BETWEEN POWER AND LANGUAGE: A DISCOURSE INQUIRY INTO HOW HEADLINES REPRESENT PURBAYA’S STATEMENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21111/ijelal.v6i1.15275Keywords:
Critical Discourse Analysis, Economic Discourse, Ideological Framing Media Representation, Power And Language.Abstract
This study explores how linguistic structures in news headlines construct and circulate meanings about authority through the representation of statements made by Indonesia’s Minister of Finance, Purbaya. Anchored in the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, the research examines the interplay between language and power in shaping public understanding of economic discourse. A corpus of selected headlines from major national media outlets was analyzed using Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, focusing on lexical selection, modality, and intertextual references. The findings reveal that economic authority is not simply reported but strategically framed through evaluative terms and discursive positioning that reinforce institutional legitimacy. Certain lexical patterns were used to soften or intensify Purbaya’s financial stance, reflecting the ideological alignment of media ownership and editorial preference. Beyond linguistic form, the study uncovers how headlines operate as micro-discourses that both reflect and reproduce broader power relations within the national economic narrative. These insights highlight the critical role of media discourse in mediating policy communication and suggest the need for heightened media literacy to recognize the subtle ways language constructs authority in public spaces.References
Alaei, M., & Ahangari, S. (2021). Critical discourse analysis of political news in English newspapers: Exploring ideological structures through transitivity and modality. Journal of Language and Politics, 20(3), 412–432. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20012.ala
Alruwani, M. M., & Susanto, D. A. (2025). Challenges in punctuation usage among Libyan EFL secondary students. English Review: Journal of English Education, 13(1), 397–406.
Ardita, S. I. N. T. A., Susanto, D. A., & Sodiq, J. A. F. A. R. (2025). Employees' perception of English language proficiency in global communication: A case in PT. Melady Garment International. Linguistics and Education Journal, 5(2), 77–91.
Fairclough, N. (2022). Language and power (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Fowler, R., & Kress, G. (2020). Critical linguistics: The study of language as social practice. Routledge.
Hart, C. (2021). Cognitive linguistic approaches to critical discourse analysis: Application and theory. Bloomsbury.
Huda, A. N., Susanto, D. A., & Wiyaka, W. (2025). Voices from the virtual space: EFL learners’ perspectives on business English advertisement text in social media. Linguistics and Education Journal, 5(1), 024–039.
Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2021). How to do critical discourse analysis: A multimodal introduction (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Mareta, P. L., Susanto, D. A., & Lestari, M. Y. W. (2025). A text analysis on the song lyric of “Close to You” by the Carpenters. Social Sciences (GASJAHSS), 3(9), 41–50.
Richardson, J. E. (2020). Analyzing newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.
Samad, S. S. (2025). Fluent English with actions-based techniques. Universitas Negeri Makassar Press.
Setyoningrum, T. Y., Nugroho, D. A., & Setiaji, A. (2025). Impacting artificial intelligent chatbot in flipped classroom to enhance students’ speaking competence. Applied Research on English Education (AREE), 3(1), 8–25.
Susanto, D. A. (2025). Journaling as a medium for narrative discourse development: A qualitative analysis in an Indonesian EFL setting. Global Synthesis in Education Journal, 3(2), 24–36.
Susanto, D. A. (2025). SLA development on child's pragmatics devices through Mom Theo’s TikTok. Applied Research on English Education (AREE), 3(1), 48–63.
Susanto, D. A. (2025). Spoken discourse and appraisal in ELT: Exploring interpersonal meaning in classroom communication. IJELT: Indonesian Journal of Education, Language, and Technology, 1(2), 402–410.
Susanto, D. A., Bimo, D. S., & Pinandhita, F. (2025). Discourse in the language classroom: A qualitative exploration of speaking competence in SLA contexts. IJELT: Indonesian Journal of Education, Language, and Technology, 1(2), 154–165.
Susanto, D. A., Elmasari, N., & Bimo, D. S. (2025). Integrating SLA to enhance bilingual skills in developing vocabulary, speaking, listening, and reading through storytelling. IJELT: Indonesian Journal of Education, Language, and Technology, 1(1), 39–54.
Teo, P. (2023). Ideology and representation in contemporary headlines: Constructing authority in economic news discourse. Discourse & Communication, 17(2), 215–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/17504813221101562
Tomi Arianto, S. S., Fahrudin, M. S., Putri Khairina Masta, S. S., Ambalegin, M. S., Dewi, N. P. S., Susanto, M. K. D. D. A., & Agus, P. D. C. (2025). Bahasa, gender dan kekuasaan. Universitas Putra Indonesia Press.
Umam, H. K., Susanto, D. A., & KA, A. P. (2025). Students’ perspectives on the implementation of technology (YouTube) and memorizing technique to enhance speaking ability in Riyadul Mubarok Junior High School Brebes. IJELT: Indonesian Journal of Education, Language, and Technology, 1(1), 55–63.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2021). Discourse and power: Contributions to critical discourse studies. Palgrave Macmillan.
Wodak, R. (2024). Political discourse and media representation: The reproduction of ideology in global contexts. Critical Discourse Studies, 21(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2023.2294400
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2022). Methods of critical discourse analysis (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Zabella, P. Z. Z., Susanto, D. A., & Setyaji, A. (2025). An analysis of directive speech acts in the text of Jumanji: The Next Level movie directed by Jake Kasdan. Indonesian Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 2(2), 81–91.
Zainudin, M., Wiyaka, W., & Susanto, D. A. (2025). Core-iFree model utilizing Padlet and the deep learning approach in teaching descriptive text writing. Linguistics and Education Journal, 5(1), 040–049.
Downloads
Submitted
Accepted
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright notice:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access)
