Media Control in the Digital Politics of Indonesia

Media and Communication

article

Masduki¹ 

[1] Department of Communication, Universitas Islam Indonesia

关键词: digital politics;    doxing;    Indonesia;    journalism;    media buzzers;    media control;   

DOI  :  10.17645/mac.v9i4.4225

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Cogitatio Press

【 摘 要 】

In transitional democratic countries with significant digital media user bases, the “authoritarian turn in digital media” hasresulted in new forms of media control designed to counter critical media exposure. This article investigates the ongoingdigital pressures experienced by Indonesian media organizations and investigative journalists by the partisan supportersof the country’s new authoritarian political leaders. This article provides a critical review of the forms of media control thathave emerged in Indonesia within the past five years (2015–2020), giving special attention to the doxing allegedly facedby several news media and journalistic projects: IndonesiaLeaks; Tempo magazine; and WatchDoc. Applying qualitativemethods (observation, semi‐structured interviews, review of documents), this study finds that the rise of non‐state andsocietal control over critical media leads to self‐censorship amongst media and journalists. This study shows that onlinetrolls, doxing, and hyper‐partisan news outlets are used as new forms of media control. Control is also exerted by paid‐social media buzzers, whose online identity is established by their use of digital and social media platforms to manipulateinformation and counter critical news regarding incumbent and oppositional political leaders. This article contributes tothe academic debate on the intended forms of media control in digital politics of transitional democracies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY