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JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

Abstract

This study examines how politainment shapes the news coverage of public officials with celebrity backgrounds (celebrity officials) in Indonesia's post-electoral governance context. Focusing on Kompas.com during the first six months of the Prabowo–Gibran administration, the study integrates theories and concepts of politainment, celebrity politics, and the public sphere to address a gap in global scholarship. Existing research has largely focused on Western democracies, electoral campaigns, and social media platforms, while paying limited attention to how politainment operates within professional online journalism in emerging democracies. Using a mixed-method approach that combines quantitative content analysis of 102 news articles with qualitative framing analysis, the findings show that Kompas.compredominantly frames celebrity officials through personalization, symbolic visibility, and affective narratives, with limited emphasis on policy substance or administrative performance. These results suggest that politainment has become institutionalized in routine political reporting not merely as a campaign strategy, but as a dominant mode of post-election public communication. This study contributes to the studies on the mediatization of politics by demonstrating how politainment in post-reform Indonesia constrains rational public discourse and poses challenges to journalistic responsibility and democratic deliberation.

Bahasa Abstract

Studi ini mengkaji bagaimana politainment mengarahkan pemberitaan tentang pejabat publik dengan latar belakang selebriti (pejabat selebriti) dalam konteks tata kelola pasca-pemilu di Indonesia. Dengan berfokus pada Kompas.com selama enam bulan pertama pemerintahan Prabowo–Gibran, studi ini mengintegrasikan teori politainment, politik selebriti, dan ruang publik untuk mengatasi kesenjangan dalam kajian global yang sebagian besar meneliti politainment di negara-negara demokrasi Barat, kampanye pemilu, dan platform media sosial, sementara mengabaikan operasinya dalam jurnalisme daring profesional di negara-negara demokrasi berkembang. Menggunakan pendekatan mixed-method yang menggabungkan analisis konten kuantitatif dari 102 artikel berita dan analisis pembingkaian kualitatif, temuan menunjukkan bahwa Kompas.com sebagian besar membingkai pejabat selebriti melalui personalisasi, visibilitas simbolik, dan narasi afektif, dengan penekanan terbatas pada substansi kebijakan atau kinerja administratif. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa politainment telah terinstitusionalisasi dalam reportase politik sehari-hari, bukan hanya sebagai strategi kampanye tetapi sebagai mode komunikasi publik paska-pemilu yang dominan. Studi ini berkontribusi pada literatur internasional tentang mediatisasi politik dengan menunjukkan bagaimana politainment di Indonesia pasca-reformasi membatasi wacana publik yang rasional dan menimbulkan tantangan terhadap tanggung jawab jurnalistik dan deliberasi demokratis.

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