{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1705637,
        "msgid": "more-prosecutorial-than-the-prosecutors-1777362684",
        "date": "2026-04-28 14:24:43",
        "title": "More Prosecutorial than the Prosecutors",
        "author": "Budi Raharjo",
        "source": "REPUBLIKA",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Politics",
        "summary": "In a column critiquing the Indonesian media landscape, Ahmadie Thaha uses the case of Ibrahim Arief, a technical consultant embroiled in a large-scale educational laptop procurement scandal, to highlight how mainstream media often amplifies negative official narratives, acting more like prosecutors than neutral reporters. Analysis from Drone Emprit reveals stark polarisation: while online media coverage is predominantly negative (46.9%), social media shows overwhelming organic support for Arief (85.5% positive), underscoring the media's shift towards market-driven sensationalism over balanced journalism. This irony exposes deeper issues in the information ecosystem, including business pressures and self-censorship, eroding the media's role as democracy's fourth pillar.",
        "content": "<p>In a nation that prides itself on being democratic, there is one\ncreature that quietly changes shape: the media. Once called the fourth\npillar of democracy, it now sometimes feels like a boundary fence \u2014 not\nprotecting the public, but rather limiting the public\u2019s perspective. The\ncase of Ibrahim Arief \u2014 Ibam \u2014 caught up in the Chromebook project\nwhirlpool, suddenly becomes a kind of large mirror. A mirror that\nreflects the face of our media today: blurred, biased, and sometimes\nappearing to join in the judgement before the judge\u2019s gavel falls. This\nstems from a large-scale educational laptop procurement affair, where a\ntechnical consultant \u2014 not an official, not a budget holder \u2014 ends up in\nthe defendant\u2019s seat, facing heavy prosecution, even though trial facts\nindicate no flow of funds to him. Data recently released by Ismail Fahmi\nfrom Drone Emprit is not just numbers. It is like a social X-ray:\nrevealing cracked bones in our information ecosystem body. During the\nperiod from 23 March to 22 April 2026, Drone Emprit recorded 11,426\nmentions and 13,140,377 interactions regarding Ibrahim Arief across six\nchannels: Twitter\/X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and online\nmedia. These figures show that this case is not just an ordinary legal\nnews item \u2014 it is a wave of national-scale public attention. What is\ninteresting and important to understand is the sharp polarisation\nbetween mainstream media and social media. Online media published\npositive news at 33.9%, negative at 46.9%, neutral at 19.2%. Social\nmedia: positive 85.5%, negative 10.6%, neutral 3.9%. In mainstream\nmedia, reporting more often amplifies official statements \u2014 JPU demands,\nsuspect designations, state loss figures from BPKP \u2014 so the narrative\nreaching the public is predominantly negative towards Ibam. Voices of\ndefence, mitigating facts, or technology industry context relatively\nrarely get equal space. However, on social media, the emerging story is\nvery different. Positive sentiment (defence) dominates up to 92.2% on\nTwitter\/X, 94.7% on Instagram, and 83.3% on TikTok. What needs to be\nnoted: bot analysis shows an average score of only 1.29 out of 5, with\n80.98% of accounts in the \u201cvery organic\u201d category. The account creation\nyear graph also shows a normal distribution from 2009 to 2025. This\nindicates that those accounts are not a pattern of manufactured\naccounts, which are usually concentrated in certain periods. In other\nwords, the defence of Ibam on social media is not the result of buzzer\nengineering. It is the organic voice of the public, especially from the\ntechnology community and private professionals. Mainstream online media,\nwith all its reputation and history, instead more often presents\nnegative narratives against Ibam. Meanwhile, social media \u2014 often\naccused of being wild and uncontrolled \u2014 is filled with organic defence\nvoices, not the result of buzzer engineering. Ironic? No.\u00a0This is more\nlike an irony that has long been cultivated, and now bears abundant\nfruit. The question is, why does mainstream media tend to be \u201cmore\nprosecutorial than the prosecutors\u201d? This question is like opening the\ndoor to an old warehouse full of secrets. Inside, we find a pile of\nunromantic realities: business pressures, dependence on advertising,\npower relations, to subtle but deadly self-censorship. Even a media\nmanager \u201cconfided\u201d \u2014 that idealism today is like an antique item.\nDisplayed, admired, but not used. The media, which once lived from\npublic spirit, now often has to survive from contracts and partnerships.\nAt this point, news is no longer just information. It becomes a product.\nAnd like all products, it follows market laws. What sells is what is\ndramatic, firm, that \u201cdares to punish\u201d in narrative. The prosecutor\nspeaks \u2014 that is news. The demand is read \u2014 that is a headline. State\nloss figures are mentioned \u2014 that is clicks.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/more-prosecutorial-than-the-prosecutors-1777362684",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}