Mapping the 2024 Indonesian Election Process: An Analysis of the Existence of Monitoring Strategies in Online News Coverage

Hatta Abdi Muhammad, Ahmad Baidawi, Herdin Arie Saputra, Sanny Nofrima

Abstract


Online news media has played a crucial role in providing information that can influence public opinion during elections. This study aims to investigate the themes of election monitoring strategies for the 2024 election and gain a deeper understanding of the related techniques. The research employs a qualitative approach with content analysis to identify themes and aspects within election monitoring strategies. Data analysis in this article is supported by the adoption of NVivo 12 software. The findings reveal that election monitoring involves cooperation between the Election Management Bodies (EMB), law enforcement, civil society elements, and youth participation. Furthermore, the use of digital technologies, such as applications and closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems, has become a key tool in the process. A clear legal framework also plays a role in ensuring the integrity of the election. The reporting system for monitoring, which includes public complaint posts, is identified as a critical element in preventing violations and intimidation. Additionally, the role of the media in communicating information to the public is also recognized as a strategic factor. Therefore, understanding the role of online news media in election monitoring for the 2024 elections is essential to ensure transparency, fairness, and the integrity of the democratic process in Indonesia.

 

Keywords: Digital technology, election monitoring strategy, media press, regulation, 2024 election.


https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2025-4104-07


Full Text:

PDF

References


Adanlawo, E. F., & Reddy, M. M. (2021). The role and effect of the mass media during electioneering. Journal of African Films and Diaspora Studies, 3(2), 61–74. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-aa_jafdis_v3_i2_a5

Agus. (2023). Stakeholders mapping in election management in West Nusa Tenggara province. Revista de Gestao Social e Ambiental, 17(7).

Alghamdi, M. A., & Gregg, D. G. (2020). “One size won’t fit all”: How can we increase U.S. public motivation to participate in policy debate. 26th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2020.

Aman, A., & Tomsa, D. (2023). The constitutional and legislative foundations of Indonesia’s electoral regime. In M. Crouch (Ed.), Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia (pp. 133–150). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192870681.003.0007

Antonyan, T., Davtyan, S., Kentros, S., Kiayias, A., Michel, L., Nicolaou, N., Russell, A., & Shvartsman, A. A. (2009). State-wide elections, optical scan voting systems, and the pursuit of integrity. IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, 4(4), 597–610. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIFS.2009.2033232

Arceneaux, C., & Leithner, A. (2015). Discrepant monitoring practices in international electoral observation. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Civic and Political Studies, 9(1), 9–24. https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-0071/cgp/v09i01/53139

Baker, J. (2023). Reformasi reversal: Structural drivers of democratic decline in Jokowi’s middle-income Indonesia. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 59(3), 341–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/00074918.2023.2286020

Baumann, H.-C., Zheng, P., & McCombs, M. (2018). First and second-level agenda-setting in the 2014 Indian general election: A time-series analysis of party-media relation. Asian Journal of Communication, 28(2), 205–226. https://doi.org/gk3vzr

Beam, M. A., Hutchens, M. J., & Hmielowski, J. D. (2016). Clicking vs. sharing: The relationship between online news behaviors and political knowledge. Computers in Human Behavior, 59, 215–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.02.013

Bukhari, S. F. H., Woodside, F. M., Hassan, R., Shaikh, A. L., Hussain, S., & Mazhar, W. (2019). Is religiosity an important consideration in Muslim consumer behavior. Journal of Islamic Marketing, 10(4), 1288–1307. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-01-2018-0006

Butt, S., & Siregar, F. (2021). Multilayered oversight: Electoral administration in Indonesia. Asian Journal of Comparative Law, 16(S1), S121–S135. https://doi.org/qhbb

Buzin, A., Brondum, K., & Robertson, G. (2016). Election observer effects: A field experiment in the Russian Duma election of 2011. Electoral Studies, 44, 184–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2016.06.018

Chang, H. I., Dawes, C. T., & Johnson, T. (2018). Political inequality, centralized sanctioning institutions, and the maintenance of public goods. Bulletin of Economic Research, 70(3), 251–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/boer.12140

Chang, H. I., & Peisakhin, L. (2023). Does the procedural act of electing leaders enhance cooperation in divided societies? Experimental evidence from Lebanon. Electoral Studies, 84, 102638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2023.102638

