Environmental Issues in Journalism Coverage at the Suara Merdeka Newspaper

Abstract

This article was written from the results of the study "Practices of Multicultural Journalism in Suara Merdeka Newspaper". This article reveals how environmental issues are packaged in the news through multicultural journalism conducted at Suara Merdeka Newspaper. This article is based on the assumption that news production always involves actors who have their imaginations, and a number of images are exchanged in the process of contestation and negotiation. The image becomes an entity that connects some interests which are outside media into the newspaper. Through the ethnographic method, this study reveals the dynamics of the relationship between actors that occur behind news writing. This study found that environmental issues have been successfully included as themes that meet the criteria for enforcing environmental purification and at the same time, criteria of the environment commodification. In terms of economics, this theme has relevance to the importance of economic growth driven through the use of the environment without destroying itself. While in criteria of environmental purification, bringing the issue of citizen rejection to the plan a cement plant is same as carrying out the mission of reducing activities of environmental exploitation.

Keywords

• local newspaper
• environmental issues
• conservation criteria
• preservationist criteria
• news production field