Media representation of indonesia in the sydney morning herald from 2004 to 2009 2

STATEMENT This thesis represents my own work and due acknowledgment is given whenever information is derived from other sources. No part of this thesis has been or is being concurrently submitted for any other qualification at any university. Aylanda Hidayati Dwi-Nugroho i DEDICATION This Thesis is Dedicated to MAMA (Mdm Soebiati), SAMUEL and WINONA ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, I thank the Lord God who reveals Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ. He has planned many good things when He sends me to continue my study: the perfect timing when I am ready, the word-class university within a convenient proximity to my home country, the best supervisor any student should have, the highs and lows of the learning journey, and the wonderful people I meet along the way. He does not just send me and my family away. He is taking care of us day by day with His guidance and blessings. Through Rev. Stephen Tong, Ev. Maria Mazo and Rev. Hendra Wijaya at Reformed Evangelical Church Singapore, He has given us wider perspectives and serious challenges for how Christians should follow Jesus Christ in this modern era. Our learning journey has also become a spiritual journey. Second, I thank Petra Christian University and the officials who have provided administrative and financial supports which contribute significantly to the success of my study. My appreciations go to Mr Paul Nugraha, MSc., M.Ed, and Mr Jones Syaranamual, MSc., the former Rector and Vice Rector, and Prof Dr Ir Rolly Intan and Dr Hanny Tumbelaka, the present Rector and Vice Rector. I am also indebted to Dr Ribut Basuki and Mr Dwi Setiawan, MA-ELT., the Dean of the Faculty of Letters and the Head of English Department for their supports. I am also deeply thankful to Ms Lanny at the administration office for her assistance in administrative and financial matters. Third, I am grateful for the scholarships granted by several institutions. Special appreciation goes to Departemen Pendidikan Tinggi (Dikti) of the Republic of Indonesia, for its scholarship for the first three years of my study. My gratitude also goes to National University of Singapore for the Research Scholarship, which supports the fourth year of my study. Finally, I am also thankful for the financial supports provided by Petra Christian University for the last semester of my study. Fourth, my deepest gratitute and highest appreciation go to my supervisor, Prof Michelle Maria Lazar. How blessed I am to have her as my supervisor. She reads my scripts attentively, although they often frustrate her due to many unclear ideas and incorrect grammar. Her questions, comments and feedback have challenged me to reach higher and wider grounds. Her knowledge and expertise in critical discourse analysis, media discourse and media analysis have sharpened the direction of my learning journey so that I am on the right track. In addition to academic supports, she iii has also helped me in administrative and financial matters. Once when I struggled with the financial needs for the fourth year of my study, her recommendation has helped me receive NUS Research Scholarship. She is my role model of a good supervisor, researcher and teacher that any student should have. I am forever indebted to her for all she has done for me. Fifth, I also thank my thesis committee members, Dr Peter Tan, A/P Kay O’Halloran and especially Dr Peter Wignell, for their useful guidance, mind-opening questions and constructive feedback. My special appreciation is also presented to Prof Kate Darian-Smith, the director of The Australia Center at the University of Melbourne, who allowed me to collect data there, Dr Katherine McGregor, from the University of Melbourne, and Mr Tom Allard, the Herald correspondent in Jakarta. Sixth, my deepest gratitude also goes to Dr. Guillermina L. Robertson, who has spent much time, care and attention to read my drafts. She has read them with so much love and care that my final drafts are now more smoothly to read than my earlier drafts. Even a million thanks will never be enough to describe my gratitude to her. I will also remember her words that some students are like lost sheep and we as teacher should just lead them to the green pastures and the still waters like the Lord does. I am forever grateful to her. In addition to my gratitudes for institutional and academic-related supports, I am also deeply thankful to my family. First, I am forever grateful to my mother, Mama Soebiati. Despite her early doubts and physical limitation, she is determined to stand by me until I finish my overseas study. She helps me take care of my daughter, Winona, while I am in campus. She also makes herself busy with healthy