Chebotarev, G. N. (2022). Public observation as a tool of election legitimacy. Gosudarstvo i Pravo, 2022(1), 120–129. https://doi.org/10.31857/S102694520018279-7

Clavell, G. G. (2011). The political economy of surveillance in the (Wannabe) global city. Surveillance and Society, 8(4), 523–526. https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v8i4.4191

Dad, N., & Khan, S. (2023). Reconstructing elections in a digital world. South African Journal of International Affairs, 30(3), 473–496. https://doi.org/qhbc

Dalrymple, K. E., & Scheufele, D. A. (2007). Finally informing the electorate? How the Internet got people thinking about presidential politics in 2004. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 12(3), 96–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1081180X07302881

de las Heras Pedrosa, C., Paniagua Rojano, F. J., Jambrino Maldonado, C., & Iglesias Sánchez, P. (2017). Image of U.S. presidential candidates in Spanish digital ‘press.’ Revista Latina de Comunicacion Social, 72, 975–997. https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2017-1203

De Luca, M. (2022). Who and what is their ‘people’? How British political leaders appealed to the people during the 2019 election. British Politics, 17(4), 430–451. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-020-00153-5

Díaz, A. G. (2024). Electoral coordination under simple and complex electoral systems: A time-series cross-sectional analysis. Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy, 23(2), 97–119. https://doi.org/10.1089/elj.2023.0006

Du, H. S. (2014). The role of media-embedded heuristics in achieving online readership popularity. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 65(2), 302–312. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.22965

Dubois, D. (2024). Sneakerheads for Trump: Information flows in the online news media. Online Information Review, 49(3), 459-480. https://doi.org/qhbd

Duche-Pérez, A. B., Vera-Revilla, C. Y., Plata, A. R. M. R., Gutiérrez-Aguilar, O. A., Hillpa-Zuñiga, M. E., & Escobar-Juárez, A. M. (2023). Agenda setting in social networks and the media during presidential elections. Human Review. International Humanities Review / Revista Internacional de Humanidades, 21(1), 55–70. https://doi.org/qhbg

Elareshi, M., Alsridi, H., & Ziani, A. K. (2020). Perceptions of online academics’ and Al-Jazeera.Net’s news coverage of the Egyptian political transformation 2013-2014. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 36(1), 124–146.

Fuadi, A. B. (2021). Politik hukum pengaturan keserentakan pemilu. Jurnal Konstitusi, 18(3), 702–723. https://doi.org/10.31078/jk18310

Gaber, I., & Lora-Kayambazinthu, E. (2014). Whose media, whose agenda? Monitoring the Malawi 2014 tripartite elections. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 35(3), 106–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560054.2014.964937

Garbiras-Díaz, N., & Montenegro, M. (2022). All eyes on them: A field experiment on citizen oversight and electoral integrity. American Economic Review, 112(8), 2631–2668. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20210778

Gonzales, A. A., & Bragatto, R. C. (2024). The politics of content moderation by digital platforms. In von Bülow, M., Avritzer, L., & Santana, E. (Eds.), Democracy Under Attack: Social Media and Disinformation in Brazilian Elections (Vol. Part F3517, pp. 15–31). Springer Nature Brazil. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66978-1_2

Grömping, M. (2017). Domestic election monitoring and advocacy: An emerging research agenda. Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 35(4), 407–423. https://doi.org/qhbh

Gurr, G., & Metag, J. (2023). What leads to audience issue fatigue? A linkage analysis study on the effects of news coverage on fatigue from ongoing news issues. International Journal of Communication, 17, 2967–2987.

Hale, K., & Slaton, C. D. (2008). Building capacity in election administration: Local responses to complexity and interdependence. Public Administration Review, 68(5), 839–849. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2008.00925.x

Hamilton, L. (2024). Case study research in education: Considering possible paradoxes and concerns. In P. Rule & V. M. John (Eds.), Handbook of Case Study Research in the Social Sciences (Chap. 11, pp. 194–214). Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/qhbj

Horner, M., Oneal, C., & Hilton, D. (2019). Influential article review - Uncovering the importance of case study research designs. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 19(9).

