Women And Public Sphere: Study Case On Editorial Policy In Informant Selection For Opinion Column In Kompas And Media Indonesia Newspaper

Habermas belives that public sphere is the basic requirement to mediate between state and society and in an ideal situation permits democratic control of state activities. Men and women should have equal rights to express freely their opinion public. Yet, women don't have enough opportunity to speak their mind especially in media. Existing literature shows that men have control the means of expression frpm the press and broadcasting, film, publishing, and even cristicsm by occupying dominant positions withim them, and they express this power through communication of ideas and values of a patriarchal order. This research focuses on how much women could speak their mind in opinion colum in two big national daily neswpaper in Indonesia, Kompas and Media Indonesia. The method using in this research is qualitative with interview and data analysis method. Four informants are chosen from academic field, opinion writer, and editors form each Kompas and Media Indonesia, The finding for this research is that the intensity and production of writing by women are nt as many as men. Women tend to be more suitable for "pink" topics (domestic, related to household, and more likely to put in soft feature) than general topic such as crimes, economy, politics, etc, this study has the aim of providing input to Indonesian newspaper to accommodate more space for women to voice their opinion.