Abstract

At the time of writing this article, Indonesian health system has collapsed due to the spread of COVID-19. As a close neighbour to Indonesia, Australia is reflecting the importance of Indonesia in its news coverage. How do Australian newspapers report Indonesia’s struggle in tackling the health crisis? This paper aims to answer that question by examining seven Australian dailies, including two nationally distributed papers and five state-based media. The findings indicate that stories on COVID-19 in Indonesia are dominated by travel restriction, vaccines, and corruption scandals. In particular, the Australian press tends to highlight the lack of strong leadership during the current pandemic. In addition, some minor topics emerged such as the release of an Islamic cleric, natural disasters, and a plane crash. The framing of terrorism continues to display how the Australian media is portraying Indonesia as a hotbed for radicalisation. 

Keywords

Australia, Indonesia, news coverage, COVID-19, media.