THE_ELEMENTS_OF_AMERICAN_INVESTIGATIVE_JOURNALISM_IN_THE_NOVEL_OF_THE_PELICAN_BRIEF_BY_JOHN_GRISHAM

THE ELEMENTS OF AMERICAN INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN THE NOVEL OF THE PELICAN BRIEF BY JOHN GRISHAM A THESIS In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For Strata Degree English Department of Diponegoro University Submitted by: DWI SUSILOWATI A2B 006 031 FACULTY OF HUMANITIES DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY SEMARANG 2010 VALIDATION The writer states truthfully that this thesis is compiled by her without taking the results from other research in any university, both in S-1 degree and in diploma In addition, the writer ascertains that she does not take the material from other publications or someone’s work except for the references mentioned in bibliography Semarang, Agustus 2010 Dwi Susilowati APPROVAL Approved by: Advisor, Arido Laksono S.S, M Hum NIP 19750711 199903 002 ACCEPTANCE This Thesis Certified and Approved by the Thesis Examination Committee S-1 English Department Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University Day : Friday Date : August 20, 2010 Chief Examiner Dra Dewi Murni, M A NIP 19491207 197603 001 First Member Drs Siswo Harsono, M Hum NIP.19640418 199001 001 Second Member Arido Laksono, S.S, M Hum NIP 19750711 199903 002 Motto Dalam hidup ini arungi semua cerita indahku, saat - saat remaja yang terindah tak bisa terulang -Melly Goeslaw Setiap orang punya kekurangan, asalkan kita tidak menyerah pada kekurangan kita dan tetap melakukan yang terbaik maka kita akan berhasil -AnonimUrip Kuwi Sawang Sinawang -Anonim- DEDICATION The writer dedicates this thesis for: Her great family, especially her mother Her beloved boyfriend Her friends and everybody in her life ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thanks to Allah, the protector in this world, for the mercy and guidance so that the writer can finish writing this thesis Many peaces and blessings are also given by the Prophet, Muhammad SAW On this occasion, the writer would like to thank all people who have contributed to the completion of this thesis The deepest gratitude and appreciation are given to Mr Arido Laksono, as the writer’s advisor, for his guidance, helpful correction, cooperation, time, and kindness until this thesis completed The writer would also like to say special thanks to the following: Prof Dr Nurdien H Kistanto, M.A., the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Diponegoro University; Drs Muallimin, M.Hum, the Head of English Department, Diponegoro University; Sukarni Suryaningsih S.S, M Hum, the Head of American Studies Section; Dra Arida Widyastuti, the writer’s academic supervisor for her guidance and motivation from the first semester until eighth semester; Her beloved mother for all love, care, support and inspiration; Her father, brother Arif, sister Eka, and all of her great family who always support and motivate the writer; Her dearest Yobbow who always gives support, motivation, keeps the spirit, and accompanies the writer in bad and good times; All her friends in Faculty of Humanities, in her boarding house and WAPEALA for the jokes and motivation Finally, the writer realizes that this thesis is still far from being perfect Therefore, some comments, critisms, suggestions, or even objections are required and will be valuable for the improvement of this thesis Semarang, Agustus 2010 The writer TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE i VALIDATION ii APPROVAL iii ACCEPTANCE iv MOTTO v DEDICATION vi ACKNOWLEDGMENT vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ix ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study 1.2 Scope of the Study 1.3 Purpose of the Study 1.4 Method of the Study 1.5 Organization of the Writing CHAPTER THE WRITER’S BIOGRAPHY AND THE SUMMARY OF NOVEL OF THE PELICAN BRIEF .………… 2.1 The Writer’s Biography…………………………………………… 2.2 The Summary of Novel of The Pelican Brief.…………………… CHAPTER LITERARY REVIEW… 12 3.1 Intrinsic Aspects … 12 3.1.1 Theme … 12 3.1.2 Character … 12 3.1.3 Plot … 13 3.1.4 Setting … 15 3.2 Extrinsic Aspects … 17 3.2.1 Definition of Investigative Journalism … 17 3.2.2 The history of the American Investigative Journalism … 18 3.2.3 The elements of American Investigative Journalism 20 CHAPTER ANALYSIS … 26 4.1 Analysis of Theme.… 26 4.2 Analysis of Character .… 28 4.3 Analysis of Plot … 34 4.4 Analysis of Setting … 37 4.5 Analysis of the elements of American Investigative Journalism 39 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 53 REFERENCES They tried to look for Garcia depend on a picture which had gotten by a photographer had been asked for help by Grantham They investigated White&Blazevich, and asked to law students who had clerked in White&Blazevich Then they made disguise and collected the evidences from other sources They found out that Garcia's right name was Curtis D Morgan who was one of the lawyers of White&Blacevich whose client was Mattiece Shaw and Grantham decided to go to Washington to meet Morgan They found out that Garcia had been already dead Probably, Mattiece's people had murdered him So they visited Morgan's wife to tell her that her husband had not committed suicide, and to ask for her help She gave them a key to a lockbox in the First Columbia Bank In the lockbox, they found a video cassette and an envelope with affidavit and some papers in it Those could prove Shaw's theory They went to the office of The Washington Post to write the story Before writting the story Grantham contacted director of FBI, Mattiece's lawyers and the White House The White House decided to tell everyone what Mattiece had done, and denied any connection between Mattiece and the President Mattiece and his people hade been indicted, the president's image was badly hurt and would not win the re-elections Then Shaw and Grantham was safe CHAPTER LITERARY REVIEW 3.1 Intrinsic Aspects The intrinsic aspects of literary work is some aspects that come as foundation for its works According to Semi (1993: 35), intrinsic aspects include theme, plot, setting, character, language style 3.1.1.Theme Theme is a central idea of the story to develop the whole story In Hugh Holman’s opinion in A Handbook of Literature (1980:443), theme is the control or dominating idea in a literary work In poetry, fiction, and drama, it is the abstract concept made through its representation in person, action, and image in the work Theme may not sum up each story but theme may describe a central idea in each To get a valid theme, the statement of theme should be responsive to the details of the story and based on evidence within the story In Nurgiyantoro’s opinion in Teori Pengkajian Fiksi (1995: 88), major theme is a central idea in general and includes the whole story 3.1.2 Character Character is an aspect which leads and has a powerful to influence a plot in the literary work It can be a moral messenger or the center of story According to M.H Abrams in Glossary of Literary Terms (1981: 28), “character are the person presented in dramatic or narrative work, who are intepreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and distortion qualities that are expressed in what they say and what they do” Character can be divided into protagonist and antagonist characters People often see protagonist as a good character, and antagonist is the bad one who symbolizes evil Potter (1967: 70) explains protagonist as follow: The protagonist is always the focal point of the action of a story, the character that the story is most obviously about He is usually in the forefront of the action, and usually has the most to say, whether we like or approve him or not In accordance with Potter’s statement that the protagonist is the character that frequently appears in the story and has a lot of parts in delivering his dialogue, protagonist, then, is usually recognized as the main character Meanwhile, the antagonist in Potter’s opinion (1967: 7) is the main person or thing that opposes the protagonist In other words, antagonist is everything that prevents the protagonist from reaching his goals Character is very important in a story Its function is to tell the idea, motive, plot, and theme Conflicts which happened in the story come from the character relation with environment both protagonist and antagonist In fact, character is a story maker which has many important things to give influences to the plot, conflicts, and make the theme more powerful 3.1.3 Plot An author creates a work of fiction that makes a reader accept it as real world in the novel although it is something new for the reader Readers are brought into the author’s fictional world by the plot Plot is the author’s arrangement of incidents in a story Through plot, author or writer has a right to select and determine the events that she will use to shape the story Events can be arranged in chronological arrangement begins with what happens first, second, so on, until how the story is related and end In James L Potter’s opinion in Elements of Literature (1967: 33-36), structure of plot can be divided into five structures that consist of exposition, raising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion Exposition is a situation in which a potential conflict can be perceived After the conflict is perceived, the built up actions are brought to the climax (raising action) Climax is a point in a narrative in which the conflict comes to a head, is strikingly intensified for a time In order to solve the conflict that appear and reach its climax, some actions are done so the conflict is let down This part is called falling action Finally, the story is closed with a resolution of the conflict Conflict can be divided into external and internal conflict Meyer (1990: 45) explaines that external conflict is the opposition of the protagonist to another individual, nature and society While internal conflict is a conflict within the protagonist such as those which involve moral or psychological issues Perrine (1988: 42), divides conflict more detail into physical conflict, mental/emotional conflict, and moral conflict A person may be in conflict with other persons, with society or nature, and at the same time he may be involved in conflict without being aware of it Physical conflict happens when protagonist is in conflict with the ideas of other persons Emotional conflict happens when the protagonist is in conflict with him self Meanwhile moral conflict results from the struggle against the action or idea that is contrast with the value of life 3.1.4 Setting Setting is an important part of literary work A writer can make the story become real based on imagination or experience that happened before According to Wellek and Warren (1977: 221) “setting is an environment: and environment, especially interior, may be viewed as metonymy or metaphoric expression of characters” For example, a man’s house is an extension of himself When you described it then you have described him According to Josephine F Ablamsky (1983: 45), setting is a vital element in fiction since it has four major roles: (1)It makes a story more credible or believable (2)It aids in establishing a mood or an atmosphere in the reader (3)It develops a source of conflict (4)It develops the characterization of a performer in a story Setting in the fiction is the time and location in which the story takes place The setting provides the main backdrop for the story In order to develop imagination of readers, the writer can write and tell the setting in detail explanation Setting has a strong relation with the character in the literary work That means setting can build an identity for the character For example, a character that lives in a village has a different characteristic from a character that lives in a town But in fact, according to Nurgiyantoro (1995: 230), setting is not usually known as a place, time, event, or artifact settings It can be the way the character feels, the attitude in the community, streotype, or even a lifestyle of people in order to solve the community problem For that situation, it can draw imagination and interpretation to make the setting itself as an element of literary work Setting can be explained as setting of place, setting of time and social setting: (1)Setting of Place The first thing that readers want to know is the place of the event According to Nurgiyantoro (1995: 22), setting of place must be correct and details in order to explain the place in the literary work To tell a good story, the writer must know the detail of the place which becomes a setting in the literary work Sometimes setting could be changed depending on the event and location where characters stay and the plot happens In order to get the reader’s impression, setting must make positive imagination relate to the story So, the reader who has read the story, she or he can imagine the place (2)Setting of Time Setting of time means that the time is important for the story and related to “when” the event happens Meanwhile it is important to check the time details for an accurate information According to Holman (1980: 33),Gennette states that sometimes time refers to when the literary work is written and its time line, on the other side, it refers to the event in the story and when it happens That event must take place according to the time details in the story And it must be accurate for its explanation Sometimes the time when the event happened is more important to get an accuracy of details in the reader imagination than a place where the event happened (3)Social Setting Social setting is related to the spiritual tradition from community According to Nurgiyantoro (1995: 233), social setting is relates to the tradition of some communities which tell the literary work Some social settings are customs, beliefs, social status, etc It can be understood that social settings become a setting which comes from society It makes a special sign for the literary work which describes in the social details that build the story 3.2 Extrinsic Aspects 3.2.1 Definition of Investigative Journalism The only workable definition of investigative reporter is a reporter who spends a lot of time in doing investigatons But uncovering information, particularly information on that has been deliberately concealed, requires a certain type personality (Anderson and Benjaminson, 1976: 3) An investigative reporter spends his time in conducting an investigation so it can be concluded that investigative journalism is a part of journalism which needs a lot of time to conduct an investigation In investigative journalism, a reporter does not only cover and record an event that will be be published into the news, but also conducts something more than that The reporter usually looks for data and facts deeply related to a case which is not visible or intentionally hidden from public It will make a reporter enter into the dangerous project which might cause a death 3.2.2 The History of the American Investigative Journalism According to Kurnia (2003: 50), Rivers and Mathews state that the history of investigative journalism has been begun before America existed In 1690, Benyamin Harris investigated some events in society and reported in Public Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestic The report was considered opposed the policy of English colony According to Kurnia (2003: 53), Charneley stated that in the history of American press, crusading related to muckraking period that exposed anti-socail attitude and crime in goverment and bussiness In the next phase, the spirit of crusading got more formal through New England Courant Press in 1721 which was published by James Franklin The terminology of investigation had just appeared in the first time when Nellie Bly was the reporter of Pittsburg Dispatch (1890) Bly had to work in a factory to investigate the life of under age workers who had been worked in bad condition Furthermore Charneley explained that President Theodore Roosevelt had even given name a muckraker to reporter who busily had focused on mucks and had not seen the positive side of America In 1902, investigative journalism was an influential movement It was influenced by the policy of some media which stated their journalism of social reformation The society also welcomed enthusiastically Because of the phenomenon of muckrakring period, investigative journalism appeared into society Society needs information to keep the truth of corruption which is done by some people The investigative reporter has duty to reveal it America had some scandals which had been investigated in investigative journalism One of them is a Watergate case Watergate appeared in the seventies It was the first case