CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.4 Expected Contributions
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Figure 2. Analytical Framework of Domestic Public Diplomacy
1.4. Expected Contributions
In regards to theoretical contributions, this study will provide important insights to academics in studying both international relations, especially in the field of public diplomacy, as well as international communications, especially in the field of new media and media framing, as this study integrates the public diplomacy, new media, and media framing to understand the domestic public diplomacy done by Indonesian government regarding Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang issue.
In terms of public diplomacy, the relationship of government, media, and public opinion has been an important subject to study yet little research examines connections between them over an extended period. Especially, in the context of
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
focus on the domestic dimension of Indonesia’s public diplomacy. Past study by Sukma (2011) brought important findings of soft power and public diplomacy and its main focus on inserting Islam into the foreign policy. Past study by Azra (2015, p. 131) brought important findings about Indonesia’s middle power public diplomacy as “the largest country and the biggest economy in Southeast Asia, and the third-largest democracy and the largest Muslim country in the world”. Other meaningful studies by Huijgh (2016) brought important insights about Indonesia’s public diplomacy as one of the emerging powers and it discussed domestic public diplomacy as a potential future path for Indonesian public diplomacy. While the latest past study by Hadiansyah et al. (2017) brought important and updated findings about social media strategies for public diplomacy that focus on the SWOT and PEST analysis of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s social media account. The findings of this study thus expected to provide insights for the local and international academics in understanding more about Indonesian domestic public diplomacy through the most recent case study of Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang.
Practically, this study would also address the need of both academics and practitioners in Indonesia and other countries to understand more about domestic public diplomacy through the case study of Indonesia. This case study of Indonesia is an exceptional example of a combination between democracy, Muslim, and modernity as those three elements are strongly related to Indonesia as a democratic and largest Muslim country in the world that is now one of the emerging powers in the Asian region.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Theoretical Foundations 2.1.1. Public Diplomacy
Scholars and practitioners have developed the definitions of public diplomacy over the time and within many related disciplines.
Tuch (1990, p. 3) defined public diplomacy as “a government’s process of communication with foreign publics in an attempt to bring about understanding for its nation’s ideas and ideals, its institutions and culture, as well as its national goals and policies”. In this definition, Tuch (1990) explained that the actor of public diplomacy which in this case is government attempts to promote their set of ideas to its foreign public.
Among others, international relations and communications are the most two contributive fields that resemble to the study of public diplomacy. Signizer and Coombs (1992, p. 138) defined public diplomacy as “the way which both government and private individuals and groups influence directly or indirectly those public attitudes and opinions which bear directly on another government’s foreign policy decisions”. In other words, in the public diplomacy process, government, private individuals, and groups influence public attitudes and opinions that directly affect the government’s foreign policy decision.
In terms of tools used for public diplomacy, Gilboa (1998, 2001, 2002) suggested that state (and non-state) actors use the media as well
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
their public opinion. Gilboa (2008, p. 60) also said “In the Basic Cold War model, the government uses its own means of communication, such as radio stations, to conduct public diplomacy”. Besides, Soroka (2003) explained that public diplomacy is “based on a complex relationship between three major components: the government, the media, and public opinion” (Gilboa, 2008, p. 62). The government, the media, and public opinion are the three major components that bear a strong connection and cannot be separated. Media specifically plays an important role as the government’s tool to bring the understanding of its nation’s ideas and ideals to its foreign public, thus leads to the shaping of public opinion.
2.1.2. Domestic Public Diplomacy and Public Opinion
The explanation of public diplomacy above may help to understand the fundamental idea of the public diplomacy concept that is needed before going deeper into its component. Public diplomacy is not only intended for the foreign public but also the domestic public as
“successful public diplomacy starts at home” (Huijgh, 2011, p. 70).
States must also consider their communication with its domestic public as the information era makes the boundaries between foreign and domestic public less clear (Zaharna, 2010; Melissen, 2013). In conducting public diplomacy, governments will have to make the same effort to win the support from the domestic public as it is to win the
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
which means integrating the domestic component into its international dimension.
