Instructions for ISPACS 2003 Camera-Ready Manuscript Journal of Ultimate Research and Trends in Education ISSN: 2685-4252 (Online) and ISSN: 2685-0540 (Print) Vol. 4, No. 1, Maret 2022, pp: 74 – 83 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31849/utamax.v4i1.9876 74 Committing Crime to Attend Online Class: Elucidating News Media’s Polemic on Covid-19 Distance Learning Policies Alexsander Yandra 1*, Khuriyatul Husna 2, Wan Masyitah 3, Ira Oktaviani 4, & Tatum Derin 5 1, 2, 3, 5 Universitas Lancang Kuning, Pekanbaru, Indonesia 3 Universitas Negeri Riau, Pekanbaru, Indonesia 4 Politeknik Kesehatan Kementerian Kesehatan Riau, Pekanbaru, Riau alexsy@unilak.ac.id ARTICLE HISTORY Received : 2022-01-12 Revised : 2022-03-20 Accepted : 2022-03-22 KEYWORDS Distance Education Policies Distance Learning News & Media Covid-19 Polemic ABSTRACT Educational research papers that explored Covid-19 have naturally focused on the problems of distance learning implementation but also underscores its severe impacts. This study aims to demonstrate the polemic against Covid-19 distance learning policies within news media outlet. The method of this qualitative study is a literature review on 5 newspaper media and 10 online media to obtain data of news items on Covid-19 distance learning that were published from April to December 2020 (9 months). This study tracked 82 news items from newspaper media and 191 news items from online media and determined three trends across all of the news items: obstacles, impact and policies of distance learning. Results showed that the implementation of distance learning is still far from expectations due to the lack of communication between the government and the school, the lack of human resources and supporting facilities, and the non-existent supervision towards schools that ignore the policies. This paper contributed in delivering the obstacles that arise from and because of distance education policies that news media report to the public. 1. Introduction The education aspect is one aspect that has been significantly affected by Covid-19, several local government policies have also decided to apply a policy to lay off students and start implementing distance learning, or pembelajaran jarak jauh (PJJ) in Indonesian. The online learning system is a learning system without face to face directly between teachers and students using the internet network (Setiawan & Iasha, 2020). Students who were previously mostly familiar with face-to-face learning now have to get used to distance learning with an online system, which is considered new and even completely foreign for some parties (Setiawan & Rahyasih, 2021). Distance learning is one of the learning guides during the Covid-19 pandemic based on a Joint Decree (SKB) of 4 Ministers in Indonesia, namely the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud), Minister of Religion (Menag), Minister of Health (Menkes), and Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri). number 01/kb/2020, number 516 of 2020, number hk.03.01/menkes/363/2020, number 440-882 of 2020 concerning Guidelines for Implementation of Learning in Even Semesters of the Academic Year and Academic Year 2020/2021 during the Covid-19 Pandemic. PJJ uses various applications, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Zoom Meeting, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Quiepperschool, Teacher Room and other applications (Asmuni, 2020). However, judging from what is happening around, not all students and parents have the facilities and infrastructure to support online learning activities, and in the end, they feel confused and end up committing crimes. Various Indonesia news sources have reported these strange, yet real crimes born from the inequality of internet access. https://doi.org/10.31849/utamax.v4i1.9876 75 Table 1. Criminal Cases in the Implementation of Distance Learning No Criminal Cases Location News Source 1 A father steals a cell phone for his son’s online school Garut Detiknews.com 2 A junior high school student engages in online prostitution to buy internet quota and daily necessities Batam Tribunnews.com 3 Students are on the verge of committing suicide due to excessive online assignments Gowa, South Sulawesi Liputan 6.com 4 A mother kills her 8-year-old son because of difficulty learning online Cipalabuh Village, Banten Cnn Indonesia 5 15-year-old junior high school student commits suicide due to heavy online assignments from teacher Tarakan, North Borneo Tribunnews.com 6 Unismuh Makassar Student dies while searching the internet for online lectures Pinrang, Sulawesi Selatan Detiknews.com 7 Unhas student dies, falls from mosque tower while searching for internet network Kabupaten Sinjai, Makasar Tribunnews.com 8 Too difficult to access the signal, Cokroaminoto Polopo University students are willing to climb hills and climb trees so they can study online Kabupaten luwu, Sulawesi Selatan Kompas.com From Table 1, it can be inferred that many things have hindered the implementation of distance learning. There is no shortage of studies that have alluded to one of these challenges of online education during the pandemic, such as low internet bandwidth resulting in frequent interruptions of audiovisual communication (Agung et al., 2020; Octaberlina & Muslimin, 2020), simple lack of internet access due to the school or