The Press Lives in the Disruption Era

Kompas/Totok Wijayanto

Residents take turns to take photographs with a landscape photo of Maluku in the background at the National Press Day (HPN) exhibition and Maluku Expo 2017 at Merdeka Square, Ambon, Maluku, Wednesday (8/2). HPN 2017 falls today and is being centered in Ambon City with President Joko Widodo in attendance.

Perhaps the press can bear witness to this current turbulent era. The press can repeat the expression "O tempora, o mores!” ”Oh the times! Oh the customs!"

In general, Cicero\'s expression means, "This is really bad!" From era to era, we have watched the relentless struggle of the press witnessing the ups and downs of politics, the economy, social affairs, science and technology, sporting achievements and the various human fortunes and misfortunes.

In reality, the press does not stand in a vacuum. It exists on a platform. Historically, the press was born and eventually reached victory on the print platform, then electronic -- radio and television – while the latest is online/digital media. Initially there appear to be issues, digital media will outdo print media, so that there are prophecies of doom from conventional media as Philip Meyer wrote in the book The Vanishing Newspaper (2006).

Concussion, chaos, or the first disruption -- while the symptoms are strengthening with falling interest in reading newspapers – these are still viewed with ambiguity by conventional media conservationists. However, in line with this, the second disruption, which is no less powerful in shaking the media establishment and that of the press in general. The trigger is none other than social media, which has revolutionized the manner and nature in which people get information.

Initially, people watch the scientific debate, for example, about the status of bloggers, whether they can be classified as journalists or not; the impact of peer-to-peer journalism, from journalists directly to the audience without going through editors, without the control of chief editors and also sometimes without mainstream media. It is revolutionary; disclaiming the organic reliability of conventional media.

Now, the uproar is about hoaxes, or baseless information. The cacophony related to spreading hoaxes, which have dangerous potential, can start from someone’s torture up to the nation’s division. Amidst this severe disruption, the Indonesian press is still struggling to look closely at itself in the mirror. Often still stumbling. Of approximately 80,000 journalists in Indonesia, for example, only 10 percent are certified.

In 2010, the Palembang Chapter was born with the mandate that the Indonesian press should respect the code of ethics, promote the health of press companies, protect journalists and implement journalistic competency tests. We can direct Cicero\'s expression above to the current Indonesian press. Instead of moving forward, what we need to question is results. Has the enforcement of the code of ethics improved? Is the condition of press companies increasingly healthy?

The Press Council, as the protector of the national press, is trying to uphold professionalism by issuing a list of verified media. This is still a fraction of the overall existing media. Work is still ongoing.