Social media, which initially functioned as a means of self-existence, was then penetrating to influence the political climate of a country. Thus, it affected the public agenda. At the event held by the World Class University FISIP UNDIP Studium Generale entitled “Media, Journalism and Politics in Indonesia and the USA” , there were three sub-topics about the experience of the United States in the tradition of the journalism in the media. This event took place virtually on Wednesday (11/25/2020).

According to Craig Allen, PhD, Journalism and Arizona State Union Media Researcher, there were two important things. Firstly, the negative behavior of the USA Media in the 2020 Presidential Election in the USA which was biased since it dominantly attacked Trump and the media failed to convey the accuracy of the presidential election poll results. Only 40% of the public trusted the mainstream media. This number was the lowest in the US media history. Secondly, the USA’s mainstream media had experienced the economical and financial bankruptcy for the past five to eight years due to the online platforms, especially the social media.

The Executive Director of the CSIS Philips J. Vermonte, PhD, added that there was a phenomenon of the Angry Voters in the Voting Behavior, where a small part of the community was not affected by the political campaigns. Their choices were more weighted on the religious, and geographic aspects. For example, the Republican voters were usually the protestants and lived in villages. While, the Democrats were elected by the urban Catholics.

While the Vice Dean I of FISIP Undip, Dr. Teguh Yuwono S, M. Pol. Admin., Said that even though Trump became the public enemy, he still received high votes. This was because the Republicans and Democrats had almost the same number of supporters.

This was a highlight for Dr. Nurul Hasfi, who conveyed her pessimism about the Twitter as a means of the political communication. This was because it produced coercive political communication that endangered the national pluralism (religious politics, ethnicity). This was due to the tendency to use a strategic communication approach that was oriented solely to victory. So that, the political campaigns degraded the quality of democracy. In the future, the political communication on Twitter would be not getting better, especially in the presidential election as well as the trend of using the SNA which was able to measure the public sentiment and public opinion, but was vulnerable for any manipulation.