Abstract
The media significantly shapes social realities and engenders development through reporting. This study examines how Punch onlinenews reports construct the relationship between human and natural environment. Using Stibbe’s (2015) ecolinguistics framework, two Punch onlinenews reports were purposively selected. The analysis focuses on Stibbe’s concepts of “Stories We Live by” which underscores how ideologies, identity construction, and framing can reinforce destructive or beneficial environmental practices through discourse. Findings show two contrasting ecological representations through anthropocentric, technocentric and ecocentric ideologies. One report constructs a beneficial story that represents humans as agents of environmental restoration through collective action and sustainability. On the contrary, the second report portrays a destructive story that represents humans as victims of environmental calamities. As such, it omits human factors such as deforestation, industrial activities, poor urban and regional planning and waste mismanagement. The two reports erase these human induced causes of environmental degradation and foregrounds majorly humanitarian needs and disaster management. The study concludes that Punch online newspaper prioritises humanitarian framing over ecological accountability. Thus, it produces narratives that limit environmental consciousness. It is recommended that media institutions should adopt reports that are ecologically informed to project environmental preservation, human responsibility and sustainable coexistence with the natural environment.
Keywords: Ecolinguistics, Stories We Live by, News Report, Punch
