ANTICORRUPTION ATTITUDE OF LOCAL NEWSPAPER OF EAST NUSA TENGGARA PROVINCE

The existence of newspaper in mass communication system leads to change and local newspaper in Nusa Tenggara Timur province (NTT) such as Flores Pos and Pos Kupang is very important in leading to the change, particularly in area which poverty and corruption exist. It is a special challenge for both newspapers, because they are media institutions that give benefits in supporting development and justice in NTT. Local newspaper should indicate clear stance against issues the society domain. There are various life problems in NTT society life that both newspapers should consider them, One of the issues is corruption. The question is how the stance of local newspaper, Flores Pos and Pos Kupang, in facing corruption in NTT in period of the year  2009-2010?

 Reality in NTT with poor people and corrupt government urged researcher to analyze position of media (local press). Researcher used Teun A. van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model. Data collected was editorial text of newspapers, cognition data of editorial writer and social context data. Editorial text data was obtained with documentation technique in editorial clipping of each newspaper. Social context data was obtained from LSM PIAR’s report on corruption in NTT. Researcher did not only analyze text, but also analyze social cognition and social context.

The finding in this research was that Flores Pos and Pos Kupang have anti corruption attitude. Their differences were on their ways presenting anticorruption attitude. It may be seen in their process creating editorial text involving writer cognition and existing context when the editorial text is produced. The way the anticorruption message is delivered in both newspapers was influenced by various factors. One of the factors was media owner power domination.

Both newspapers provided different pattern from media ownership aspect. Flores Pos tended to be more independent in producing editorial text, while Pos Kupang tended to limit writer independence in producing editorial text. The note confirms that reality of today media can be cooped up by capital owner, market or state interest.  It is also supported basic concept of van Dijk’s discourse analysis that media is not absolutely neutral. Therefore, readers should be more critical in assessing media attitude.

Keywords: attitude of local newspaper, corruption, editorial, discourses analysis