Jurnal Profetik
Vol. 18 No. 2 (2025): Vol. 18 No. 2 (2025)

Revisiting the Inverted Pyramid in Online News: kompas.com and theborneopost.com

Fikry Zahria Emeraldien (UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya)
Alexander Choo (Universiti Malaya, Malaysia)
Cindy Melania Fitriani (UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya)
El Haanim Nur Diny (UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya)
Rada Putri Awaliyah (UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Dec 2025

Abstract

The rapid growth of online media has significantly transformed news production and dissemination practices. In the digital era, news is no longer produced exclusively by professional journalists, resulting in increasing variation in newswriting styles and structures. Consequently, many online news articles no longer strictly adhere to the traditional inverted pyramid structure. This study examines the application of the inverted pyramid structure in online news articles published by Kompas.com (Indonesia) and The Borneo Post (Malaysia). Using a quantitative content analysis approach, this research analyzes the structural patterns of hard news and soft news across both media outlets. The findings reveal notable variations in the composition of news structures. While the inverted pyramid model remains generally observable, hard news articles in both media do not fully conform to its classical form. The lead section contains the most essential information in considerable detail, the middle section tends to be relatively brief, and the concluding section still presents substantively relevant content. Similarly, soft news articles demonstrate a more flexible structure, characterized by attention-grabbing leads, less elaborated middle sections, and broader conclusions intended to generate emotional resonance or deeper reflection. These results indicate a shift from a rigid inverted pyramid model toward a more adaptive and reader-oriented structure in contemporary digital journalism.

Copyrights © 2025






Journal Info

Abbrev

profetik

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

Profetik: Jurnal Komunikasi is a peer-reviewed journal, published biannually by Communication Science Department, State Islamic University (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta. It is available online as open access sources and printed. The main focus of the journal is researches in communication studies ...