students’ disadvantaged area (Chirinda et al., 2021; Mukherjee et al., 2021), lack of student discipline (Kholili, 2021; Syahdan & Ali, 2022), lack of social interaction (Adnan & Anwar, 2020; Irawan et al., 2020), teachers’ and lecturers’ inconsistent adaptability with the offline-to-online learning style (Putri et al., 2020; Syahdan et al., 2022), and many more. Previous studies have frequently emphasized how facilities and infrastructure uneven distribution is not the only obstacle in the process of implementing this online learning policy, but there are also obstacles and limitations stemming from the teaching staff who may not have the ability and accessibility to operate and use cellphones or laptops (Mulyati et al., 2021) or have difficulty in leveraging the available online resources to creatively address the numerous problems of online learning (Khairuddin, 2020). This study, however, intends to shine a light on how the difficulty of facilities and infrastructure do not stop at hindering the learning and teaching process, but can and have also led to online theft and prostitution, the difficulty of the network leading to death, and the unpreparedness of human resources that takes victims and leads to murder, as shown in Table 1. A notable trend in educational research papers that explores Covid-19 is that they overfocuses on the problems during the implementation of various educational forms but somehow also underscores the severity of its difficulty. This is an existing gap in the current literature of Covid-19 in the educational context that this study would like to address by conducting a literature review on how national news delivered polemic, which is a strong (verbal or) written attack, on the government’s distance learning policies to mitigate the disastrous effect of Covid-19 to the educational sector. The novelty of this study is that it examined multiple news sources and covered both newspaper and online media, which will contribute a more comprehensive picture of the educational policy polemic amidst Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia. 2. Method In order to understand the phenomena that exist in the social environment, a qualitative approach that is descriptive and tends to use analysis is considered appropriate for conducting this research. However, because the researchers only aim to view the educational policies that have been issued by the government and the polemics arising from these policies, this research uses a qualitative method with a literature study approach. This literature study https://www.tribunnews.com/tag/kabupaten-sinjai 76 improves upon Khuriyatul et al. (2019), who explained in their research that there are several stages of data collection for literature study, namely: selection of data sources and documents, research terms, inclusion and exclusion processes and analysis and interpretation of results. For the inclusion criteria, the researchers only focused on the official government website and for polemics arising from these policies. The data selection relied on the use of Alexa Rank (alexa.com), which is a website ranking measurement of originating from California, founded in 1996 and purchased 3 years later by Amazon. Researchers chose alexa rank because Alexa ranking is determined by combining data on the number of website visitors and how many pages visited by website visitors, making it easier to catalogue media rankings based on how often it is accessed. Based on Alexa’s top 10 Indonesian media ranking (https://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/ID), 5 newspaper media and 10 online media that have exposed news related to the policy which began during academic year 2019-2020 to odd school year 2020-2021 are eligible as the data of this study. This study used keywords to obtain the data of news that reported education policies amidst Covid- 19, cases or events related to Covid-19 distance learning, and the implementation of distance learning. Data analysis was focused on identifying the problems or obstacles that arise from distance education policies, as well as categorizing said problems into several levels ranging from early childhood level, elementary level, middle level, to university level. 3. Results This study has tracked two types of media, namely national newspaper media and national online media to obtain news about educational policies during the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically events which took place during the even academic year 2019/2020 and the odd academic year 2020/2021 (from April to December 2020). Since government policies related to education during the Covid-19 pandemic have caused various dynamics to track existing dynamics, so the researchers tested national media and national online media to enhance the accuracy of the country’s information source’s polemic of distance learning policies. Table 2. Number of Polemic News Across Indonesia’s Top Newspaper and Online Media Newspaper Media News Online Media News Jawa Pos 19 Cnn Indonesia.com 19 Kompas 22 Detik.com 11 Media Indonesia 15 Kompas.com 19 Republika 11 Kumparan.com 18 Tempo.co 15 Liputan6.com 15 Merdeka.com 15 Okezone.com 22 Sindo.com 25 Suara.com 34 Tribunnews.com 13 Total 82 Total 191 Over the period of nine months in 2020, this study managed to track a total of 82 newspaper items and 191 