The Failure of the Mass Media to Construct the Communities in Ledok Wetan and Sumbangtimun Villages, Bojonegoro Regency, Related to the Flood Problem of Bengawan Solo

Mondry Mondry

doi:10.14738/assrj.62.6153

Abstract

The mass media is often informed of successfully constructing communities. Many books and journals have written about the success of mass media in constructing the communities. This study, however, examines how the mass media failed to construct the communities of Ledok Wetan and Sumbangtimun Villages, Bojonegoro Regency, East Java, Indonesia in the case of Bengawan Solo floods. The failure was not due to the failure of Berger and Luckmann’s theory (2012) of the construction of social reality, but because the communities considered that floods from the longest river in Java were not harmful to human life and not economically harmful. Because of this assessment, the public does not feel worried about doing harmful things, such as throwing garbage into Bengawan Solo. At the same time, the mass media also did not assess the Bengawan Solo floods that occur every rainy season every year, go through 3 cities and 17 districts, and involve thousands of refugees as a serious problem. National mass media did not report the flood problem of Bengawan Solo, while the local media only reported when the flood occurred, between two to seven days. There is no news that aims to inform, educate, and influence the community to better anticipate the floods of the Bengawan Solo, to minimize their impact. In fact, newspapers distributed in the flood victims’ communities do not report about flood news. Keywords : Failure, Mass Media, Construction, Flooding, Bengawan Solo River

Highlights

Diverse information obtained by communities from the mass media can be attributed to the function of media, which according to the 1999 Principal Law covers entertainment, information, education, and social control (Assegaff, 1983, Mondry, 2008,)
The failure occurred not because of the inability of the mass media or Berger and Luckmann's theory regarding the construction of social reality, but because the mass media did not seriously raise the problem of Bengawan Solo flooding into interesting and sustainable information
The failure of mass media to construct the community in Ledok Wetan and Sumbangtimun Villages is not due to errors or failures of Berger and Luckmann's theories

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Diverse information obtained by communities from the mass media can be attributed to the function of media, which according to the 1999 Principal Law covers entertainment, information, education, and social control (Assegaff, 1983, Mondry, 2008,). MEDIA CONSTRUCTION OF COMMUNITIES IN RELATION TO FLOODS The Bengawan Solo flood that hit the Bojonegoro area occurs every year and has been going on for a long time. National television with information that can be seen in almost all regions in Indonesia, even abroad (such as East Timor) does not seem interested in reporting the Bengawan Solo flood, even though it happens every year. The local mass media in Bojonegoro Regency did not bring up information about knowledge about disasters, including floods, news after the floods, or anything aimed to make people aware of how to avoid the floods. Bramantyo, who is the leader of Radio Madani, one of Bojonegoro's local media, responded to the same thing He stressed the impression of the public was that the mass media were not too interested in environmental news and disasters. The media is not rightful in selecting its topics, but incidental and profit-oriented in doing so

Findings

DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION