Framing Analysis of the News on Alleged Corruption of Madiun Mayor Maidi in the Online Media Kompas.com and Sinergia Mediatama

Abstract

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Maidi in an operation related to alleged project fee collection and misappropriation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds. This study aims to comparatively analyze the framing of news coverage regarding the alleged corruption against Madiun Mayor Maidi in the online media Kompas.com and Sinergia Mediatama during January 2026. This study uses a qualitative descriptive-comparative approach using Robert N. Entman's (1993) framing analysis model, which consists of four elements: defining the problem, diagnosing the cause, making a moral judgment, and recommending a response. Data consisting of 20 news articles were collected through digital documentation and purposive sampling techniques, then analyzed using a framing coding instrument. The findings of this study indicate that Kompas.com constructed its coverage with a legalistic-structural framework: defining the case as systematic corruption, providing explicit personal causal attributions to Maidi, presenting condemnatory moral judgments, and recommending strict formal law enforcement. In contrast, Sinergia Mediatama developed a contextual-humanistic framework: defining the case through a local impact perspective, being more cautious in causal attribution, acknowledging Maidi's developmental contributions, and emphasizing the sustainability of local public services. These differences in framework reflect the influence of each media outlet's editorial position, geographic proximity, and audience orientation in constructing the reality of coverage of legal cases involving local officials.