In the realm of new public diplomacy in the 21st century, the domestic public support for foreign policy actions has become more crucial than ever. “Domestic public’s understanding and support of a government’s policy and their efforts to reach out to peers abroad are crucial to a country’s (inter)national credibility and efficiency (Huijgh, 2017, p. 764). It has to be understood as “a part of nation’s overall public diplomacy effort” (Melissen, 2011, p. 19) and neglecting the domestic dimension of public diplomacy could lead to a big failure in achieving the policy goals (Seib, 2009). Therefore, the success of the conduct of public diplomacy will never be apart from the success of the government in enacting interactions with multiple stakeholders at home, primarily the citizens (Bátora, 2005).
Huijgh (2017, p. 763) suggests that “Indonesia—a relative newcomer to public diplomacy—has demonstrated innovation in practice, particularly through its “intermestic” approach (blending domestic and international policy considerations), and the development of a niche narrative based on the coexistence of democracy, Islam, and modernity”. Indonesia has been an inspiration for the peers outside the nation and showed its development and strengths yet at the same time, there are still things to work on, especially in integrating the domestic interests into the wider look of Indonesia’s public diplomacy. Therefore, this study will help to give
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
public diplomacy, especially through the recent case of Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang. The support of Indonesian citizens towards the government’s idea here in this Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang is important and thus, making the conduct of domestic public diplomacy an essential step in the further process of public diplomacy conducted abroad.
As stated by Gilboa (1998, 2001, 2002) that in public diplomacy, state (and non-state) actors use the media as well as other channels to communicate with the foreign societies to influence their public opinion, the main goal of domestic public diplomacy is likewise, to influence the domestic public opinion. The main goal is “to shape positive attitudes toward the country, and in consequence to make the achievement of international policy goals easier” (Ociepka, 2008, p. 1).
To achieve this goal, the government uses the media, such as shaping the tones and frames of the news coverage, which will be further discussed in 2.1.4 Media Framing in Public Diplomacy.
2.1.3. Digital Public Diplomacy
The term “digital diplomacy” appeared as the new form of public diplomacy as well as a major trend in the twenty-first century, which focuses on the usage of internet and digital media (for example, social media and websites) by a country to communicate with foreign public in the pursuit of their foreign policies (Adesina, 2017; Raschica, 2018).
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
disseminating the messages to foreign public in terms of public diplomacy. In the same way, digital media also carry the same important function in domestic public diplomacy. Many governments in the world have used online platforms to conduct public diplomacy and Indonesia is one of them.
In line with the terms “digital diplomacy”, the media used in public diplomacy can vary, especially with the rise of new media. This also affects the practice of public diplomacy function by media as they utilize this online platform to enhance its message dissemination process with the public, both domestic and international public. Not only social media, but online news website has emerged as one of the effective media to use to communicate with the public. Cissel (2012, p. 67) suggested, “The news media have large influence on audiences”.
Especially, to react within hours or a few days to a developing issue, new media (for example, news media) is one of the most effective media used by senior government officials, as well as to reduce the damage caused by that issue (Gilboa, 2008).
Besides, more and more people also prefer online news websites as their source of information due to its advantages, for example, free of cost, more choices, 24/7 updates, customization, and not limited to text (Mustafa, 2018). In other words, the majority of people prefer reading online news because it is a fast, convenient, and smart way to stay updated, especially in Indonesia where is a huge size of internet users up to 132.7 million as of 2016 according to Indonesian Internet Service
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Providers Association (APJII). It means Indonesia has 51% of the internet penetration rate of a population of 260 million (AEDT, 2018).
A research done by Indonesian Digital Association (IDA) also showed that news media has a huge role in shaping public opinion as the percentage of Indonesian people consuming online news is up to 96%, the highest one compared to the television, newspaper, and radio (Afrianto, 2016). The existence of online news media has slowly shifted the way people consuming information as well as enhancing the role of online news media in providing reliable information that people can trust.