which made the resignation of America’s president The reporters who investigated were two reporters in The Washington Post, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward They became well known because the case and the illegal action which were done by some people in White House official The first time, the Post related the case to President Nixon was caused by Bernstein who found that a cheque of $25.000 had been deposited in Miami for Nixon’s campaign The cheque came from one of burglar (Maurice Stans) who was also the Nixon’s Chief fundraiser In Miami, Bernstein learned that a $25,000 check for Nixon's reelection campaign had been deposited in the bank account of one of the burglars The resulting story, "Bug Suspect Got Campaign Funds" reported the check had been given to Maurice Stands, the former Secretary of Commerce who served as Nixon's chief fundraiser It was the first time The Post linked the burglary to Nixon campaign funds (“The Post Investigates”.p.1 par 6) To get their story, Bernstein and Woodward used credible informants, for example, the member of FBI who also investigated the case and a police who told about a man from Miami who brought thousands of dollars in a cash Because that was a dangerous project so Woodward agreed to protect his informants The informants were concealed their identity The identity of informants had just been published in 2005, 33 years later He also could tell them what leads to pursue Woodward agreed to keep his identity secret, referring to him in conversations with colleagues only as "Deep Throat." His identity would not become public until 2005, 33 years later (“The Post Investigates”.p.1 par 7) After the story was published, the following day, Nixon and his Staff Chief discussed privately with CIA and FBI to back off them from the investigation In a few weeks, two reportes reported that Grand Jury who investigated burglar had sought testimony from two mans in White House who were the Nixon’s people The results of that case were the resignation of President Nixon, the failure of President Nixon in the next reelection and the lost in job of Nixon’s aids The next day, Nixon and chief of staff H.R Haldeman privately discussed how to get the CIA to tell the FBI to back off from the burglary investigation Publicly, a White House spokesman said he would not comment on "a third rate burglary." (“The Post Investigates”.p.1 par 4) 3.2.3 The Elements of American Investigative Journalism 3.2.3.1 The Characteristics of Investigative Journalism (1) Smell the Investigative News In Kurnia’s opinion (2003: 96), an investigative news is begun by assumption The reporter smells news, then follows and writes a hard-hitting story to society In other hand Anderson and Benjaminston in Investigative Reporting (1976: 20), the best place to begin searching for such conflicts is in the various campaign contributor lists now kept by most states and in most counties It will be many conflicts and illegal cases in the campaign contributor lists (2) Investigative Journalism The terminology of investigative journalism gives investigative atribut, the curiousity and special mission from a reporter Kurnia (2003: 97) states that a reporter enters into a new subject when the reporter is interested in knowing something The work of reporter is not limited by time pressure Some investigative cases are disgraceful case, power abusing, factual base of actual case which is happened in society, corruption of the truth, manipulation of financial report, the broken law, the difference between proffesion and practitioner, hidden intentionally case , and etcetera Some investigations concern the activities of public officials, such as corrupt politicians, others concern activities of corporations, political organizations, charities and even foreign goverments Often, investigations uncover some sort of financial fraud (Anderson and Benjaminston, 1976: 5) Generally, the corrupts not fear the judgement of history as much as they fear exposure, prosecution, conviction, and disgrace That is why they conceal their activities, and why reporter often must go to unusual lengths to uncover them (3) Moral Component The aim of investigative journalism is tell to public that there is a hiden truth Public are expected ready to actively involve in conducting the prevailed law Morality is the aim of investigative journalism According to Mencher (1997: 263) the aim of investidative journalism is “The desire to correct an injustice, to right a wrong and persuade the public to alter situation” In other words Kurnia (2003: 100) supports Mencher’s opinion, the reporter conducts an investigation because he is motivated by the willingness to correct the justice and shows the mistake Obviously, if the person conducts something wrong and it is important known by the public , the story should be printed If the paper has information that the practise is common, that should be printed too (4) Develop the fact with Dangerous Projects According to Kurnia (2003: 102-103), investigative journalism is allocated as dangerous projects The reporter faces people or group who not want their business are investigated, evaluated and reported to public Reporters have been indicted, convicted, and jailed for stories they wrote, for acts they committed in gathering their information, or for refusing to answer judge’s question In at least one case, an investigate reporter had to find work in another state to avoid prosecution (Anderson and Benjaminston, 1976: 6) As a dangerous project, investigative journalism has many risks The stories