online news items on the polemic against the educational policies established in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been released. This study further examined the particular trend of issues regarding policy polemics by filtering the results into three main categories, namely the obstacles from distance learning, the impact of distance learning, and the policies issued by stakeholders on distance learning. https://www/ 77 Chart 1. Trends in Polemic Issues in National Online Media Chart 1 shows the overall statistical result of both types of news media (newspaper and online) in terms of the trends of the news media’s individual news items. From the graph above, it can be seen that the majority of news media widely reported obstacles of distance learning (129 news items), followed by a fluctuating amount of news on the impact of distance learning (102 news items), with the government policies polemic being the lowest across the media (42 news items). The online news Suara.com published the highest amount of news on obstacles (19 news items) and impact (11 news items), while online news Sindo.com claims the most number of news on the policies (5 news items). This study confirmed that publishing news on the obstacles of distance learning is the strongest trend followed by both newspaper and online media. These obstacles include the absence of software to support distance learning such as smartphones, networks and internet quotas. Smartphones, as an essential tool that is the basic pre-requisite for implementing distance learning, is actually not owned by all students and even the teaching staff of many schools. As many as 171,988 students and 12,649 teaching staff in Jakarta do not have smartphones to study online, according to the DKI Education Office, which conducted education in September-October 2020 to support the effectiveness of distance learning (Lani Juli Hantoro’s report in Tempo.co on November 26, 2020). In the Garut area, West Java, the problem of not having a smartphone has led to a criminal case, namely a case of theft committed by a middle-aged man so that his child can still follow online because their family does not have a smartphone, according to Reza Gunandha’s report in Suara.com and this is evidence. the real unpreparedness and inability of the community with a learning system like this. Internet quota is also a problem that many students and parents complain about, especially for people who are economically down. There are even families who prefer to buy cooking oil instead of internet quotas for their children’s online continuity. Although the government has issued internet quota assistance to help ease every family’s burden, not all regions in Indonesia have good electricity. There are 1,300 points in forest areas that are not accessible to the internet and this, of course, hindered the online learning process of students who live in that area (Rinaldo’s report in Liputan6.com on July 16, 2020). Students who are in rural areas, forests, borders, are as lucky as those in urban areas; those who are there must risk their lives so that they can continue to follow online learning, as do students who are on the border of Indonesia and Malaysia every day, they have to get out of the house in the morning, pass a bridge made of bamboo, as well as a forest and climb a hill called Bukit Abu because their area does not have an internet network and is not fully electrified (Uun Yuniar’s report in Okezone.com on 5 August 2020). The second strongest trend of news is about the impact of the distance learning policy on on the students, teaching staff and parents. On the parents’ side, they are required to be able to become temporary teachers while at home, but not all parents have this readiness and, in the end, it creates a new polemic. The murder case committed by both parents of their 10-year-old child due to difficulties in teaching online education is an example of the unpreparedness of parents to accompany their child’s education during the pandemic. Meanwhile, on the students’ side, boredom arises which results in laziness and boredom to study because some of them have difficulty understanding learning and sadly there are those who 78 choose to marry early as happened in East Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). married early on the grounds of being bored studying online for too long (reported by Pebriansyah Ariefana in Suara.com on August 21, 2020). Problems on the student side also occurred in Cianjur, West Java, there were 7,751 students dropping out of school during the covid pandemic, including 3,374 elementary and junior high school students. This is because one of the factors is the economy which is experiencing difficulties nowadays. There are those who choose to drop out of school to continue looking for work and some of them do not continue their education from the beginning. Every child has the right to get an education. Suicide cases due to depression due to the many assignments from the school are probably the most fatal impacts that occur throughout the online world. (Hasanudin Aco in tribunnews.com on October 17, 2020) This case occurred in the hamlet of Bontotene, Bilalang Village, Manuju District, Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi, where the body of MI (16), a grade 2 high school student was found. The victim