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Observations of news in local newspapers were
conducted in April 2018. The method of analysis in
data collection was quantitative and descriptive.
3 MASS MEDIA AND POLITICS
There are many studies related to mass media and
political relations. One earlier study revealed that the
less-known candidate is very little covered by the
print media. According to Licher and Smith they even
have a small chance of disseminating their opinions
in the mass media (Kaid, 2015, p. 309).
Other studies have revealed the things that often
become news during the election. Hess has explained
that one of them is the theme of what happened during
the campaign. It is also the strategy of the candidates
and their experiences, including personal qualities, or
leadership skills (Kaid, 2015, p. 309).
In the news, some candidates get fewer benefits
than other candidates. Kahn and Kenney revealed that
Republican candidates have received a favourable
report compared to candidates from the Democratic
Party. This case occurs in the United States. But the
evidence of partisan bias is still not found. So the
decision of reporters in choosing news about the
campaign, will affect the advantages and
disadvantages for candidates (Kaid, 2015, p. 308).
There is also a classic question that arises in
America in terms of media and political relations. The
question is whether news reflects a partisan or
ideological bias? (Kaid, 2015, p. 307). This question
is related to content evaluation and the quality of
media coverage in elections.
Chandrappa, in his studies The Influence of the
Media in Politics - Campaigns and Elections,
concluded that “…the media has a very strong effect
in politics, campaigns and elections by dictating what
issues are relevant, what candidates will get the most
coverage and what criteria they should use to evaluate
candidates.” (Chandrappa, 2014, p. 2312)
A more recent study (Moy, David, and Mark,
2016, p. 11), in the study Agenda-Setting, Priming,
and Framing, explains that in the digital age, news
readers have more choices. This means that fewer
voters are affected by the print media in determining
their political choices. They have direct access to the
news they have chosen. Therefore, they are not
dependent on one-way information.
4 THE NEW ERA OF MEDIA:
THE END OF NEUTRALITY?
The election of Governor of North Sumatra 2018
followed by two pairs of candidates. Have the
newspapers been identified as supporting particular
candidates? In this study there was a gap in the
amount of news content in each newspaper.
Quantitatively, Newspapers A and C mostly
contained candidate number 1 (DJOSS) news.
Newspaper B reported more on candidate number 2)
(ERAMAS) (see Diagram 1). However, the news
content does not always provide a positive image of
the candidates to the voters. Therefore, basically, the
quantity of news only describes how actively the
mass media reports on the candidates in the news.
Figure 1: Quantity of News Candidates in the Newspaper
(Source: results from data analysis).
Figure 1 illustrates that newspaper A reported
more on candidate number 1, i.e. 64.4 percent. That
means that newspaper A only reported on candidate
number 2 approximately 35.95 percent of the time.
Meanwhile, newspaper B reported more on candidate
number 2, 73.17 percent of the time. This means that
this newspaper only reported on candidate number 1
26.82 percent of the time. newspaper C reported on
candidate number 2 55.81 percent of the time and
candidate number 1 44.18 percent of the time. This
means that there is an 11 percent number of news
from candidate number 2 compared to candidate
number 1.
Although the news in the mass media reported
many activities of one candidate only, in fact,
individuals at this time tend to be autonomous in
choosing news, especially since access to news is so
easy through the internet with mobile phones.
Newspapers still provide news that reports the vision
of the candidates' mission, but controls on the news
ICoCSPA 2018 - International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs
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