Acronymization of Political Terms in The Jakarta Post: A Morphological Study of Political News Discourse

Abstract

Acronymization has become increasingly prominent in contemporary political journalism, where complex institutional terms are condensed for brevity and immediacy. Although widely perceived as a neutral linguistic device, acronyms can also function as ideological tools that subtly frame political narratives. This study aims to analyze the morphological processes and discursive functions of political acronyms in The Jakarta Post. Method: Using Yule’s framework of word formation, the study examined political news articles published in July 2025 and identified 39 political acronyms, which were classified into Initialisms, Acronyms, and Multiple-Process formations. The corpus was then analyzed through Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to determine how these forms operate within political discourse. The results indicate that Initialisms are the most dominant word formation process in the data. At the discursive level, acronymization in The Jakarta Post is shown to serve not only textual efficiency but also broader ideological functions. Acronyms carry historical and political connotations that shape public interpretation by foregrounding authority, institutional identity, and power relations. The study concludes that acronymization in political reporting is both a linguistic and ideological practice that contributes to constructing political meaning within media discourse. This highlights its significance as a communicative strategy in an era of media convergence and digitalized political communication.