committed suicide by drinking poison and sadly this suicide was recorded by the victim with a duration of 32 seconds. Seeing that there have been victims online, of course distance learning needs to be evaluated so that something similar does not happen in the future. On the teaching staff’s side, especially those approaching the retirement rate, have difficulty in providing learning materials because they do not understand the use of IT even though in the online education period this is one that is needed, it needs creativity in delivering material so that students do not feel bored and bored, especially for children who active. Moreover, the impact and obstacles of distance learning are also experienced by teachers and parents of students with disabilities because children with special needs not only need knowledge but also need direct interaction with trusted people, touch, and intensive guidance with teachers and caregivers at school. According to him, online learning without direct interaction with the teacher will have a serious impact on them. The interruption of communication and prolonged direct interaction between teachers and children with special needs will have very serious consequences, such as not wanting to go to school anymore. Or if someone wants to go to school, everything has to start from scratch, because children with special needs have different personalities. Compared to the polemic against distance learning’s obstacles and impact on relevant parties, news outlets rarely published news about the policies themselves. Most of the media stated that the policies that have been issued by stakeholders is to make schools continue the learning process online because the long pause when Covid-19 first broke out have delivered a heavy toll on the national level of education, and that continuous evaluations are needed. This was conveyed by the Commissioner for Education, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), Retno Listyarti, appealed to the Gowa Regency Education Office, South Sulawesi (South Sulawesi). The appeal for evaluations was aggressively promoted after the suicide case of a high school student in Gowa Regency who committed suicide by drinking poison allegedly due to being depressed while facing a mountain of assignments during the distance learning period. Lastly, failures of actually implementing the online learning due to the various obstacles mentioned previously, news media also reported schools that conduct door-to-door learning to students’ homes, consistently stating that the relevant parties always followed the Covid-19 health protocol. 4. Discussion This research is carried out to measure or describe that the issue or polemic of distance learning policies is something that needs to be discussed more deeply by policy makers, and this research tries to ensure that the news in the national media and national online media is relevant to the policies that have been implemented. issued by the government. 4.1 Implementation of Distance Learning Judging from the data that has been obtained, the implementation of distance learning policies is not easy to implement. It is known that there are 4 aspects that influence a policy implementation, namely Communication, Resources, Disposition, and Bureaucratic Structure. 4.1.1 Communication Communication is one thing that is very important for the continuity of organizational life. This communication can be done either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. In fact, this communication must go both ways, meaning that there is a common perception between superiors and subordinates so as to minimize rigidity in the organization. The central government has issued a policy on distance learning during the pandemic based on a joint decree of 4 ministers as an effort to prevent the spread of covid-19 in the educational environment based on issues that are spreading in the community about the number of covid in the school environment. two-way traffic communication. This is important considering the guidelines for the implementation of distance learning are products produced by the central government. Regarding the implementation of distance learning policies carried out by local governments assisted by various stakeholders involved in it, one of which is the Education Office must be able to carry out its duties, namely implementing distance learning in accordance with central government instructions is not as easy as turning the palm of the hand, there are many problems faced in the field. 79 However, due to the lack of communication between the government and the school, it was found that schools were still conducting face-to-face trials even though they were in the orange zone by not implementing health protocols. Such as private schools in Sorong City which continue to carry out the teaching and learning process face to face with students and do not heed the circular letter from the Mayor of Sorong. This was revealed when the Sorong City Covid-19 Task Force (Tim Gugus Tugas/Gustus) conducted a surprise inspection (inspeksi mendadak/sidak) (Irianti and Pullo Atakey’s report in Tempo.co on 4 September 2020). These communication barriers occur because of cultural barriers in Indonesia, which are accustomed to the conventional education system and physical barriers where not all schools have good IT (Junaidi et al., 2020). 