THE REPRESENTATION OF ISRAELI SOCIAL ACTORS IN REPUBLIKA’S ONLINE MEDIA: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS BASED ON THEO VAN LEEUWEN’S MODEL

Abstract

This research examines the representation of social actors in the news coverage of the Israel-Iran war in the online media outlet Republika during June 2025. This study aims to describe the social actors of Israel in the news using the social actor representation approach, the critical discourse analysis model by Theo van Leeuwen. A qualitative, descriptive method was used in this research. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method. The qualitative approach serves to comprehensively and contextually understand and describe the representations of social actors in news coverage of the war between Israel and Iran in the online media outlet Republika. Meanwhile, the descriptive approach, through linguistic analysis of the textual discourse, is used to explain the types or forms of social actor representations based on Theo van Leeuwen’s theory. The data source for this study is news text regarding the war between Israel and Iran in the online media outlet Republika. Data collection in this study used the literature review method, namely, data obtained from written sources. The collected data was then coded, such as source, author, etc. Data validity was tested through data triangulation using relevant document studies related to lexical choices and the representation of social actors. The research results show that the online media Republika explicitly reports on Israeli social actors such as the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli officials by representing them more thoroughly through inclusion strategies such as Determination-Indetermination, Nomination-Identification, Nomination-Categorization, Objectivation-Abstraction, Differentiation-Indifferentiation, and Assimilation-Individualization, so that readers clearly understand what these actors are doing. These findings highlight the important role of the media in conveying information and reproducing reality for readers.