News Trading in Indonesia’s Media: A Business in Shaping Public Opinion

Abstract

The news trading phenomenon committed by journalist and media is also found in Indonesia. The news trading all this time has been regarded as one of the violations of journalist ethics. However, the news trading actually is one of the business type performed by Indonesia media. This study is a qualitative research using primary and secondary data. The primary data was obtained from in-depth interviews with the nine resource persons. Meanwhile, the secondary data was taken by conducting literary studies and document studies. The data processing technique in this study utilized Nvivo qualitative data analysis software. The result of the study revealed that there is media and journalist involvement in the news trading because of several factors such as lack of journalist idealism, media owner’s interest, and financial needs. Meanwhile, the advantage of journalists doing news trading is a monthly stipend, free services and facilities, political benefits, and incentives eventually.