Media Framing Analysis of Pertamina’s Official Press Conference on the Adulterated Fuel Issue During Pre-Crisis, Crisis, and Post-Crisis Phases

Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Pelita Harapan University, 15811, Indonesia

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Abstract

In early 2025, the transition from Pertalite to Pertamax coincided with a corruption case in Pertamina’s oil governance, triggering a national reputation crisis. The media played a crucial role in shaping public perception of Pertamina’s crisis communication response. This study analyzes how detikFinance and Kompas.com frame Pertamina’s official press conference across the pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis phases. Using a descriptive qualitative approach and Pan & Kosicki’s framing model (syntactic, script, thematic, and rhetorical structures), six news articles published between February 25 and March 8, 2025, were examined in depth. The findings show a clear contrast in framing. detikFinance emphasizes technical clarification, institutional diction, and explanations of internal processes and supervision. Kompas.com highlights legislative pressure, public concerns, and rhetorical cues that strengthen critical narratives and allegations of fraud. These distinctions reflect each outlet’s editorial orientation and specific audience segmentation. The study confirms that media framing is not neutral; it shapes crisis perception through fact selection, narrative structure, and stylistic choices. The findings enrich crisis communication and media framing studies and underscore the importance of transparent, strategic, and empathetic public relations to maintain stronger public trust during complex crises.