The Framing of Chinese Foreign Workers in Indonesian Online Media during COVID-19 Outbreak

Lase, Formas Juitan and Satya, Putu Agung Nara Indra Prima (2020) The Framing of Chinese Foreign Workers in Indonesian Online Media during COVID-19 Outbreak. In: workshop “Racialisation and Social Boundary Making in Times of COVID-19”, 3-4 December 2020, Amsterdam.

Text TheFramingofChineseForeignWorkersinIndonesian.pdf Download (318kB)

Abstract

The stereotyping of Chinese foreign workers in Indonesia is increasing rapidly during the COVID-19 outbreak. Before the outbreak, the Indonesian society already has a negative perspective towards Chinese descendants or Chinese workers who portrayed as troublemaker by several parties in Indonesia. They were perceived as “job-stealer” and even “communist agents” who tries to take over this country. Now, they are also accused as a deadly viruscarrier. This portrayal added a new dimension into the negative image of Chinese workers in Indonesia. Furthermore, we can identify the stereotyping of Chinese workers based on the news in online media. They performed as an outlet in which the stereotyping can be seen from their released news. Based from their point of view in delivering the news, we can analyse the preferences of the media towards Chinese workers. Hereinafter, this paper will try to answer the question: “How the Indonesian online media frame the image of Chinese workers during the COVID-19 outbreak?” The grounded data for this research will be collected from online news of two prominent media: Kompas.com and Republika.co.id. The Kompas.com is a secular-based online media, while Republika.co.id represents the Islamicbased media. We will analyse the news for six months from March 2020 (when Indonesia officially published the first COVID-19 cases) until August 2020 (when Indonesia is expected to recover from the COVID-19). We will use the framing analysis with qualitative approach. We will also combine it with the identity formation concept to explain the stereotyping that befell to the Chinese workers.

Actions (login required)

View Item