Hryhorova, Y. (2020). Cooperation with non-governmental organizations and mass media during investigation of crimes against electoral rights. Evropsky Politicky a Pravni Diskurz, 7(3), 227–233. https://doi.org/10.46340/eppd.2020.7.3.32

Hunter, S. B., Oedin, M., Weeds, J., & Mathews, F. (2024). Exploring the potential for online data sources to enhance species threat mapping through the case study of global bat exploitation. Conservation Biology, 38(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14242

Ibrahim, I., Haryadi, D., & Hidayat, N. (2024). The manipulation of identity politics in Indonesian electoral democracy today: Between regulations and practices. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 8(7). https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i7.4211

Izan, K. (2024, February 13). Bawaslu Jaksel pasang CCTV di gudang logistik TPS Kalibata City. AntaraNews. https://www.antaranews.com/berita/3961992/bawaslu-jaksel-pasang-cctv-di-gudang-logistik-tps-kalibata-city

James, T. S. (2019). Comparative electoral management: Performance, networks and instruments (1st ed). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315545172

Joseph, A., Yadav, N., Ganapathy, V., & Behl, D. (2023). A contributory public-event recording and querying system. Proceedings - 2023 IEEE/ACM Symposium on Edge Computing, SEC 2023, 185–198. https://doi.org/10.1145/3583740.3628445

Kim, M., & Bas, O. (2023). Seeing the Black lives matter movement through computer vision? An automated visual analysis of news media images on Facebook. Social Media and Society, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231195582

Kimura, M. (2015). Information and communication technology and election administration in the philippines: An assessment of the nationwide automation of the 2010 and 2013 synchronized elections. Philippine Political Science Journal, 36(1), 54–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/01154451.2015.1024693

Koc-Michalska, K., Lilleker, D. G., Michalski, T., Gibson, R., & Zajac, J. M. (2021). Facebook affordances and citizen engagement during elections: European political parties and their benefit from online strategies? Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 18(2), 180–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2020.1837707

Kume, A., & Lirëza, L. (2023). On the transparency of electoral campaign financing in Albania and North Macedonia. Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, 9(2), 332–349. https://doi.org/10.47305/JLIA2392426k

Kuzio, T. (2006). Civil society, youth and societal mobilization in democratic revolutions. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 39(3), 365–386. https://doi.org/c6rnt3

Loeber, L. (2020). Use of technology in the election process: Who governs? Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy, 19(2), 149–161. https://doi.org/kcbs

Luo, Z., & Rozenas, A. (2018). The election monitor’s curse. American Journal of Political Science, 62(1), 148–160. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12320

Mahéo, V.-A. (2017). Information campaigns and (under)privileged citizens: An experiment on the differential effects of a voting advice application. Political Communication, 34(4), 511–529. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2017.1282560

Mancosu, M., Seddone, A., Bobba, G., Cremonesi, C., Mancini, P., Roncarolo, F., & Legnante, G. (2021). How do «easy» and «tough» media shape candidates’ evaluation? Comunicazione Politica, 22(1), 47–78. https://doi.org/10.3270/100310

Matos, Y., & Miller, J. L. (2023). The politics of pronouns: How Trump framed the ingroup in the 2016 presidential election. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 11(3), 507–525. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2021.2007964

Maurer, M., Haßler, J., & Holbach, T. (2016). Database-driven content analysis. In G. Vowe & P. Henn (Eds.), Political Communication in the Online World: Theoretical Approaches and Research Designs (pp. 170–182). Routledge. https://doi.org/qhbk

Mkandawire, H. (2016). The use of Facebook and Mobile Phones to report Presidential election results in Zambia. African Journalism Studies, 37(4), 81–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2016.1256050

Moreno, A., Garrison, P., & Bhat, K. (2017). WhatsApp for monitoring and response during critical events: Aggie in the Ghana 2016 election. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response And Management, 645–655.

Muñiz, C. (2015). Politics as an issue or strategic debate. Framing of the 2012 Mexican electoral campaign in the digital press. Comunicacion y Sociedad (Mexico), 23, 67–95. https://doi.org/10.32870/cys.v0i23.64

Muñiz, C., Saldierna, A. R., & De Jesús Marañón, F. (2018). Framing of electoral processes: The stages of the campaign as a moderator of the presence of political frames in the news. Palabra Clave, 21(3), 740–771. https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2018.21.3.5

Murray, G. R., & Albert, C. D. (2025). In cyber we trust? Understanding election legitimacy in the age of electronic election systems. Journal of Information Technology and Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2025.2453913

Mutawalli, M., Naswar, N., Ilmar, A., & Lohalo, G. O. (2023). Periodization of general elections: Ideas and refinements in Indonesia. Substantive Justice International Journal of Law, 6(2), 118–137. https://doi.org/10.56087/substantivejustice.v6i2.245

