ABSTRACT
When it comes to mainstream media coverage of Islam, both Indonesian and global media are biased. Especially if circumstances occur that result in societal disputes involving Islamic organizations, and non-Muslims are the victims. Even the media has contributed to the creation and reinforcement of stereotypes that Islam is synonymous with violence, terrorism, and intolerance. Many new media outlets operate in the same way; however, the bulk of them focus on the negative or sensational aspect of things rather than reporting on the realities. On March 15, 2019, Muslims were murdered inside the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. The catastrophe claimed 200 people as victims, 51 of whom died (Fadhil 2019). Following these events, most Muslims expect that media reporting will take on a more positive tone, so it may influence people's perceptions of Muslims in the same way. The media will keep itself from taking a biased and anti-Islam posture. Muslims were victims of the atrocity, yet they acted just passively. What is the structure of the media's coverage of the incident? The researcher used Theo van Leeuwen's critical discourse analysis method, particularly the exclusion method, to solve this question. While the focus of this study is on the media coverage of KOMPAS.com as a representation of Indonesia's mainstream media, by using the nominalization and passivation methods to frame the news text, we revealed that KOMPAS.com did not present actors who were directly involved in the occurrence, particularly from the Muslim perspective or victims. As a result, readers do not obtain a full image of the condition of Muslims who became victims of this brutal act. The intensity of this media's response to the victims was not significant at all, and it has taken to bias against the victim actors who were Muslims. According to the findings of the study, KOMPAS.com denied the existence of Muslims as the majority of the population in Indonesia while compiling a news discourse about the brutal murder incident at the Al-Noor Mosque in New Zealand.
