COMMUNICATIVE ACTIONS OF THE INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN ONLINE MEDIA

ABSTRACT


INTRODUCTION
The Covid-19 virus has become a disaster for the whole world that could never have been predicted before.This virus has become a pandemic that paralyzes various areas of community activity, especially the economic sector, both for the upper and middle classes, and especially for the lower economic classes.Unemployment is increasing as many business activities are forced to stop.This virus has become an invisibl enemy that attacks humans all over the world.
The Indonesian government has made various efforts to minimize and suppress the spread of the virus, such as implementing large-scale social restrictions, limiting community activity, limiting religious worship activities, stopping all direct teaching, and even prohibiting people from returning to their hometowns during holiday celebrations.Reports regarding the government's handling of this outbreak have been widely reported in various In describing the terminology of validity claims, Habermas uses various terms.In Communication and Evolution of Society [8] the four validity claims are translated as truth, rightness, truthfulness, and comprehensibility.In applying Habermas's Communicative Action theory, Cukier et.al [9] and Ngwenyama and Lee [7] summarize validity claims and text dimensions referring to the framework which can be seen in the

Legitimacy Illegitimacy Use of experts
In explaining truth validity claims, Habermas [10] explains that truth refers to correct communication and providing sufficient information that supports a statement or reasoning in a message.A truth claim refers to the aspect of truth or validity of an argument that is made regardless of the speaker's intentions, motives, and agenda.In this validity claim, what is tested are the facts presented in the message, including untrue statements and statements without evidence.As a cognitive claim, this claim is a claim related to the objective world and uses constative speech acts.Truth is rooted in positivist philosophy where a single reality exists and can be measured objectively (Borsboom and Markus cited in Chigona et al [4]).
The validity claims of truthfulness according to Habermas [8] is translated into sincerity claims.Sincerity here refers to the intent of the message addressed to the recipient and how the intent of the message can influence their emotional response.This means that this claim is aimed at the characteristics of the message creator, namely that the message can reflect their emotions, values, opinions and hopes which are expressed seriously and honestly.The message conveyed may seem honest, but the intent of the message may not be sincere, for example the use of jargon and metaphors that are intended to influence the audience or recipient of the message [5].
Habermas [10] explains that comprehensibility or clarity validity claims is related to the clarity of communication and the use of language that is understood by the actors.In other words, whether the communication is comprehensible, reasonable, clear and complete.Therefore, communication content must contain terms that are mutually understandable and not use complicated language or jargon.In this case, word construction is used to provide as clear information as possible to the public, not used otherwise, with the aim of impressing the public [4].The validity claims of rightness is an agreement regarding the implementation of norms in the social world or what is called the legitimacy of interpersonal relationship.This relates to the opportunity for those involved in a discourse to be heard and that a message is balanced and not biased [10].The parties involved in the discourse can interact with each other to convey their opinions or thoughts to each other in an effort to convince other parties so as to produce a joint consensus.In this case, legitimacy can be tested by looking at the message, whether the message has several points of view from the parties concerned [4].

RESEARCH METHOD
This study used a qualitative research approach and applied Habermasian critical discourse analysis to highlight several online media news using Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action.In this research conducts library research as a study method in carrying out interpretive practices.In this research, four claims from Habermas's theory of communicative action are applied to reveal communication distortions that occur in government statements reported on three online media in a limited period.
The news used was selected purposively on Kompas.com,Tribunnews.com, and Detik.com for the period of March to May 2020.The choice of media was based on a survey conducted by Multimedia Nusantara University research team for the Press Council regarding the online media that were most frequently used as references in reporting on Covid-19 [11].The keywords used were: "government statement about Covid-19 March-May 2020" and then entered in the search column for the three media in question.The news used as a sample is limited to 12 news stories which are considered representative of the three media.Based on previous studies, this number was mentioned by Chigona et.al [4] is quite representative in research related to discourse.Then, the news that appears from the three media will then be reduced based on the similarity of the news.This research will focus on news that reviews government statements regarding Covid-19, thus news that does not review government statements will be eliminated to maintain the focus of this research.Researchers used deductive analysis by applying themes from Habermas's four theoritical constructs, namely truth, sincerity, comprehensibility, and legitimacy.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
By entering the keywords "governement statement regarding Covid-19 March to May 2020" on Kompas.com,Detik.com and Tribunnew.compages, the most popular 12 news stories were found and sorted which focused on government's statements regarding Covid-19.These articles were then coded from A1 to A12 (see Appendix).Kompas.comsummarizes a flashback of controversial statements by officials regarding the Corona virus which makes it easier for the researchers to determine the news.The selected news represents the specificied reporting period, from March to May 2020.

Validity Claim of Truth
A dialogue certainly aims to get the truth, so aspects of its truth need to be tested.This means questioning the truth of the ideas offered.In this case, the search is focused on the truth of the statement, the idea in question, the goals, and the actions that lead to understanding.Government statements in the media are seen to be whether they are facts, statements supported by evidence or vice versa.Examining statements made by the government through the media means that this research cannot be separated from how the media conveys the news to the public.Whether the media provides evidence to support these claims are also questionable.
This research found that of the 12 news articles, there were 6 news articles with proven claims and 6 news articles with unproven claims.In these 6 news articles, the media supports the evidence related to the government statements so that they fulfill the requirements for truth claims.Such evidence may come from events monitored by the media or evidence supported by other sources.One of the proven claims statements made by Moeldoko (Chief of Presidential Staff) to ask the public to remain calm regarding panic buying, is supported by evidence provided by the media (A6).This statement was supported by the media report regarding the large number of people who go to local markets and supermarkets to buy goods, thus causing long queues.Proven claims can be found in news article A6 to A9, and A 11 to A12.
Unproven claims are key statements that are not supported by evidence or sufficient information in the article.Article A1 to A5, and A10 are considered articles with unproven claims.News articles A1, A2, and A5 are articles about the statement by the Minister of Health, Terawan Agus Putranto.A1 and A2 published on Kompas.com, and A5 on Detik.com.In A1, the article contains 3 statements by Terawan regarding the public's response to the first two Indonesian citizens who were exposed to the Corona virus: 1. "Besides, flu is something that usually happens to us, coughs and colds have a higher death rate than Corona, but what makes this, Corona, so extraordinary?" 2. Statement about the virus: "…facing viruses that are actually ordinary".3. "I am sure that our national health resilience will be maintained because of our unity together…".These three statements are not supported by sufficient evidences and arguments so they can cause confusion among the public.As the Minister of Health, Terawan, in his statement regarding flu, coughs and colds, did not reveal data related to death rates caused by this disease and neither was provided by the media.Statements regarding the Corona virus that are considered normal are also not based on actual facts.This is in contrast to the fact that the Corona virus has emerged since 2019 in China and has claimed many lives.Furthermore, the third statement regarding national health resilience can be maintained with unity does not provide clear facts and arguments about how the unity factor can provide national health security, especially overcoming the spread of the Corona virus.Thus, it can be concluded that these 3 statements are claims without evidence which produce false distortions.This can be seen from the absence of facts and arguments to support these statements.For this reason, A1 does not meet the criteria for a truth claim.
In the next news on Kompas.com(A2), Terawan again gave a statement without evidence, saying: "This is a happy news.I am happy that the theory is correct that this is a self-limited disease, a disease that will heal itself."This statement was related to the recovery of the first three Corona patients and was made when visiting patients in hospital.Regarding the theory of self-limited disease itself, neither Terawan nor the media explained the theory further, resulting in distorted errors that could have fatal consequences.By mentioning a theory, it is appropriate that the theory is also explained further so that it can broaden the reader's knowledge regarding the theory in question.The truth about diseases that can heal themselves is also not presented as a fact in this news, for example whether the patient recovers on his own without the need for medical therapy, or vice versa, requires medical therapy.Thus, this statement can cause confusion for the public so that it does not fulfill the validity claim of truth.
Then, in the A5 article reported by Detik.com,Terawan also gave two statements: 1. "I don't think phobias should be brought up too much".

"We just have to adapt the healthy living movement, which is enough to prevent the Corona virus from spreading.
As long as it (the healthy living movement) continous to be promoted well, it is enough to prevent it".
This article does not explain the phobia phenomenon that is currently occurring in society, such as the facts about the phobia, the impact of the phobia in question, and so on.According to Terawan, the Corona virus can also be prevented by simply carrying out healthy living movements.This statement is also not supported by sufficient arguments and facts about what is meant by the healthy living movement.How healthy living movements can prevent the Corona virus and what kind of healthy living movements need to be carried out are not explained further.Without facts, this statement can be concluded as a claim without evidence so it does not fulfill the truth claim.Statements without evidence can cause people to be mistaken in dealing with the Corona virus.News A3 and A4 are about statements by the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, as reported by Kompas.com.Jokowi's statements in both articles do not fulfill the truth claim because they do not provide sufficient facts and arguments to explain his statements.In A3 is a review of Jokowi's statement on the Mata Najwa talk show program regarding prohibiting 'going home' (mudik) but allowing 'returning home' (pulang kampung).In this article there are 3 key Jokowi statements as follows: 1. Explanation of the difference in the definition of 'going home' (mudik) and 'returning home' (pulang kampung): "Yes, 'going home' is on Eid day.Different.To celebrate Eid al-Fitr.If someone 'returning home', they work in Jakarta, but their wife and children are in the village." 2. Statement regarding being allowed to return to their hometown: "They don't work here.Which is more dangerous?
Here, 8-9 people live in the room or they have returned to the village, but there the village has prepared isolation first."3. Statement about village data regarding isolation program readiness: "I think now all villages have prepared this isolation for those returning from the village.Which is more dangerous?I think we have to look at the field in more detail.More detailed numbers." Regarding the differences in definitions conveyed by Jokowi regarding 'going home' (mudik) and 'returning home' (pulang kampung), in this article it cannot be proven, either by Jokowi or Kompas.com,whether these definitions are in accordance with the Indonesian Dictionary or by presenting reviews from grammar experts.This difference in definition can result in a misunderstanding of meaning for the public because the terms 'going home'(mudik) and 'returning home' (pulang kampung), as known for Indonesians, have had the same meaning so far.Apart from that, Jokowi in this article also does not explain the procedure for distinguishing between people 'going home'(mudik) and 'returning home' (pulang kampung) so that this statement can be concluded as a statement without facts and intersubjectivity is not achieved.

Summary of Validity Claims and Corresponding Discourse Dimensions Adopted from Cukier et.al [9]
table below.This research follows this table to see the communication distortions that occur in a discourse and what their implications are.