Kajian semiotika terhadap bingkai pemberitaan Mahathir Mohamad dalam media online Kompas Cyber Media pada era pasca-orde baru 2000-2005

This study aims to identify the images of Dr. Mahathir as being portrayed by Kompas Cyber Media for the years 2000-2005. These images of Dr. Mahathir were obtained by performing the identification, classification and categorization of news coverage of him by using the content analysis method. Once the images of Dr. Mahathir were found, semiotics analysis was used to get the meaning of each image. Based on both the analytical methods used, this research found forty-nine cluster images of Dr. Mahathir. These forty-nine images of Dr Mahathir were then categorized according to the contexts of the international community, economic thinking, pro-Malay attitude, vision for the better future of the nation and the world, and charismatic leadership qualities that he possessed. Furthermore, the images of Dr Mahathir were classified into the external and internal contexts of Malaysia. In the internal context he was portrayed as a dictator, the main enemy of the opposition, and an authoritarian. Meanwhile, in the international context Dr. Mahathir was portrayed as a symbol of resistance to Western hegemony. Overall, there was no single image of Dr. Mahathir in the news covered by Kompas Cyber Media. In this case the context framework was crucial in the
construction of Dr. Mahathir’s images. It shows that the media tended to build images on various crossing events. Compared to other Malaysian figures, Dr. Mahathir was the most popular figure in the news covered by Kompas Cyber Media.