POLITICAL PREFERENCE OF MEDIA OWNER, POWER ABUSE, AND BIAS (CASE ON PRIVATE TELEVISIONS IN INDONESIA)

Abstract

Mass media behavior in Indonesia has changed since the 2014 presidential election. The media openly has shown partiality to one candidate and or became part of a support group. The media has been used as an arena to gain and support power, become a mouthpiece, and a propaganda tool for stakeholders. The political preferences of media owners are one of the causes. The 2014 presidential election as a starting point of change. Even in the 2019 presidential elections, the media was the same, especially on private televisions. This paper explored how the news was used as a battlefield in competing for public discourse to gain power during general elections and its impacts. The position of media owner who was also the leader of a political party was vulnerable to abuse of media power, which in turn had consequences for the media content (bias).