FAKE NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE STUDY Rosita Lumban Tobing, Susana Widyastuti, Joko Pramono
Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta
Abstract
This research examines the issue surrounding the spread of fake news or hoax on social media during Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. With the massive use of social media people share information without checking the source and truth. Using the principles of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study is aimed at (1) identifying the features of fake news and (2) to reveal the common areas or themes of fake news. Data were in the form of multimodal text on social media platforms like facebook, whatshap, twitter and instagram which were collected from January to September 2020. The analysis was carried out using a three-dimensional critical discourse analysis framework (Fairclough, 2003) which allows us the examine the text within the micro, meso, and macro context and enables us see the phenomenon within the wider sociopolitical structure. The results showed that first the hoax is constructed through (1) lack of reliable sources, (2) conspiracy, (3) satire, and (4) misleading reports. Second, in terms of the themes, it is interesting to find that the hoax is not merely about health, most of them are none of health issues such as politics, economy, religion, and culture.
