Jews: Anti-Semites, You Are the Worst! (Media Discourse Analysis on the Holocaust Issue in New York Times).

ABSTRACT Rahmah, Nur Alfa. 2010. Jews: Anti-Semites, You Are the Worst! (Media Discourse Analysis on the Holocaust Issue in New York Times). Thesis. Department of English Literature, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisor: Mochamad Nasrul Chotib, M.Hum. Keywords: the Holocaust, New York Times, anti-Semites, Propaganda, Ideology Mass media are integral part of society. Since they are the link between individual perception of a world and the world that actually exists, public is very dependent on them. It grants mass media the ability to shape public opinion, which makes them the most effective instrument of power. This is to say, they are the main medium to spread propaganda. Public opinion, propaganda, and mass media are interrelated essentially. Through them, the ruling ideology strengthens its hegemony. Hegemony constructs people to think within the scope of the dominant discourses introduced by mass media. New York Times is a prominent mass media in the United States and Europe, which helps the reproduction of dominant discourses in both continents. Based on the currently dominant discourse in the world, the Holocaust is notorious as the worst genocide ever, conducted by fascist Hitler and Nazi Germany. In relation to the Holocaust, the thesis questions how New York Times shapes certain frame in the readers' minds about the Holocaust. In other words, it analyzes the scheme of idea of the Holocaust in the New York Times' texts, on which the readers may base their perceptions, actions, and reactions. In addition, since certain idea framing must support certain ideology, it will also reveal how New York Times supports particular ideology and how the Holocaust issue is occupied by the ideology to maintain its power. The study finds out that there is some sort of oversimplified conception in the meaning of "evil" which is inspired by Hitler and Nazi. It is conducted by attaching label "Anti-Semite" to some people or groups that deny the Holocaust or show any potential threat to the current ruling ideology. "Anti-Semites", after all, is a very pejorative label today, indicating that the one called so is dangerous, racist, and inhumane, even evil. When Hitler's being evil model leads to the identification upon many groups as evils-such as Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, Romania, China, and Russia, the Jews' being victim model does not lead to the identification upon others as victims. Rather, it makes them somehow the only victim. The Jews' domination on "who are the true victims" grants them such an excellently immense compensation from the world, including the establishment of the Jewish State. Above all, analyzing the identity of the countries accused of being anti-Semitic will lead us to the discussion about the Holocaust issue in New York Times leads to the topic about "the West and the rest" and ideological battle among the three surviving ideologies: capitalism, socialism, and Islam. To be precise, New York Times supports the domination of the currently ruling ideology, capitalism, and its attack upon its enemies.