Paracrisis, Misinformation, and Clarification: How Government Public Relations Tackle Fake Official Letters
Article

This study examines how the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform managed a paracrisis triggered by misinformation on social media, specifically the spread of a fake official letter announcing the appointment of contract-based government employees as civil servants without proper assessment. It is the government ministry mandated to formulate and implement civil service policies, regulate recruitment and competency-based assessment, and oversee bureaucratic reform to ensure meritocracy and integrity within Indonesia’s public administration system. This research is built upon a post-positivist paradigm with a single case study descriptive approach, employing a qualitative research design through in-depth interviews with public relations officers of the Ministry and an analysis of its social media posts. Results show that the response to address the consequences of the fake official letter echoes the corrective strategy posited in Coombs’ misinformation paracrisis strategy. It is revealed that as authorities and budgets can affect misinformation paracrisis management, the knowledge of organizational products and policies will influence and accelerate the decision-making process to solve the crisis.

From Crisis to Credibility: Institutional Isomorphism and the Evolution of Indian Fact-Checking Organizations
Article

In the Global South, particularly in populous democracies like India, misinformation and disinformation have become persistent features of public discourse. False narratives in this country don’t just appear during moments of political tension, they’re often deployed strategically to tap into identity-based divisions and sway public sentiment. Understanding how institutions respond to these dynamics, this study investigates the organizational trajectories of fact-checking entities operating in India’s National Capital Region (NCR) using the lens of Institutional Isomorphism. The study examines how external pressures and normative influences have shaped their institutional behaviour. The three dimensions of the theory —coercive, mimetic, and normative, were employed to understand the forces guiding their evolution. Coercive pressures from elections, communal unrest, and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed many into reactive, short-term responses, and over time, with international standards and lessons borrowed from global peers, these organisations were encouraged towards more stable institutional practices like multilingual outreach, broader thematic coverage, and new verification tools based on platform-integration and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. Drawing on 24 interviews across 13 NCR-based organizations, the findings suggest a discernible shift from reactive crisis response to strategic institutionalization, positioning fact-checkers as emerging pillars within India’s media accountability ecosystem.

Discourses of Teenage Pregnancy and Teenage Motherhood as Portrayed in Philippine News Media (1973-2023)
Article

We examine the evolving discourses of teenage motherhood and teenage pregnancy in Philippine news media using Ruiz’s (2009) three-level qualitative sociological discourse analysis. Drawing from 79 news articles published in the country over a 50-year timeframe (1973 to 2023), we observe three overarching, yet non-mutually exclusive, waves of dominant discourses: (1) the Catholic moral discourse (predominant in early 1970s to late 1980s), which tended to frame teenage pregnancy and motherhood in moral terms; (2) the human capital discourse (predominantly in late 1980s to early 2000s), which appeared to reframe the phenomenon as a health and socioeconomic concern; and (3) the poverty trap discourse (predominantly in early 2000s to early 2020s), which amplified how teenage pregnancies and motherhood render young women vulnerable to cyclical poverty without self-sufficiency. We use the wave metaphor to emphasize continuity and rearticulation rather than replacement as older framings endure even as new institutional vocabularies emerge, and nascent discourses may appear within earlier periods before becoming more pronounced in later ones. Finally, we highlight the importance of critically examining these waves of discourses because they can shape societal attitudes and policies toward teenage pregnancy and teenage motherhood.

Aesthetic Pressure in Audiovisual Narratives: A Semiotic Content Analysis of South Korean and Luso-Brazilian TV Series
Article

Across Eastern and Western cultures, aesthetic norms continue to oppress women, with certain aspects transcending socio-historical differences. To visualize symbolic violence in media, we selected three series from diverse but related cultural and social contexts: South Korea’s My ID is Gangnam Beauty, Portugal’s The Good Girls Club, and Brazil’s Hidden Truths. Utilizing a qualitative and interpretive semiotic content analysis method and an intersectional decolonial feminist lens, we observe how these audiovisual media explore aesthetic norms semantically. Findings indicate that neoliberal and postfeminist discourses frame beauty practices as forms of empowerment in the three series. However, they often hide the structural forces pushing women toward unrealistic standards, with physical, financial, and psychological costs. The South Korean series explores bullying for not having hegemonic identities and bodies, and how women need to have a ‘feminine’ body to be accepted in their society. In the Portuguese series, the characters must prove themselves ‘sexy’ and capable of being valued by others. In Brazil’s series, the focus was to show how sensuality and hegemonic beauty standards continue to reinforce a collective imagination associated with success. The study raises awareness of how the media can use semiotics to promote inclusive and responsible representations of female beauty.

