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new study shows Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum has been cast by the media as the most hated politician in 2012.

The study, conducted between March 2011 and December 2012, shows that most stories about Anas that the news media produced were about his alleged involvement in an abundance of graft.

The Founding Fathers House (FFH), an NGO that conducted the study, analyzed 32,620 articles in 12 national newspapers, 27, 916 articles in seven online news portal and 9,069 news broadcast on seven TV stations.

Anas appears in 516 articles during the period and the items are mostly about his alleged involvement in multifarious high-profile corruption cases, not least the endless sage of the construction of sports facilities in Hambalang for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.

In the news items, Anas was invariably mentioned in connection with the allegations made by fellow Democratic Party politician Muhammad Nazaruddin.

“The negative sentiment toward Anas in various news outlets is higher than toward other politicians, like Priyo,” FFH researcher Dian Permata said, referring to Golkar Party politician Priyo Budi Santosa, who appeared in 662 articles throughout the year. Priyo however was cast in slightly more positive light.

Dian said that it is very likely that Anas will continue to be shown in a negative light for the coming months.

“Anas will always be the target of media reports until the Hambalang corruption case is over,” Dian said.

Anas’ first alleged involvement in the multi-billion rupiah corruption case came to light after Nazaruddin accused Anas and former youth and sports minister Andi Mallarangeng of pocketing huge quantities of the baksheesh washing around the Hambalang project.

Nazaruddin claims Anas used his share to pay for the party chairmanship in 2010. He also claims that Choel, Andi’s brother, brokered projects in the Youth and Sports Ministry, including Hambalang. (riz)