Abstract
The news media, once thought to be only as a tool of information delivery, has subtly shifted its roles as an agent of (de)constructing thoughts, introducing, or denoting fear especially in appalling news. This raises a question whether the news on the COVID-19 pandemic is only for transmitting news updates on the pandemic condition or agenda-driven. However, research tapping into the imbued messages in language complexity in this context seems minimal. This study aims to uncover the language elements that sign fear in a news text. This research focuses on how fear is imbued in three online English-language newspaper articles in Indonesia published by the Jakarta Post, thereby the rhetoric of fear. The three articles discussed the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia. In this study, CDA is devised to reveal the traces of fear-embedded language choices found in the three online newspaper articles. Researchers used the critical analysis discourse model of Teun A. Van Dijk (1993) and the three elements of discourse (1993): micro, macro, and superstructure. Findings indicated that there were common uses of euphemism, dysphemism, and orthophemism to refine the language being conveyed. This study classified euphemism into five objectives: (1) evasive maneuver to prevent mass panic; (2) speech refinement to soften offence, insults, and/ or other language expressions that may result to humiliation; (3) diplomacy tool; (4) language replacement for taboo or vulgar language choices or those endowed with negative connotation (5) tool for satire, sarcasm and subtle criticism. This study also revealed some linguistic decisions, such as lexicon choices and strategies on sentence construction, subtly evident not only to impose fear, but at the same time to dispose it. Researchers hope that this study may assist the readers in pinpointing subtleties in author’s tone and tendency.
Highlights
The world is in an uproar with the spread of the new virus named Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) that occurs in many countries in various parts of the world
Journalists use the words "despite the country being one of the last in the region to confirm the existence of COVID-19 in its territory," which uses these words more subtle than using the word "Indonesia is less responsive in tracking the presence of coronavirus in its territory." This language style is the language strategy used by The Jakarta Post in delivering news so that readers accept the news as well as attempt to avoid explicitly offensive statements
This study shows that mass media, including the Jakarta Post Online Newspaper, are sources of public information
Summary
The world is in an uproar with the spread of the new virus named Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) that occurs in many countries in various parts of the world. Vatsa & Kumar (2005) confirm that information in the media has the potential to shape a person's personality and the way he sees the world It is not anecdotal when there was a high number of reports about the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the health, economic, and social aspects of the people. That kind of news created a mass panic where people were anxious about running out of food supplies, medicines, and other needs, which at one point they were in competition to buy medical-grade masks, for instance This yielded a serious imbalance between the supply and demand it drove the masks’ prices sky high and left the paramedics, those who are front and center in combating this virus, vulnerable
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
