Media Framing of Student Violence Against Teachers in Indonesia: Criminalization of Discipline and Erosion of Pedagogical Authority

Abstract

Student violence against teachers in Indonesia has emerged as a documented institutional concern, yet the role of media framing in actively constructing public understanding of these incidents remains underexplored. This study examines how detikNews, Indonesia’s most widely accessed news portal, frames student violence against teachers across 14 high-profile cases (2017–2025). Each case was systematically coded using Entman’s (1993) four framing functions — problem definition, causal attribution, moral evaluation, and treatment recommendation — to identify recurring narrative patterns. Three dominant master frames were identified: Criminalization of Pedagogical Discipline, in which routine disciplinary acts are constructed as criminal rights violations; Symbolic Violence and the Viral Motive, in which classroom confrontations are staged for digital audiences; and Fatal and Collective Aggression, in which lethal and mob-based violence is framed as institutional crisis. Across all three frames, coverage consistently displaces school conflict into the legal-criminal domain and supplies justification scripts — including denial of the teacher’s victim status — that reduce perpetrator accountability. These findings call for pedagogical journalism guidelines in media reporting and Lex Specialis legal protections for educators in Indonesian education policy.