Representasi Aktor dalam Pemberitaan Karhutla Kalimantan pada Website Kementerian Kehutanan Tahun 2026: Kajian Ekolinguistik

Dewi Herlina; Nur Santriani Utari Azim

Authors

Dewi Herlina Universitas Gadjah Mada
Nur Santriani Utari Azim Universitas Gadjah Mada

Keywords:

critical discourse analysis, kalimantan, ecolinguistic, Forest and land fires, Corpus Linguistics

Abstract

Background: Forest and land fires in Kalimantan have become one of the environmental issues receiving serious attention, both nationally and internationally. As the institution responsible for controlling Karhutla, the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia plays a crucial role in disseminating information about these incidents. Purpose: Therefore, it is worthwhile to study coverage of Karhutla on the Ministry of Forestry’s official website. Methods: This study employs a mixed-methods approach. The data were drawn from eight news articles on forest and land fires published on the Ministry of Forestry's official website. Data analysis drew upon van Leeuwen’s (2008) theory of social actor representation and Stibbe’s (2015) theory of ecolinguistics. Results: Research findings indicate two dominant actors in managing forest and land fires: the public and the government. The public is portrayed ambivalently, simultaneously as participants in fire control efforts and as parties potentially responsible for environmental damage. The government is depicted as the primary actor, responsive and swift in handling these fires, reflecting a pro-government ideology within the Ministry of Forestry's discourse. From an ecolinguistic perspective, these findings indicate that language choices in news reporting construct ecological stories (stories we live by) about human responsibility, institutional roles, and environmental protection, while highlighting the limited attention given to ecosystem conditions and long-term ecological impacts. Conclusion: This study's findings are expected to enrich the discussion of ecolinguistics in Indonesian government media.

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