As a relatively newcomer in this field, Indonesia’s effort to increase the use of digital technology in the practice of public diplomacy considered stood out among other Southeast Asian states (AEDT, 2018) and thus it is interesting to see and learn how Indonesian government perform it in the recent case of Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang.
2.1.4. Media Framing in Public Diplomacy
To approach public diplomacy in a more effective way, which is by focusing on the effects of the revolutions in international relations and communications, Gilboa (2006) mentioned one of the characteristics is the use of media framing in public diplomacy (Gilboa, 2008). Although media framing often appears in communications study, there are still few studies that integrate media framing with public diplomacy concepts (Gilboa, 2008) and that is what this study is trying
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Pan and Kosicki (1993, p. 53) stated that framing highlights certain parts of an issue allowing “the selected elements to become important in influencing individuals’ judgments”. In line with this definition, Terkildsen and Schnell (1997, p. 881) suggest that “framing is important whenever an issue can be presented in multiple ways which may potentially influence how people think about an issue”. In a more updated definition, Entman (2007, p. 4) defined framing is “the process of culling a few elements of perceived reality and assembling a narrative that highlights the connections among them to promote a particular interpretation”. For Gilboa (2008, p. 64) framing is “media selection, exclusion of, and emphasis on certain issues and approaches to promote a particular definition, interpretation, moral evaluation, or a solution”.
In terms of public diplomacy, Entman (2004) suggested that
“Presidents and their chief foreign policy advisers, elites, and the media, are engaged in a battle to shape frames that reach the public through the media and greatly influence the formation of public opinion” (Gilboa, 2008, 64). As public diplomacy is not only intended for the foreign public, but also the domestic public, framing is also an essential component in domestic public diplomacy in influencing the formation of public opinion, thus this study needs to learn. As there are still limited studies that integrate media framing with public diplomacy concepts, especially in the context of Indonesia, it is interesting to see and learn more about how the Indonesian government and private media perform media framing in the public diplomacy process. Specifically, this study
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
media framing to shape the frames of the news coverage regarding Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang case in the domestic public diplomacy process.
2.1.4.1. News Tone Analysis
News tone analysis or also known as tonality analysis is an assessment where the researcher determines whether the content of an article is favorable or unfavorable to the person, company, organization, or product discussed in the text (Michaelson & Griffin, 2005). They suggest that one of the most common classification is a simple categorization of “positive”,
“neutral”, and “negative” tone. This analysis can be used to assess the tonality of an overall article or the tone of a specific mention or code or assess the tone of a specific message that may appear in an article. Each article will be assessed individually and the results can be accumulated to present an overall assessment of the tone of the media.
Particularly in this study, the news tone analysis will be used to assess the news tone of both the government media (antaranews.com) and the friendly private media (detik.com) to answer the first research question (RQ1), which is “To what extent the news tone of Indonesian government media was correlated to the news tone of friendly private media in the case of Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang?”. The news articles of each media
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
of news tone of both media will be compared to see whether they are correlated to each other.
As the main goal of public diplomacy is “to shape positive attitudes toward the country” (Ociepka, 2008, p. 1), the government media here is assumed to try to shape the news tone into the positive tone and the government-friendly media here is expected to be in the same direction with the government media as later it will help to shape the public opinion desired. It is so important to have the private media in line with the government media as Kepplinger et al. (1989, p. 338) suggests that “The trend in press reporting preceded trends in public opinion. Thus, the trend in press reporting can be viewed as paving the way for subsequent trends in public opinion”.
Table 1 below shows the guide to assess the news tone (also called as a coding instrument) for the news tones analysis in this study. Besides, the Support element (1b) includes
“support to the idea of China’s government” as Indonesian government’s idea is to “not intervene” China in handling this issue and thus support them to implement their full sovereignty and decide what is best for their country without any interference.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Table 1. News Tones
No. I. News Tones
1. Code: Positive Tone – This tone refers to the content of article that is favorable to the person, company, organization, or product (Michaelson & Griffin, 2005;
Esbaugh-Soha, 2010; Freyenberger, 2013).
