The Representation of Persons with Disabilities in Indonesian Reality Shows Angeline Anggalimea 1 and Myrtati Dyah Artaria 2 1 Communication Department, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia 2 Department of Anthropology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia Keywords: persons with disabilities, stigma, reality show, Indonesia Abstract: People in society often stigmatise minorities, for example people with disabilities (PWD). Unfortunately, the media institutions perpetuate the stigma through impressions of reality that seem to reflect the PWD real life. In this article, we examined the representation of PWDs on reality shows in Indonesia, namely “Mikrofon Pelunas Hutang” and “Minta Tolong New Season”. We used semiotic analysis by John Fiske through looking at the depiction of PWDs in those reality shows. The data analysis involves looking at the three processes of the representation, which consist of: at the level of reality, the level of representation, and the ideological level. The conclusion is that those two shows often portrayed PWDs as weak and helpless people 1 INTRODUCTION Persons with disabilities in Indonesia are still often stigmatised as Persons with Social Welfare Problems as stated in the pages of the Provincial Social Department in Yogyakarta. On its official website (2018), they say that there are several criteria for persons with disabilities who have social welfare problems. Those are the people who experience obstacles in carrying out activities, have difficulties in working, and cannot solve their life problems properly and so forth. This lasting stigma cannot be separated from the influence of mass media, especially television. Television supposedly has a function in providing useful information, an educational function as well as having an entertainment function (Effendy, 1993). However, in fact, the media often brings up ideological issues when they show a representation that relates to social reality (real world), then it raises ideological problems in social and cultural life (Sobur, 2016). Though the media tend to display the reality that has been edited by sorting facts or information that is considered essential (Sobur, 2016). As a result, certain realities are portrayed by the media to audiences that are able to shape public opinion about the real reality (Hamad, 2004). This reality construction cannot be detached from the role of language since it becomes the primary instrument for telling stories in both print and electronic media. It also occurs in reality shows, especially those which show people with disabilities. Until now those reality shows have remained in production because people always show their interest. The reality show has an entertainment element and is able to attract viewers to enjoy 'real people’s lives'. Moreover, it also highlights the nature of voyeurism, where it is used to target the audience’s emotions which can bring pleasure to them (Hill in Noviani, 2012). According to Sugihartono (2004), three types of impressions can be categorised as reality shows: firstly, reality shows that place viewers as passive viewers who follow a person's professional or personal activities; secondly, a hidden camera which is placed to record unexpected activities in ordinary or unreasonable situations; thirdly, reality game shows which film contestants who are competing to win a competition. This study wants to see how the reality shows in Indonesia try to describe people with disabilities. Two reality shows will be analysed: “Minta Tolong New Season” and “Mikrofon Pelunas Hutang.” 132 Anggalimea, A. and Artaria, M. The Representation of Persons with Disabilities in Indonesian Reality Shows. DOI: 10.5220/0008817901320136 In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs (ICoCSPA 2018), pages 132-136 ISBN: 978-989-758-393-3 Copyright c  2019 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved