A Disinterested Press: Reporting police in a provincial Indonesian newspaper

Abstract

This article constitutes the first analysis of newspaper coverage of police in Indonesia. Analysing 63 articles that appeared in the print version of the Lombok Post between September and October 2011, we were curious to see whether recent media liberalisation meant that the press were now critical of police corruption, brutality and ineffectiveness, or whether there existed a close relationship between police and media such that the press worked as a public relations mouth piece for the police. We also wondered whether the Lombok Post reported about police in a sensationalist way in order to sell more newspapers. What we found were articles that generally failed to criticise police or promote police interests in any enduring way. We also found that articles reported on police in a benign way by simply describing characteristics of the incident, victim, and suspect, and discussing the status of an investigation or trial. What our article suggests is that the Lombok Post is largely disinterested in police and policing, and in a circular way both reflects and sculpts public opinion of police. Media significantly shapes public perceptions of police, and as the most widely read newspaper in Lombok, the Lombok Post has the potential to spark critical debate about policing in the region. Until media across Indonesia recognise the importance for democracy of reporting favourably and critically on police, citizens will remain largely disengaged from police, allowing poor policing practices to persist.

Keywords:

• Police
• Indonesia
• media
• newspaper
• Lombok

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank AUT University, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the University of Indonesia for their generous funding of this project. The first author would like to thank RY for assistance with all 63 article translations, and Ross Tapsell for feedback, and a Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of Cambridge that provided space for writing the article. Furthermore, we would like to thank Professor Adrianus Meliala for his enduring support and encouragement.

Notes

1. The terms in Indoneisan are respectively: Politika, Ekonomi Bisnis, Newstainment, Iklan Codek, Opini, Hukum dan Kriminal, Pendidikan, Olah Raga and Metropolis.

2. It might be worth mentioning here that just one article in our sample discussed the relationship between the Indonesian Armed Forces and the police. This lack of reporting may suggest that the police and military now have significantly different roles and are independent of each other, or/and it may indicate the inability of the Armed Forces and police to cooperate in Lombok, something which they do manage to do successfully elsewhere in Indonesia (Jansen, 2008). But as our data collection phase is limited more research is needed.