Framing “Climate change” and “Global warming” in Indonesian mass media (2013–2022): Corpus-assisted ecolinguistics

Abstract

The terms ‘climate change’ (CC) and ‘global warming’ (GW) are frequently utilised interchangeably within mass media. Both are often frequently linked to ozone depletion, melting glaciers, or prolonged drought. It can be contended that the two terms exhibit both parallels and distinctions in their meanings and frames in mass media. This study involved a specialised corpus gathered from two prominent online Indonesian news sites. It employed Bootcat as the data collection tool and corpus-assisted ecolinguistics as the analytical framework. The analysis reveals that Indonesian media portrays CC and GW through three primary frames: scientific phenomena, global impacts, and mitigation-causation. In the context of the Global South, Indonesian mass media plays a significant role in shaping the discourse on CC and GW. While there are certain resemblances to previous research, the media in Indonesia
constructs the institutionalisation of CC and GW discourse by actively engaging international organisations and communities in mitigation efforts. Moreover, the media strongly emphasises incorporating expert opinions to frame CC and GW scientifically. From an ecological lens, Indonesian mass media express an eco-ambivalent discourse by ‘taming’ CC and GW since human agency is concealed through nominalisation and passivisation.