causal attribution and maintenance attribution. This study examines the attribution of mass media to the Public Works Department, Tapin Regency, Republic of Indonesia. News coverage was collected from regional and national news sites between 2015 and 2017. A total of 30 news items are relevant for further analysis. Of these, 24 are known to attribute causal responsibilities to non-governmental actors, while 29 provide attribution of responsibility for maintenance to the government. However, only three stories show the government as an active actor solving the problem completely. These results indicate that the mass media are not interested in the results achieved by the government, but only look at the responses given to problems. The media did not report on the progress or performance of the government's response measures. Theoretically, this study has implications on the theory of attribution of responsibility by asserting that attribution also needs to be seen from temporal dimensions. It is important for government to make partnerships with mass media more actively. The originality of this research lies in the use of the theory of attribution of responsibilities in more detail to inform on the improvement of public administration.