Guest Lecture | Dr. Ross Tapsell (ANU, College of Asia and the Pacific) - The Indonesian Media and the 'Jokowi Phenomenon', July 15th
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News & Events of the Project
On July 15th, 2014, Ross Tapsell will hold a lecture at the Institute of Ethnology at Werthmannstraße 10, 1st floor from 10 to 12 AM
Joko Widodo went from Mayor of the provincial town in Solo to leading all the polls as Indonesian Presidential candidate in under a year. This paper looks at the role of the Indonesian media in his meteoric rise as populist politician, reformer and celebrity. It will examine the campaign and media strategies of 'Jokowi' and his advisors, and how journalists view his campaign. Research conducted for this paper includes ethnographic fieldwork in Jakarta, embedded with journalists who would follow Jokowi every day and report on his activities. It includes personal interviews with journalists and editors of Indonesia's mainstream news organisations, as well as personal interviews with Jokowi's media managers and public relations staffers. It also includes personal interviews with Jokowi himself, and Jakarta Vice-Governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. In addition to interview material, data from various Indonesian media companies has been collected and analysed to provide details and statistics on Jokowi in the media. This paper explains how one man became a national 'phenomenon'. In doing so, it explains how the media played a significant role in Jokowi's rise, which has important consequences for our understanding of contemporary Indonesian politics and society.