and spiritual activities while we are at school and leave her alone at home all day. She is always positive and never complains. She understands me and my situations very well and gives me supports in any way she can. Every evening she prepares dinner enthusiastically and her cooking has kept us all healthy and connected. May God bless her with health, happiness and happy memories to cherish in many years to come. The next persons to thank are my husband, Samuel, and my daughter, Winona. Samuel has supported me since the first time I told him about the assignment. He is willing to spend much time by himself in Indonesia while my daughter and I are studying in Singapore. When the Lord God then grants his wish to also study at NUS, it has become a spiritual journey of walking faithfully with Him. Thanks and appreciations also go to my daughter, Winona, who is brave enough to move school iv where an unfamiliar language is spoken. I salute her because she easily adapts to the new situation. She studies independently while I am in campus, and can even excel in school. My big thanks and appreciations are also for my extended families who have also supported us spiritually and financially. Special thanks go to my husband’s closest relatives: Mr Daniel Hadipoernomo and Mdm Christine Subroto, Mr Hanafi Gunadi and Mdm Yosefinawati Gunadi, and Mr Na Kiem Hwie and Mdm Visaryanti Suleiman. Big thanks are also sent to my brothers and sisters-in-law, Mr Taufik Hamzah Dwi Nugroho and Mdm Lely Setyani, Mr Bundiarjo Dwi Nugroho and Mdm Anna Susanti, and Mr Gunawan Dwi Nugroho and Mdm Linawati. Appreciations also go to Yanno and Yoshi. Significant to the whole journey are my landlords and landladies who have given special rental price of their apartments. We will always remember them fondly: Mr Windfield Zheng, Ms Wynne Lim, Ms Lim Ree Ping, and also Keith and Gwen. Last but not least is my new friends at NUS. I thank my friend and classmate, Zhang Yiqiong, for going together overcoming all hurdles. She is an inspiration for me to just continue working. My appreciation also goes to my senior, Liu Yu, whose research experience has motivated me to go on. Thanks also to my roommates in the PhD Writing Room, especially Cheryl, Farzana, Cao Yuan Yin, and Gao Shuang, for sharing research experiences and supporting one another. Singapore, April 2013. Aylanda v TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement Dedication . Acknowledgements . Table Of Contents Summary List Of Tables List Of Figures CHAPTER – Introduction and Theoretical Perspectives i ii iii vi x xii xiii 1.1 Introduction to Thesis . 1.1.1 Motivation for the Study 1.1.2 Research Questions . 1.1.3 Purpose of the Study . 1.2 The Theoretical Perspectives of the Study 1.3 Political and Historical Backgrounds of Australia-Indonesia Relations . 1.4 Organization of Thesis 1 10 11 CHAPTER – Review of Related Literature 30 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Representation 2.1.1 The Concepts of Representation . 2.1.2 Representation and Reality 2.1.3 Representation as Process and Product 2.2 News Representation . 2.2.1 Representation and News 2.2.2 Representations of Indonesia in Australian News 2.3 CDA Approach to News Representation . 2.3.1 CDA: Theoretical Foundations . 2.3.2 Recent CDA research on media representations 2.4 Conclusion 30 30 31 36 40 49 49 55 66 66 71 73 vi 23 29 CHAPTER – Analytical Framework and Research Methods 74 3.0 Introduction . 74 3.1 The Current Analytical Frameworks for News Representation . 3.1.1 The System Network in Systemic Functional Linguistics 3.1.2 Social Actor Framework . 3.1.3 Social Action Framework . 3.1.4 Evaluation and Appraisal system . 3.2 The Proposed Analytical Framework for Foreign Media News Representation 3.2.1 News Actor Analysis 3.2.2 News Action Analysis 3.2.3 Author Evaluation Analysis . 3.3 Research Methods 3.3.1 Research Approach . 3.3.2 Method of Data Collection 3.3.3 Method of Data Analysis . 3.3.3.1 Analysis of News Actors . 3.3.3.2 Analysis of News Actions . 3.3.3.3 Analysis of Author Evaluation . 3.3.3.4 Triangulation . 3.4 Concluding Remarks . 99 99 107 113 119 120 120 126 128 130 133 137 139 CHAPTER – News Actor Analysis 140 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Major and Minor News Actors . 4.2 Categorization of News Actors . 4.2.1 The Presidents 4.2.2 The Government Officials 4.2.3 The People 140 140 142 142 144 146 74 75 76 82 88 vii 4.3 The Representations of the Indonesian Presidents and Presidential Candidates . 4.3.1 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 4.3.2 Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri 4.3.3 Former President Soeharto . 4.3.4 General Wiranto as a Presidential Candidate . 4.3.5 Prabowo Subianto as a Presidential Candidate . 