which are written by reporters can make them be indicted, convicted and jailed The risks also can caused reporter commits in gathering information or refuses to answer judge’s question (5) A Hiden Area According to Kurnia (2003: 105), the reporter often finds an area which is opened intentionally, looked for by a special assumption and contacted dilligently in finding the informant to disclose informations Therefore, in conducting an investigation, it needs a reporter who wants to spend his time to investigate and take a risk bravely The reporter must enter into the area and investigate it Sometime, it is needed a long time to investigate and finish a case It can take a week, a month, a year or some years (6) Between Paper and People Trail According to Kurnia (2003: 106-111), paper trail is a work to look for the documents from newspaper, magazine, television, radio, reference book, thesis, dissertation, computer database and public networking The investigation of document is needed to check the truth of what the informant said People trail is a work to get information from credible informants so that the facts and the evidences can be reported Furthermore Kurnia (2003: 117) states that every document which is used as data will show the location of the informant or human resources Concealing of the informant or place is just done if the informant needs the safety of identity In Haryanto’s opinion (2006: 17) reporter can state without the informant’s complete name or just states the informant’s proffession or inital According to Kurnia (2003: 224-247) there are two sources in the investigative journalism, primary source (a work to learn paper, correspodance and note) and secondary source (a work to look for data from source which has been published before that) The examples of primary source are personal experience, observation and volunteer staff (people who want to help in giving information without paying) And the examples of secondary source are library, newspaper and book Beside two sources, the reporter can get information from public networking, the Commercial Information Service, Spreedsheet and Database 3.2.3.2 Investigative Interview Every investigative reporter has his own special style in conducting an interview There are some interview styles which let the informant lead, out going interview and intimidate interview In the interview process, related to the credible data, it must be appropriated by the journalism ethic According to Kurnia in Jurnalisme Investigasi (2003: 106-257) there are four kinds of interview, those are: (1) On the Record All statements can be copied by giving name and title of person who gives statement (2) On Background All statements can be copied but without name and title of person who gives statement (3) On Deep Background All statements can be copied but it is not in direct quatation form and without name and title of person who gives statement (4) Off the record The information can not be disclosed To avoid the refusal of informant there is avvidafit According to Kurnia (2003: 264), Rivers and Mathews state avvidafit is the written statement which is made under of oath, in the front of notary public 3.2.3.3 The Investigative Journalism Ethic According to Kurnia (2003: 107), Stanley states that America has Society of Profesional Jurnalists which contains the ethic of journalism: (1) Reports well (honest, fair, brave, credible information, showing identity and asking for informant) (2) Minimizes the mistake (treat informant well, realize the right to keep informant) (3) Acts indepedently (responsibility, recognizing the fault, detailing the story) REFERENCES Ablamsky, Josephine F 1983 Emphasis on Elements of Fiction For Better Reading Comprehension USA: Yale University Press Abrams, M.H 1981 Glossary of Literary Term New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc Anderson, David and Peter Benjaminston 1976 Investigative Reporting New York: Indiana University Press Grisham, John.1992 The Pelican Brief New York: Doubleday Guerin, Wilfred L, et al 1992 A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature 3rd edition New York: Oxford University Press Haryanto, Ignatius 2006 The New York Times Menulis Berita tanpa Takut atau Memihak Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia Holman, C.H 1980 A Handbook to Literature (Fourth edition) Indiana: The Bobbs – Merril Company, Inc Indiana Polis Kurnia, Septiawan Santana 2003 Jurnalisme Investigasi Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia Mencher, Melvin 1997 New Reporting and Writing, Seventh Edition Madison, Washington: Brown & Benchmark Publisher Meyer, Michael 1990 The Bedford Introduction to Literature Boston: Bedford Books of St Martin’s Press Noor, Redyanto 2004 Pengantar Pengkajian Sastra Semarang: FASindo Nurgiyantoro, Burhan 1995 Teori Pengkajian Fiksi Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press Perrine, Laurence 1988 Literature; Structure, Sound, and Sense Fifth edition America: Harcourt Brace Javanovich Potter, James L 1967 Elements of Literature New York: The Odyssey Press Semi, Atar 1993 Metode Penelitian Sastra Bandung: Angkasa Stevenson, Douglas K 1998 American Life and Institutions Washington, D.C: English Language Programs Division and Division for the Study of the U.S Wellek, Rene and Austin Warren 1977 Theory of Literature 3rd ed New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, Inc “The Post Investigates” Washingtonpost.com (11 March 2010) “John Grisham Biography” Achievement.org (24 August 2010) “John Grisham” Wikipedia.org (24 August 2010)