DIFFERENT VIEW OF NEWS MEDIA ON COVERING PRABOWO’S ‘FREE LUNCH PROGRAM’: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Abstrak

This paper looks at the representation of Prabowo Subianto's "Free Lunch Program" in the two major news media in Indonesia, namely Tribunnews and Kompas.com. By looking at processes, participants, and circumstances involved in the texts, this study reveals how language choice reflects power positions and ideological persuasions and how words, participants, and context determine the different perspectives and ideas. On one side, Tribunnews shows the program focusing from a political and authoritative point of view, showing Prabowo's leadership and decisiveness, and mainly using material and relational processes, in order to illustrate the strategic action and vision he deploys. In contrast, Kompas.com approaches the program from a human-interest point of view: focusing on concrete benefits from this program, using material and mental processes to show joy and collaboration among stakeholders. By comparing these two approaches, this study shows how media framing can shape public perceptions through different storytelling styles around the same policy, emphasizing the role of language in influencing social meaning and political discourse.