Islamic Journalism reporting of the 2019 Indonesian presidential election

Abstract

This research analyzed 50 keywords using the aid of NVIVO, sampled from two Indonesian media sites practicing Islamic journalism, to study the relationship between the focus of reporting on the 2019 Indonesian presidential election and its politically oriented journalistic roles. One of the media, voa-islam.com, has been involved in polarizing voters by their faith using an 'us and them' frame. Through content analysis, this research has quantified the political function of the media in question to be rooted in the promotion of one candidate more closely related with hardline Islamic groups; over the other. On the other hand, the more mainstream media, Republika, has proven itself more impartial and objective, although still denominating issues to an Islamic perspective for its Muslim majority audience. Consequently, this research suggests that there needs to be greater policing of journalistic frames applied in the media.