DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF ELITE CONFLICT: ANALYSIS OF ACTOR REPRESENTATION, RELATIONS, AND IDENTITY IN KOMPAS NEWS

Abstract

Focusing on the representation of actors, power relations, and identity, this research analyzes the construction of elite conflict discourse in online media coverage. This study investigates how language is used to depict the internal conflict of the Golkar Party in Kompas media. This method uses Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis model. This research was conducted qualitatively by examining aspects of social practice, discursive practice, and text. The data comes from news coverage of the Golkar elite conflict from 2019 to 2024, which was analyzed using diction choices, framing, and narrative structure. According to the research findings, the mechanisms of legitimization and delegitimization shape the representation of actors ambivalently. The identities of actors and institutions develop dynamically and are not singular, showing dependence on power structures. Conversely, power relations are built asymmetrically and president-centric, placing elites as dominant actors. The results show that the media helps reproduce power hegemony in the political system by normalizing elite conflicts as something natural and recurring. The discursive model provided by this research integrates representation, relations, and identity in the analysis of elite conflict.