Digital Media Unequality During the 2014th Indonesian Presidential Election

Department of Communication, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Diponegoro University, Semarang

^* Corresponding author: hedipudjos@gmail.com

Abstract

In the internet era, a hoax is a real threat for democracy, as it spreads misleading and fake information that creats uncertain political communication. During the 2014 Indonesian presidential election, a hoax was rapidly spreading thorough social media. Morover, in Indonesian political context, a hoax construct strategically by using primordialism issue. This study uses critical discourse analysis to identify a pattern of hoax during the 2014 Indonesian presidential election, particularly to show how primordialism constructs an unequel society. The data was taken from political discussion among 8 influential Twitter accounts, two months before the election. The study found that 1) A hoax was produced by using many techniques; 2) Mainstream ‘online media’ involved in the production of the hoax, particularly by constructing sensational headline. Meanwhile, fake news commonly produced and distributed by pseudonym Twitter accounts; 3) Both hoax and fake news generally run under a mechanism of primordialism issue.