4.1.2 Resources Resources are an important aspect of effective policy implementation. Although the contents of the policy have been communicated clearly and consistently, if the implementor lacks the resources to implement it, implementation will not be effective (Batubara, 2021; Zhu & Liu, 2020). The government’s decision to issue a distance policy should be accompanied by a policy of providing learning support equipment for underprivileged students because human resources and facilities are real obstacles that are felt in the implementation of distance learning. a. Human Resources Human resources, especially teaching staff, are important actors for success in implementing this PPJ, but the fact that is happening in today’s society is that teachers are lacking or unprepared because they do not have competence in mastering science and technology. This is in accordance with the results of research obtained by Ramadhani et al. (2020) about how there are a significant number of teachers who do not have an educational background that is skilled in using ICT. The limitations of educators in understanding IT are due to several factors, including: Limited supporting infrastructure such as laptops, computers, projectors, internet networks and the availability of electricity as well as limited use of ICT during the learning process in class. b. Budgetary The lack of a budget issued by the government is proven that there are still areas in Indonesia that are constrained by underfunded facilities to support the distance learning policy. Deputy Chair of Commission X DPR Agustina Wilujeng asked the Ministry of Education and Culture to encourage the Ministry of Finance to provide special funds for education during the pandemic. The Ministry of Education and Culture must coordinate with other ministries/agencies and local governments to allocate a budget for the implementation of distance learning (Nawir Arsyad in Republika on August 28, 2020). Although the government has issued an internet quota assistance policy for students with a budget of 7.21 trillion Rupiah from September to December 2020 (Ayunda Pininta’s report in Kompas.com on August 28, 2020), the facts on the ground show that not all students truly obtained this financial assistance (Amalia, 2021). c. Facility Facilities are very important in implementing this policy, especially mobile phones, internet and network quotas, but data in the field states that not all regions in Indonesia have a good internet network and not all students and teaching staff have cellphones and internet quotas that support learning. Based on the results of the 2018 APJII National Internet User Penetration survey, the distribution of data shows that more than half of internet users in Indonesia are in the Java region (55.7%), followed by Sumatra (21.6%), Sulawesi-Maluku-Papua (10.9%), Kalimantan (6.6%), and Bali and Nusa Tenggara by 5.2% (Nural Arifa’s report in Kompas on March 30, 2020). This is in line with the statement made by the National Coordinator of the Education Monitoring Network (JJPI) regarding the concept of distance education is still difficult to implement at this time (Ubaid Matarji’s report in Kompas newspaper on July 3, 2020). This can be seen from several factors, including: human resources and technology have not supported the distance learning process (Rahman et al., 2021). 4.1.3 Disposition Disposition shows the attitude possessed by the implementor, if the implementor has a good attitude, then he will be able to carry out policies well as desired by policy makers. The lack of supervision carried out by local governments is the reason why there are still schools that are caught face-to-face and do not implement distance learning policies. Schools that conduct face-to-face meetings, both public and private schools, must obtain permission from the local government and must comply with health protocols according to the SOP from the education office because local governments are given full rights in this matter by the central government. Although areas in the green and yellow zones have received permission from the Ministry of Education and Culture to conduct face-to-face schools, they still have to get permission from the local government. orange, and yellow zones consisting of 429 regencies/cities (Fauzan reports in bbc news 15 June 2020) For areas that are in the green zone in order to be able to conduct face-to-face learning, very strict requirements are needed including: a. Obtaining permission from local/regional government 80 Fulfilling the checklist consisting of schools required to have sanitation facilities, washing hands, and others. Schools must have access to health services, students and teaching staff are required to wear masks, and have temperature checking devices. b. Get permission from the parents of the students The Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture (Kemenko PMK) has also asked the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) and local governments to be stricter with schools that will hold face-to-face learning (PTM) to fill out the checklist. Filling out the list is important so that the government can unite the readiness of education units in implementing PTM in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The Ministry of Education and Culture and the regional government must be more assertive in giving advice to schools to fill out the checklist because currently most education units are only preparing in terms of physical facilities. 4.2.4 Bureaucratic Structure The organizational structure has a significant influence on the implementation of policies. The organizational structure includes two aspects, namely the mechanism and the bureaucratic structure itself. The first aspect is the mechanism, in implementing policies, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are usually made. SOPs provide guidelines for the actions of each implementer so that the implementation of the policy does not deviate from the aims and objectives of the policy. The second aspect is bureaucracy, bureaucracy that is too long and fragmented, tends to weaken supervision and lead to complicated bureaucratic procedures. The bureaucratic structure in distance learning, of course, cannot be separated from the role of the Department of Education as the leading sector to make various innovative and creative changes according to the demands of the times. As well as providing opportunities for the school level: principals, teachers, education staff, students and parents of students in carrying out the implementation of education from home or distance learning which is carried out in each region in accordance with the implementation guidelines set by the central government. The role of the bureaucracy here is determined by a series of tasks and jobs into positions in an organization. In schools, the position of principal, teachers and students is very important to be able to specify and determine proper and appropriate behavior. The role of the head encourages teachers and education personnel to be literate in science and technology during this pandemic. In addition, a teacher has an obligation to design learning as well and as interesting as possible according to the initial learning plan and must be able to involve students in an effective way. 4.2 The Role of the Media in Supporting the Implementation of Government Policies in the Education Sector Media is a communication tool that is easily used to spread news that is happening in various worlds and is able to tell people around the world to see various events in the form of information that is happening. The media has an important role as one of the filters in a policy where the media as a mouthpiece in the media community is able to convey public complaints to policy makers (Driss et al., 2019; Yandra, 2016). Social media will and have naturally raise these issues when the public deems them important and generate discussions among various concerned parties (Keir et al., 2019).Messages conveyed by the media must have certain elements in order to be well received by the public. These elements are: (1) New (time factor) means that the message or information in the media is a new message or is becoming a trend (2) Attractive Mass Media will contain messages or information that are considered interesting by the public, meaning the public’s desire for information is very high For example: there is conflict, violence, and so on and (3) Important. For example: political policy issues that have a broad impact on society (Makhshun & Khalilurrahman, 2018). The issuance of a distance learning policy cannot be separated from the role of the media. The media often reports about the many cases of Covid-19 in the school environment, such as teaching staff who are exposed to the virus, because it is considered interesting by the media and is indeed becoming a public discussion. The amount of news about this has forced the government to take serious steps to suppress the positive number of this virus. After seeing the increasingly widespread issues, the government issued a policy based on a Joint Decree (SKB) of 4 Ministers in Indonesia, namely the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud), Minister of Religion (Menag), Minister of Health (Menkes), and Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) number 01 /kb/2020, number 516 of 2020, number hk.03.01/menkes/363/2020, number 440-882 of 2020 concerning Guidelines for Implementation of Learning in Even Semesters of the Academic Year and Academic Year 2020/2021 during the Covid-19 Pandemic Period. This is done so that all involved in the educational environment are protected from the spread of the corona virus. The implementation of government policies in education that did not go well did not escape the attention of the media, the complaints submitted by the public and even the occurrence of criminalization there attracted media attention to be published to the public, the people and the government. The crimes are also particularly prevalent in the 3T area (Front, Remote and Disadvantaged), which brought a number 81 of extreme cases which emphasized the polemic against the distance learning policy not as a solution to Covid-19, but additional source of problem for the citizens. Seeing the many complaints submitted by parties involved in the implementation of distance learning that have been conveyed by the media, the government has intervened to find solutions so that this policy can actually be implemented, and corners of the news media have reflected this to the public. Not only the government, the private sector also takes part in helping those experiencing