4.3.6 Conclusion on the Representations of the Presidents and the Presidential Candidates 4.4 The Representations of Government Officials . 4.4.1 The ‘Government’ and the ‘government’ 4.4.2 Other Government Institutions . 4.5 The Representations of the People of Indonesia . 4.6 Concluding Remarks . 147 148 189 204 213 219 225 227 228 239 241 248 CHAPTER – News Action Analysis 250 5.0 Introduction . 5.1 The Representations of Actions 5.2 The Representations of the Actions of Presidents and Presidential Candidates . 5.2.1 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono 5.2.2 Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri 5.2.3 Former President Soeharto . 5.2.4 Presidential Candidates: Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto 5.3 The Representations of the Actions of Government Officials . 5.3.1 The Central Government 5.3.2 The Parliament . 5.3.3 The Judicial Power . 5.3.4 The Police . 5.3.5 The Military 5.4 The Representations of the Actions of the People 5.4.1 The General Population of Indonesia . 5.4.2 The Islamists . 5.5 Concluding Remarks . 250 250 viii 257 257 269 276 279 283 284 288 292 299 305 310 310 316 320 CHAPTER – Author Evaluation Analysis 322 6.0 Introduction 6.1 Author Evaluation . 6.2 The Author Evaluation of Presidents and Presidential Candidates . 6.2.1 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono . 6.2.2 Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri . 6.2.3 Former President Soeharto . 6.2.4 Presidential Candidates: Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto 6.2.5 Conclusion of the Representations of the Presidents and Presidential Candidates 6.3 The Author Evaluation of Government Officials . 6.3.1 The Aspects of Moral Ethics and Truthfulness . 6.3.2 The Aspects of Capability . 6.3.3 The Aspects of Reliability . 6.3.4 Other Evaluation Aspects: Quantity and Emotion 6.4 The Author Evaluation of The People of Indonesia . 6.4.1 The Common People of Indonesia . 6.4.2 The Islamists . 6.5 Concluding Remarks . 322 323 326 CHAPTER – Conclusion 434 7.0 Introduction . 7.1 Contributions and Implications of the Study 7.1.1 Sociocognitive and Cultural Perspectives of News Processes 7.1.2 Framework of Foreign Media Representations 7.1.3 Indonesians in The Sydney Morning Herald 7.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research . 7.3 Concluding Remarks . 434 434 435 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 448 326 352 358 363 372 374 377 384 389 396 410 410 421 431 440 442 444 446 ix SUMMARY This study analyzes how the people of one country are represented in the news of another country. In particular, this study observes the media representation of Indonesia in an Australian broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, from 2004 to 2009. The news items selected for this study are those of Indonesia’s national, domestic, social and cultural issues. Political news that have influence on the bilateral relations are not chosen. The purpose was to see how Indonesia was perceived and represented by a foreign media on relatively neutral grounds and free from bias. News production and comprehension processes are viewed from social, cognitive and cultural perspectives which accommodate some tenets of critical discourse analysis and the frameworks developed in this study. News items are understood to be produced and consumed in the society realm, influenced by the author’s knowledge, ideologies, past experiences and goals of writing/publishing. These are interpreted by readers having many different backgrounds and levels of exposure about the world. News is preserved and recycled in the culture realm trespassing time and space. News is understood as the representations of events or social practices taking place in the society and experiencing recontextualization process of being selected and transformed to fit the news discourse. Thus, analyzing representations in news discourse should consider the discourse and social contexts including the people x involved in the process, such as the discourse producers and the readers, besides the target representation. This point can be seen from the three-dimension frameworks of analysis which analyze the object of representation, namely, the Indonesian news actors ranging from the presidents, the government officials to the common people. The first analysis – the news actor analysis – observes the representations of how the actors are referred to as persons. The second one – the news action analysis – sees how they are represented through their actions. The third one – the author evaluation analysis – shows how the reporters share their opinions about the news actors and their actions to the readers. From the three analyses, it was found that the current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was represented in more positive images than the previous presidents and the other presidential candidates. The government officials were mostly represented negatively in terms of incapability and involvements in corrupt practices. The common people of Indonesia were often represented in terms of huge number of people living in poor conditions who were creative and resilient enough to survive their limited conditions. Specific in this group was the Islamists, and they were seen as capable in influencing the secular government and involved in sex-related issues such as anti-pornography and polygamy. The three analyses of the framework have provided a multi-perspectival approach in analyzing foreign news representations. xi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Criteria for News Actor Analysis 104 Table 3.2 Criteria for News Action Analysis 110 Table 3.3 Criteria for Author Evaluation Analysis 118 Table 3.4 The Data Corpus Size 126 Table 3.5 Codes and Table for Analyzing News Actors 128 Table 3.6 Sample Analysis of News Actors 129 Table 3.7 Codes and Table for Analyzing News Actions 130 Table 3.8 Sample Analysis of News Actions 132 Table 3.9 Codes and Table for Analyzing Author Evaluation 134 Table 3.10 Sample of Author Evaluation Analysis 135 Table 4.1 The First Six Presidents of Indonesia 143 Table 4.2 149 Table 4.3 Functionalization and Nomination of President Yudhoyono Formal, Semi-formal and Informal Nomination Table 4.4 Nomination of President Yudhoyono 151 Table 4.5 Some “unfavourable” News Actors 152 Table 4.6 190 Table 4.7 Functionalization and Nomination of president Megawati Labels Attached to president Soeharto Table 4.8 The Representations of the Government 228 Table 4.9a The Actor Representations of the Legislative 239 150 207 Institutions Table 4.9b The Actor Representations of the Judiciary Institutions 240 Table 4.9c The Actor Representations of the Police 240 Table 4.9d The Actor Representations of the Military 240 Table 5.1 Number and Percentages of News Actions 251 Table 5.2 The Representations of Actions (in percentages) 252 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Comprehension-Representation Processes of News 16 Figure 2.1 Examples of Representations 32 Figure 2.2 Representation as a Process 40 Figure 2.3 Fairclough’s Three Dimensions of Discourse Analysis 70 Figure 3.1 Social Actor Network 80 Figure 3.2 Social Action Network 87 Figure 3.3 Appraisal System 92 Figure 3.4 The Adaptation of van Leeuwen’s Social Actor 100 Network Figure 3.5 News Actor Framework 101 Figure 3.6 The Adaptation of van Leeuwen’s Social Action 108 Network Figure 3.7 News Action Framework 109 Figure 3.8 Adjustments from the Appraisal System 113 Figure 3.9 Author Evaluation Framework 117 Figure 3.10 The Three-dimensional Process of Analyses 127 Figure 5.1 The Representations of President Yudhoyono’s 258 Actions Figure 5.2 The Representations of president Megawati’s Actions 270 Figure 5.3 The Representations of president Soeharto’s Actions 277 Figure 5.4 The Representations of Wiranto’s Actions 280 Figure 5.5 The Representations of Prabowo Subianto’s Actions 281 Figure 5.6 The Representations of the Government’s Actions 285 Figure 5.7 The Representations of the Parliament’s Actions 289 Figure 5.8 The Representations of the Judicial Power’s Actions 292 Figure 5.9 The Representations of the Police’s Actions 300 Figure 5.10 The Representations of the Military’s Actions 306 xiii Figure 5.11 The Representations of the People’s Actions 311 Figure 5.12 The Representations of the Islamists’ Actions 316 Figure 6.1a Aspects of Evaluation of President Yudhoyono 327 Figure 6.1b Top-five Evaluation Aspects of President Yudhoyono 327 Figure 6.2a Aspects of Evaluation of president Megawati 353 Figure 6.2b Top-three Evaluation Aspects of president Megawati 353 Figure 6.3a Aspects of Evaluation of president Soeharto 359 Figure 6.3b Top-four Evaluation Aspects of Soeharto 359 Figure 6.4 Aspects of Evaluation of Wiranto 363 Figure 6.5 Aspects of Evaluation of Prabowo Subianto 368 Figure 6.6 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Central 375 Government Figure 6.7 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Parliament 375 Figure 6.8 Top-three Aspects of Evaluation of the Judicial 376 Institutions Figure 6.9 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Police 376 Figure 6.10 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Military 376 Figure 6.11a Aspects of Evaluations of the Common People of 402 Indonesia Figure 6.11b Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Common 402 People of Indonesia Figure 6.12a Aspects of Evaluation of the Islamists 421 Figure 6.12b Top-three Aspects of Evaluation of the Islamists 422 xiv [...]