Nugraheny, D. E., & Meiliana, D. (2023, November 18). Pemasangan CCTV Polri di Gudang Logistik Pemilu dipertanyakan. Kompas. https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2023/11/18/14030071/pemasangan-cctv-polri-di-gudang-logistik-pemilu-dipertanyakan

Oboh, G. E. (2016). Reflecting on the Nigerian media, elections, and the African democracy. SAGE Open, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016666886

Ofusori, L. O., & Kariuki, P. (2017). The power of WhatsApp as a communication tool for elections observation and monitoring in KwaZulu-Natal: NGO case study in South Africa. ICEGOV '17: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 536–537. Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3047273.3047398

Osborn, D., Rangarajan, K., Ivey, E., Narendra, S. M., & Hunter, M. T. (2010). eDemocs: Electronic distributed election monitoring over cellular systems. 5th International Conference on Internet and Web Applications and Services, ICIW 2010, 274–279. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICIW.2010.47

Prawira, I., Djuyandi, Y., Maulianza, M., & Irawan, R. E. (2024). Now everybody is a friend; How native advertising influences Indonesian journalistic field. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 40(2), 482–496. https://doi.org/qhbm

Rowbottom, J. (2020). The regulation of third party campaigning in UK elections. Political Quarterly, 91(4), 722–730. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12897

Saputra, H. A., Setiawan, A., Nofrima, S., & Dafrin. (2021). Political conflict on the results of recapitulation in regional head elections in North Borneo Province in 2015. Aristo, 10(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.24269/ars.v1i1.2935

Senior, A., Pankanti, S., Hampapur, A., Brown, L., Tian, Y.-L., Ekin, A., Connell, J., Shu, C. F., & Lu, M. (2005). Enabling video privacy through computer vision. IEEE Security and Privacy, 3(3), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1109/MSP.2005.65

Sharma, A., Singh, T., Aggarwal, T., Jain, D., & Singh, P. (2022). Blockchain based e-voting. 2022 4th International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communication Control and Networking (ICAC3N), 2054–2058. https://doi.org/qhbn

Sinkovics, R. R., Penz, E., & Ghauri, P. N. (2005). Analysing textual data in international marketing research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 8(1), 9–38. https://doi.org/10.1108/13522750510575426

Sistyawan, D. J., Saraswati, R., Alw, L. T., Sally, N. U., & Jayawibawa, M. (2024). A comparative analysis of mechanisms for settlement of election disputes: Case studies of Indonesia and South Africa. Al-Risalah: Forum Kajian Hukum dan Sosial Kemasyarakatan, 24(2), 36–54. https://doi.org/10.30631/alrisalah.v24i2.1610

Sjögren, A. (2022). Civil society and contested elections in electoral autocracies: Dissent and caution in Uganda’s 2016 elections. Journal of Civil Society, 18(3), 307–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2022.2125415

Taufiqurrohman, M. M., & Efendi, A. (2021). Integrasi sistem peradilan pemilihan umum melalui pembentukan Mahkamah Pemilihan Umum. Jurnal Konstitusi, 18(3), 562–584. https://doi.org/10.31078/jk1834

Tsegyu, S. (2016). Citizen journalism and election monitoring in Nigeria. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 32(1), 491–517. https://doi.org/qhbp

Vonbun-Feldbauer, R., & Matthes, J. (2018). Do channels matter? Investigating media characteristics in the agenda-building process of an election campaign. Journalism Studies, 19(16), 2359–2378. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1349547

Walulya, G., & Nassanga, G. L. (2020). Democracy at stake: Self-censorship as a self-defence strategy for journalists. Media and Communication, 8(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/gp2zhr

Welsh, B. C., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Closed-circuit television surveillance. In B. C. Welsh & D. P. Farrington (Eds.), Preventing Crime: What Works for Children, Offenders, Victims and Places (pp. 193–208). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-69169-5_13

Williamson, R. D., Hale, K., & Brown, M. (2020). Security and integrity: Administrative structure, capacity, and American elections. Journal of Political Institutions and Political Economy, 1(2), 189–207. https://doi.org/10.1561/113.00000008

Yuliarti, M. S. (2018). Hoax and new media: Content analysis of news about hoax in www.viva.co.id. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 34(3), 258–270. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2018-3403-15

Zurawski, N. (2012). From crime prevention to urban development. Information Polity, 17(1), 45–55. https://doi.org/10.3233/IP-2011-0250


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 2289-1528