Bakti Abdillah Putra

President Prabowo's Political Communication on Environmental Issues in Constructing Climate Narrative

Introduction

President prabowo's political communication on environmental issues in constructing climate narrative. Analyze President Prabowo's political communication on environmental issues and his climate narrative, using Entman's framing and Agenda Setting theory. Examines media portrayal by Tempo.co and Betahita.id.

Abstract

President Prabowo Subianto officially won presidential election in 2024 and began his administration effectively in October. He had some plans and policies to support national development, including food security and the expansion of palm oil plantation. These sectors are against ecosystem conservation and climate change prevention so that the issue became a controversy among the people. Through his official speech, President Prabowo did not mention environmental issue, whereas he put other sectors as top priorities. Media caught the event and and public paid attention as well. This research aims to analyze the framing on President Prabowo's political communication regarding environmental issue. The analysis was conducted with framing theory of Robert N. Entman including his four main components, define problems, diagnose causes, moral judgement, and treatment recommendation. Two media which were observed by the researcher are Tempo.co and Betahita.id with qualitative approach. Researcher also applied Agenda Setting theory with critical discourse approach to see how media perceive the President in addressing the weakness in governance and lacking of relevant knowledge. Meanwhile, Betahita.id assessed that President Prabowo's narrative on environmental issue is a form of his carelessness towards human rights issues and his partiality with irresponsible corporations.

Review

This research proposes a timely and highly relevant analysis of President Prabowo Subianto's political communication regarding environmental issues, particularly in the context of his recent election and controversial policy proposals concerning food security and palm oil expansion. The study's focus on how a new administration constructs its climate narrative, especially through silence or prioritization of other sectors, is critical for understanding political discourse and environmental governance in Indonesia. The methodological framework, integrating Robert N. Entman's framing theory with its four key components, alongside Agenda Setting theory and a critical discourse approach, offers a robust multi-layered lens for examining both the presidential communication and its media reception. The selection of Tempo.co and Betahita.id as case studies is appropriate, given their potential to represent diverse journalistic stances on environmental and political matters. However, the abstract could benefit from further clarification in several areas. While it mentions "official speech" as the source of presidential communication, the scope of "President Prabowo's political communication" needs to be more precisely defined. Will it encompass only speeches, or also official statements, social media, or other forms? The interplay between Agenda Setting theory and the critical discourse approach also warrants elaboration; specifically, how the latter will be applied to "see how media perceive the President" and whether it will primarily focus on the media's framing or the president's own discourse. Furthermore, the abstract's pre-emptive assessment of Betahita.id's potential conclusions ("assessed that President Prabowo's narrative on environmental issue is a form of his carelessness towards human rights issues and his partiality with irresponsible corporations") risks introducing a researcher bias or premature findings. It would be more appropriate to present this as a *potential area of inquiry* or *hypothesis* that the research intends to explore rather than a stated fact within the abstract's methodological description. Despite these minor points for refinement, the proposed study holds significant promise. Its contribution lies in shedding light on how political leaders articulate (or conspicuously omit) critical issues like climate change, and how this articulation is subsequently shaped and interpreted by media and public discourse. The research has the potential to offer valuable insights into the dynamics of political communication in emerging economies, the challenges of balancing economic development with environmental sustainability, and the role of media in scrutinizing governmental actions. To strengthen the final paper, it would be beneficial to clearly delineate the specific data sources and timeframes for analysis, as well as to ensure a balanced and empirical approach to analyzing the two media outlets without preconceptions. This study, once completed, should provide a substantial contribution to the fields of political communication, environmental studies, and media studies.

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