... Representations of the Legislative 23 9 150 20 7 Institutions Table 4.9b The Actor Representations of the Judiciary Institutions 24 0 Table 4.9c The Actor Representations of the Police 24 0 Table 4.9d The Actor Representations of the Military 24 0 Table 5.1 Number and Percentages of News Actions 25 1 Table 5 .2 The Representations of Actions (in percentages) 25 2 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Comprehension -Representation. .. Aspects of Evaluation of the Police 376 Figure 6.10 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Military 376 Figure 6.11a Aspects of Evaluations of the Common People of 4 02 Indonesia Figure 6.11b Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Common 4 02 People of Indonesia Figure 6.12a Aspects of Evaluation of the Islamists 421 Figure 6.12b Top-three Aspects of Evaluation of the Islamists 422 xiv ... 5.5 The Representations of Prabowo Subianto’s Actions 28 1 Figure 5.6 The Representations of the Government’s Actions 28 5 Figure 5.7 The Representations of the Parliament’s Actions 28 9 Figure 5.8 The Representations of the Judicial Power’s Actions 29 2 Figure 5.9 The Representations of the Police’s Actions 300 Figure 5.10 The Representations of the Military’s Actions 306 xiii Figure 5.11 The Representations...involved in the process, such as the discourse producers and the readers, besides the target representation This point can be seen from the three-dimension frameworks of analysis which analyze the object of representation, namely, the Indonesian news actors ranging from the presidents, the government officials to the common people The first analysis – the news actor analysis – observes the representations... from the Appraisal System 113 Figure 3.9 Author Evaluation Framework 117 Figure 3.10 The Three-dimensional Process of Analyses 127 Figure 5.1 The Representations of President Yudhoyono’s 25 8 Actions Figure 5 .2 The Representations of president Megawati’s Actions 27 0 Figure 5.3 The Representations of president Soeharto’s Actions 27 7 Figure 5.4 The Representations of Wiranto’s Actions 28 0 Figure 5.5 The. .. Figure 6.3b Top-four Evaluation Aspects of Soeharto 359 Figure 6.4 Aspects of Evaluation of Wiranto 363 Figure 6.5 Aspects of Evaluation of Prabowo Subianto 368 Figure 6.6 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Central 375 Government Figure 6.7 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation of the Parliament 375 Figure 6.8 Top-three Aspects of Evaluation of the Judicial 376 Institutions Figure 6.9 Top-four Aspects of Evaluation... images than the previous presidents and the other presidential candidates The government officials were mostly represented negatively in terms of incapability and involvements in corrupt practices The common people of Indonesia were often represented in terms of huge number of people living in poor conditions who were creative and resilient enough to survive their limited conditions Specific in this group... Representations of the People’s Actions 311 Figure 5. 12 The Representations of the Islamists’ Actions 316 Figure 6.1a Aspects of Evaluation of President Yudhoyono 327 Figure 6.1b Top-five Evaluation Aspects of President Yudhoyono 327 Figure 6.2a Aspects of Evaluation of president Megawati 353 Figure 6.2b Top-three Evaluation Aspects of president Megawati 353 Figure 6.3a Aspects of Evaluation of president Soeharto... 4 .2 149 Table 4.3 Functionalization and Nomination of President Yudhoyono Formal, Semi-formal and Informal Nomination Table 4.4 Nomination of President Yudhoyono 151 Table 4.5 Some “unfavourable” News Actors 1 52 Table 4.6 190 Table 4.7 Functionalization and Nomination of president Megawati Labels Attached to president Soeharto Table 4.8 The Representations of the Government 22 8 Table 4.9a The Actor Representations... representations of how the actors are referred to as persons The second one – the news action analysis – sees how they are represented through their actions The third one – the author evaluation analysis – shows how the reporters share their opinions about the news actors and their actions to the readers From the three analyses, it was found that the current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was represented in . represented in the news of another country. In particular, this study observes the media representation of Indonesia in an Australian broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, from 20 04 to 20 09. The. Candidates 22 5 4.4 The Representations of Government Officials 22 7 4.4.1 The ‘Government’ and the ‘government’ 22 8 4.4 .2 Other Government Institutions 23 9 4.5 The Representations of the People. Attached to president Soeharto 20 7 Table 4.8 The Representations of the Government 22 8 Table 4.9a The Actor Representations of the Legislative Institutions 23 9 Table 4.9b The Actor Representations