The narration of the raid on the fundamentalist church of jesus christ of latter-day saints (flds) community by texas government in american online newspapers

Oleh :
Daniel Nugroho - C0307001 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

2012. Thesis. Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts. Sebelas Maret University. This study aims to investigate the way the American Media narrates news stories of the raid on FLDS community and to explain the way this minority group is represented. The raid itself had generated controversy, which involves variables such as the fact that FLDS is polygamous tied to the clash between the clauses of the first Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, particularly the establishment clause, which stresses on the “wall of separation” and the free exercise clause, which guarantees freedom of religion. Conducted under the framework of American studies, this thesis employs narrative analysis to identify cultural context of contemporary American society represented in newspaper stories. It focuses on the online version of news narratives in three American newspaper official websites as the source of data namely the New York Times (www.nytimes.com), the Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com), and the Deseret News (www.deseretnews.com). The study itelf is categorized as a qualiative research in which it uses semiotics as the method to analyze the primary data, which are mainly words, phrases, and sentences. Two theories applied in this thesis are narrative theory and a concept of representation. The narrative theory is utilized to investigate the narrative structures of the news stories. This includes narrative elements commonly found in the other narratives genres. The concept of representation is used to identify the position of the media from the way FLDS is represented in the news narratives. The results of the analysis are correlated to the social and historical circumstances in American society It is argued that the news stories of the raid in the three newspapers reflect the public inclination of contemporary American society in viewing minority religious group with strange doctrines. The narrative styles of the three news stories are identical and together manifest the stereotype of the dominant groups. Each news narrative tells specific story in which FLDS is represented as the nest of social disease, as an exotic sect, and as a dissent group. It can be concluded that the narratives of the raid and the representations of FLDS in the three American newspapers are shaped by a tendency to exclude minority religious group with strange and unusual beliefs from contemporary American society.