The Rise and Fall of E-sabong: Exploring Pitmaster through Digital and Physical Ethnography
Article

Pitmaster’s E-sabong (online cockfighting) portal is a neoliberal permutation of traditional cockfighting operating through the extension of the interface beyond the virtual space to its physical operational management. This research examines the role of speed in proliferating capitalistic ideologies by narrating the rise and fall of Pitmaster’s E-sabong through digital and physical ethnographies that highlight the “social pathology” it caused. Three spaces of the Pitmaster ecosystem are examined in this research. First, the operational management of E-sabong agents is explored through interviews to reveal the principle of speed permeating in their modus operandi. Second, the role of digital wallet apps such as GCash in accelerating the already speedy mechanics of Pitmaster was given focus to show the eventual downfall of the system. Finally, the design principle of the online sabong portal is examined to magnify the centrality of speed as its core feature. This study highlights how changes in speed within virtual systems can have a direct impact on the lived realities of the Filipino people interacting with such technologies of speed particularly gambling applications.

Bridging the Gap: Designing a Contextual Data Journalism Curriculum for Indonesian Media Education
Article

Abstract

This study addresses the growing demand for data journalism education in Indonesia, where the integration of data-driven practices into journalism curricula remains fragmented and underdeveloped. The research aims to identify key gaps in the instructional design, content, and pedagogical approaches related to data journalism, with particular attention to the contextual challenges faced by journalism educators, students, and practitioners. Employing a qualitative exploratory approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with journalists and educators, focus group discussions with key stakeholders, and document analysis of accredited journalism programs. The findings reveal systemic shortcomings across all stages of the data journalism workflow, including limited access to usable data, lack of training in data cleaning and analysis, weak narrative construction, and minimal engagement with visualization tools. These gaps are compounded by institutional constraints and cultural perceptions that marginalize technical competencies in journalism education. The study contributes to the theoretical discourse on workflow-based pedagogy and highlights the need for a context-sensitive curriculum model that aligns technical skills with interpretive and ethical dimensions of journalism. The results underscore the importance of designing collaborative, modular, and locally grounded educational frameworks to strengthen data journalism capacity in the Indonesian context.

Abstrakt
Studi ini membahas meningkatnya permintaan akan pendidikan jurnalisme data di Indonesia, di mana integrasi praktik berbasis data ke dalam kurikulum jurnalisme masih terfragmentasi dan belum berkembang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi kesenjangan utama dalam desain instruksional, konten, dan pendekatan pedagogis yang berkaitan dengan jurnalisme data, dengan perhatian khusus pada tantangan kontekstual yang dihadapi oleh pendidik, mahasiswa, dan praktisi jurnalisme. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan eksploratif kualitatif, data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara semi-terstruktur dengan jurnalis dan pendidik, diskusi kelompok fokus dengan pemangku kepentingan utama, dan analisis dokumen program jurnalisme terakreditasi. Temuan menunjukkan kekurangan sistemik di semua tahapan alur kerja jurnalisme data, termasuk akses terbatas ke data yang dapat digunakan, kurangnya pelatihan dalam pembersihan dan analisis data, konstruksi naratif yang lemah, dan keterlibatan minimal dengan alat visualisasi. Kesenjangan ini diperburuk oleh kendala kelembagaan dan persepsi budaya yang meminggirkan kompetensi teknis dalam pendidikan jurnalisme. Studi ini berkontribusi pada wacana teoretis tentang pedagogi berbasis alur kerja dan menyoroti kebutuhan akan model kurikulum yang peka terhadap konteks yang menyelaraskan keterampilan teknis dengan dimensi interpretatif dan etis jurnalisme. Hasil penelitian ini menggarisbawahi pentingnya merancang kerangka pendidikan yang kolaboratif, modular, dan berbasis lokal untuk memperkuat kapasitas jurnalisme data dalam konteks Indonesia.

Social Media Analytics Process as a Public Relations Strategy on Private University Instagram Account
Article

Abstract
Advances in technology have increased the need for public relations functions in educational institutions to create strategic digital relationships through social media. To ensure effective information dissemination, a strategy and evaluation process is needed to determine social media performance. This research aims to uncover how the social media analytics process is implemented in managing the Instagram account of Telkom University in Indonesia. Using the concept of Social Media Analytics by Fan and Gordon (2014), this study employed a qualitative case study method. Data were obtained from interviews with three key informants, one expert, four supporting informants, participatory observation, and document analysis. The findings reveal that the PR and Analytics unit at Telkom University systematically implemented social media analytics in the evaluative research phase to assess and improve Instagram performance. The analytics process consisted of five main stages: data crawling, analysis, summary, presentation, and content development, with an additional monitoring stage to track the effectiveness of content adjustments. Social media analytics provided actionable insights that enabled the team to identify high-performing content, audience engagement trends, and areas for improvement. For instance, interactive and visually appealing content was found to significantly enhance engagement rates, which informed subsequent content strategies. The data and analysis results were visually presented to stakeholders, facilitating data-driven decision-making. Overall, this research concludes that a structured social media analytics process enables the PR and Analytics unit to develop more targeted and effective Instagram content, thus supporting continuous improvement and a stronger digital presence for Telkom University.