Sub Code Operational Definition
1a. Pro Sentence contains support to the idea of
Indonesian government by political allies, experts, or other politicians.
1b. Support Sentence contains support to the idea of
China’s government by political allies, experts, or other politicians.
1c. Secure Sentence contains Xinjiang as a secure
place for Uighur (and or Muslim) people.
2. Code: Negative Tone - This tone refers to the content of article that is unfavorable to the person, company, organization, or product (Michaelson & Griffin, 2005;
Esbaugh-Soha, 2010; Freyenberger, 2013).
Sub Code Operational Definition
2a. Contra Sentence contains disagreement to the idea
of Indonesian government by a group representative or a political opponent.
2b. Protest Sentence contains disagreement to the idea
of China’s government by a group representative or a political opponent, including protest activity.
2c. Insecure Sentence contains Xinjiang as an insecure
place for Uighur (and or Muslim) people.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
2.1.4.2. News Frames Analysis
News Frames are “conceptual tools which media and individuals rely on to convey, interpret, and evaluate information”
(Neuman et al., 1992, p. 60). Goffman (1974, p. 21) defined a frame as “the principles of organization which governs events – at least social ones – and our subjective involvement in them”.
Gamson and Modigliani (1989, p. 3) defined a frame as a
“central organizing idea for making sense of relevant events, suggesting what is at issue”. Similarly, in a simpler way.
Campbell (2009) stated that “Frames are efficient ways to sort information and create stories”, frames create ‘reality’.
Specifically, in this study, the coding instrument for the news frames derived from the combination of several theoretical frameworks mainly from Semetko & Valkenburg (2000) and An
& Gower (2017) that discussed news frames content analysis.
Based on both studies, there are five news frames identified:
conflict frame, human-interest frame, economic consequences frame, morality frame, and attribution of responsibility frame, which are as follows:
1. Conflict Frame: This frame emphasizes the conflict between individuals, groups, or institutions.
2. Human Interest Frame: This frame refers to an effort to personalize the news, dramatize or “emotionalize” the news, to capture and retain audience interest.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
3. Economic Consequences Frame: This frame emphasizes the economic impact of the issue on individuals, groups, or institutions.
4. Morality Frame: This frame puts the issue in the context of morals, social prescriptions, or religious tenets.
5. Attribution of Responsibility Frame: This frame presents an issue in such a way as to attribute responsibility for its cause or solution to either the institutions or individuals or groups.
These five categories of news frames will be defined into operational definitions and later used to analyze the news frames used in the news articles by both antaranews.com and detik.com to answer the second research question (RQ2), which is “To what extent the news frames of Indonesian government media was correlated to the news frames of friendly private media in the case of Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang?”. As news frames is an important element in how the media frames the news coverage in public diplomacy process, this study will help to understand the frames used by both antaranews.com as the government media and detik.com as the friendly private media in framing their news coverage regarding Muslim Uighurs Xinjiang case to shape the public opinion. Table 2 below shows the coding instrument for the news frames analysis in this study.
‧
Table 2. News Frames
No. I. News Frames
1. Code: Conflict Frame - This frame emphasizes the conflict between individuals, groups, or institutions as a means of capturing audience interest.
Sub Code Operational
Definition
Source
1a. Involved parties There are two or more
individuals, groups, or institutions involved individuals, groups, or institutions in the story. 2. Code: Human Interest Frame - This frame refers to an effort to personalize the
news, dramatize or “emotionalize” the news, to capture and retain audience interest.
Sub Code Operational
Definition
Source
2a. Private information The story goes into private lives of the actors.
Semetko &
Valkenburg, 2000
2b. Adjective The story uses
adjectives or personal vignettes to generate feelings of outrage, empathy caring,
2c. Visual content The story contains
visual information that generates feelings of outrage, empathy
visual information that generates feelings of outrage, empathy