obstacles in online learning. As has been done by the Indonesian women’s organization, which distributed cell phones in Bandung and Bekasi for students who do not have the facilities to study, and this activity is a form of their concern for the education of children in Indonesia, especially those affected by the crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic (Sucipto’s report in Sindonews.com on September 25, 2020). Not only that, the government also helps relieve semester fees that many students complain about in Permendikbud 25 of 2020 concerning Standards for Higher Education Operational Cost Units at PTNs within the Ministry of Education and Culture. The policy that has been issued as a solution to problems related to distance learning by the government does not escape the role of the media. The government and the media need each other, the government needs the role of the media as a forum to socialize what has been a complaint in implementing the policies that have been issued and the media itself needs the government as the main target so that these complaints are conveyed to the government. 3.5 Impact of Education Policies during the Covid-19 Pandemic Implementing distance learning is not as easy as expected by all parties. From the data that has been obtained, the researchers found the impact of this policy. The negative impact felt by students on distance learning is the threat of dropping out of school because children are forced to help their parents financially during the pandemic who are experiencing difficulties, growth and development constraints, which results in gaps in learning achievement, especially for children with low family economies, psychosocial pressure and domestic violence which causes stress in children due to lack of interaction with teachers, friends and the outside environment, plus pressure due to the difficulty of distance learning which causes stress in children (Pratolo & Solikhati, 2021). The negative impact of distance learning is also felt by parents and the teaching staff, which increases the cost of the online learning system because of that the level of internet quota usage will increase and will increase the burden on parents’ expenses (Sari et al., 2021). In addition, parents also find it difficult to accompany their children to study and provide learning motivation, especially for parents who work and require them to stay in the office. And for teaching staff, it makes it difficult to manage online learning because it focuses on completing the curriculum, learning time is reduced so that teachers cannot fulfil the burden of teaching hours. However, distance learning does not always have a negative impact but also a positive impact for students to have a lot of time at home with their families. Various learning methods. Instead of children just being in class, they are now more flexible in learning from home. Change. Like it or not, children definitely have to explore technology. Some children feel comfortable learning from home because nothing is noisy. Even learning from home makes children more focused and calmer because they can set their own study schedule and target completion of tasks (Megawanti et al., 2020). And for parents, it becomes easier for them to control their child’s learning process. In addition, parents also become more aware and know their children, especially in terms of academic abilities, so that it makes it easier for parents to know how to develop their children’s potential in the future. Through the distance learning program, parents feel that the relationship between parents and children is getting closer. and parents can see firsthand the development of their children (Wijayanti & Fauziah, 2020). For teaching staff, it is more helpful to prepare curriculum and learning materials, because of the modules provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture, teachers can freely teach, the emergency curriculum issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture makes teachers flexible in formulating a curriculum that suits the conditions of their students, teachers get out of their comfort zone , dare to learn and try new things, such as online learning, teachers become technology literate, information and communication technology helps teachers run the online learning process, technology makes the teacher’s task lighter. 5. Conclusions This study addressed the research gap on the national news media’s polemic against the Covid-19 distance learning implementation. A novelty of this study is its coverage of both newspaper media and online news media which yielded a rich data of news on distance learning polemic. From a total of 82 news items in newspaper media and 191 news items in online news media, this study determined the pattern of news trends across both types of media in Indonesia, which has obstacles of distance learning as the most dominant trend, followed by its impact and the policies made by the government and stakeholders. 82 An implication of this study is the value of investing attention to the role of news media in the country’s implementation of Covid-19 distance learning. This study thoroughly demonstrated how the media conveyed information from and for the public, as well as information from and for the government. 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