Abstrakt
Kemajuan teknologi telah meningkatkan kebutuhan akan fungsi hubungan masyarakat (PR) di lembaga pendidikan untuk menciptakan hubungan digital strategis melalui media sosial. Untuk memastikan penyebaran informasi yang efektif, diperlukan strategi dan proses evaluasi untuk menentukan kinerja media sosial. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap bagaimana proses analitik media sosial diimplementasikan dalam pengelolaan akun Instagram Universitas Telkom di Indonesia. Dengan menggunakan konsep Analitik Media Sosial oleh Fan dan Gordon (2014), penelitian ini menggunakan metode studi kasus kualitatif. Data diperoleh dari wawancara dengan tiga informan kunci, satu ahli, empat informan pendukung, observasi partisipatif, dan analisis dokumen. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa unit PR dan Analitik di Universitas Telkom secara sistematis mengimplementasikan analitik media sosial pada fase penelitian evaluatif untuk menilai dan meningkatkan kinerja Instagram. Proses analitik terdiri dari lima tahap utama: pengumpulan data, analisis, ringkasan, presentasi, dan pengembangan konten, dengan tambahan tahap pemantauan untuk melacak efektivitas penyesuaian konten. Analitik media sosial memberikan wawasan yang dapat ditindaklanjuti yang memungkinkan tim untuk mengidentifikasi konten berkinerja tinggi, tren keterlibatan audiens, dan area untuk perbaikan. Sebagai contoh, konten interaktif dan menarik secara visual terbukti secara signifikan meningkatkan tingkat keterlibatan, yang kemudian menjadi dasar strategi konten selanjutnya. Data dan hasil analisis disajikan secara visual kepada para pemangku kepentingan, sehingga memfasilitasi pengambilan keputusan berbasis data. Secara keseluruhan, penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa proses analitik media sosial yang terstruktur memungkinkan unit PR dan Analitik untuk mengembangkan konten Instagram yang lebih tepat sasaran dan efektif, sehingga mendukung peningkatan berkelanjutan dan kehadiran digital yang lebih kuat bagi Universitas Telkom.

Ang Liga ay Buháy: Ang Pagtatagpo ng Teleserye at Anime sa Barangay 143
Article

Abstrak
Hindi na mabilang ang anime na naipalabas sa Pilipinas, “Tagalized” man o nasa orihinal nitong wika sa Hapon o ang salin nito sa Ingles. Gayunpaman noong 2018 lamang nagkaroon ng tinaguriang “unang Pilipinong de-seryeng anime” at naipalabas sa free TV sa bansa, ang Barangay 143. Naipahayag ang antisipasyon sa palabas na ito sapagkat sa unang pagkakataon maitatampok ang kultura ng ating bansa sa isang anyong popular sa kabataan at mailalahad din ang pagkahumaling ng mga Pilipino sa basketbol. Subalit isa sa mga pinakapopular na komento at puna sa nasabing anime ay ang pagsunod nito sa pormula ng dramang pantelebisyong sa Pilipinas, ang Pinoy teleserye. Maliban sa pagtalunton sa ilang batayang pagpapakahulugan sa teleserye at anime, sinuri ng papel na ito ang maaaring mga dahilan kung bakit itinuring na teleserye ang Barangay 143 at gayundin naman, sinuri din kung papaano ginamit ang mga katangian ng anime upang iangkop ito sa karanasan at panlasa ng Pilipinong manonood.

Abstract
Countless animé series have been aired in the Philippines whether “Tagalized”, in its original Japanese language, or its English translation. However, it was only in 2018 that Barangay 143, the first animé series produced by Filipinos, aired on free TV in the country. Anticipation on this show was heavily manifested because for the first time, our own culture will be featured in a popular form among the youth and the Pinoys’ fascination with basketball will also be shown. However, one of the most popular comments and criticisms about the said anime was its adherence to the formula of Philippine television drama, the Pinoy teleserye. Aside from the exploration of some basic definitions of teleserye and anime, this paper analyzed possible reasons why Barangay 143 was considered a teleserye and examined how anime characteristics were used to adapt it to the experience and taste of Filipino viewers.

Volume 23 Issue 01 · June 2026 · Playful Pushback and Routinary Resistance · Main Article
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