Indonesia’s Nation Branding Through the Lens of Neighboring Countries: An AI-Assisted Study of Visual Content Analysis

Abstract

Abstract_This study investigates how Indonesia is portrayed in the news media of nine ASEAN neighboring countries, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, through an AI-assisted visual content analysis. Adopting a constructivist paradigm, the research analyzes 452 news articles published between May 2023 and March 2025, a period marked by the post-pandemic recovery phase. Major national news portals from each country were purposely selected based on credibility, coverage, and availability of visual content. Both manual coding and AI tools (ChatGPT 4o Models) were used to classify narratives and identify dominant visual themes, followed by multimodal interpretation of text–image interactions. The findings reveal nine thematic categories, with news on politics and economy dominating coverage, followed by environment, security, infrastructure, tourism, culture, sports, and incidents. Indonesia’s image in ASEAN media is thus heavily shaped by political governance, diplomacy, and economic activities, while cultural, tourism, and other soft power narratives appear less prominently. The study highlights the need for Indonesia to diversify its nation branding strategies by amplifying non-political stories, promoting sustainable tourism, cultural heritage, and creative industries, and strengthening cross-border media partnerships. Such efforts can foster a more balanced regional image, enhance soft power, and support long-term regional cooperation and tourism growth.
Keywords_Indonesia, nation branding, media portrayal, ASEAN, regional, visual content analysis, tourism management, AI-assisted study