From the editorial desk to the audience: Indonesian editorial corpus and critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach

Abstract

This study examines the editorial strategies employed by two prominent Indonesian newspapers, TEMPO and Kompas, to explore how ideological meanings are constructed in editorial discourse. Adopting a critical qualitative approach, the research is grounded in Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis, encompassing textual analysis, discursive practice, and sociocultural practice. A corpus of 127 editorials—60 from TEMPO and 67 from Kompas—was systematically collected through documentation, screen capture, and note-taking techniques. The analysis identifies two recurrent discursive strategies: information refinement and information positivity. Information refinement is realized through linguistic choices such as evaluative labeling, connotative expressions, and selective elaboration, which function to frame issues in particular ways. Information positivity, by contrast, involves the formalization and elevation of information through lexical selection and stylistic enhancement, contributing to the construction of authority and credibility. These strategies operate across different stages of discourse production and interpretation, indicating patterned ways in which ideological positions are embedded and communicated. Rather than making broad generalizations, the findings provide context-specific insights into how editorial discourse in Indonesian mainstream media encodes and circulates ideological meanings. Within the scope of applied linguistics, this study demonstrates the continued relevance of critical discourse analysis for examining contemporary digital editorial texts. The results also underscore the importance of critical literacy in enabling readers to engage more reflexively with mediated representations of social reality.This study contributes modestly by specifying how these dynamics are realized in the context of Indonesian editorial discourse and by proposing categories derived from the data. Rather than claiming broad theoretical innovation, this study offers context-sensitive insights that extend the application of critical discourse analysis to contemporary editorial texts.