Parties, Process and Nurani Hati: How the Indonesian Press Constructed the 2004 Elections

by Reimers, Teresa M

In 2004 Indonesia celebrated its sixth year as a democracy with the first direct election of the president. This thesis is a study of Kompas newspaper its framing of the presidential elections. The framing analysis is guided by Kerbel et al’s (2000) candidate, issue, process and audience frames. The research methods are content and textual analyses of the election coverage articles during each campaign period. This thesis surfaces four frames: political associations, predators and prey, organizational process, and constituent perspectives. Kompas framed candidate and issue discussion through political parties, coalitions and personal associations. Personality contests were framed in a predator-prey characterization that admires the prey candidate as a victim. The elections were not just framed as the contest, but also as the organizational process of KPU. Finally, Kompas parted from these elite frames to reflect the perspectives of constituents and the qualifications they set for voting nurani hati (with a pure heart).