The first fact, UNESCO mentions that Indonesia ranks second from the bottom in terms of world literacy, meaning that Indonesian reading interest is very low. According to UNESCO data, the reading interest of the Indonesian is very concerning only 0.001%. That is, out of 1,000 Indonesians only 1 person is avid reader!
A different research entitled World’s Most Literate Nations Ranked conducted by Central Connecticut State University in March 2016, Indonesia was stated to be ranked 60th out of 61 countries regarding reading interest, below Thailand (59) and above Botswana (61). In fact, in terms of infrastructure assessment to support reading, Indonesia’s ranking is above European countries.
The second fact is that 60 million Indonesians have gadgets, or fifth in the world’s most gadget ownership. The digital marketing research institute Emarketer estimates that in 2018 the number of active smartphone users in Indonesia is more than 100 million people. With such a large number, Indonesia will become the country with the fourth largest active smartphone users in the world after China, India and America.
Ironically, although interest in reading books is low, wearesocial data as of January 2017 reveals that Indonesians can stare at gadget screens for approximately 9 hours a day. Not surprisingly, in terms of fussiness on social media Indonesians are ranked 5th in the world. Champion. Jakarta is the most chatty city in cyberspace because throughout the day, the chirping activity of the Twitter account which is domiciled in the Indonesian capital, is more dense than Tokyo and New York. This report is based on research by Semiocast, an independent institution in Paris.
One of the amazing things, Jakartans are recorded as the most chatty of all kinds of things on Twitter, more than 10 million tweets every day. In second place in the world ranking of the most active cities on Twitter is Tokyo. Following under the Land of Sakura, there are Twitter colors in London, New York and Sao Paulo who also like to share stories. Bandung also entered the ranks of the most active cities on Twitter at position six. Thus, Indonesia has a record of two cities included in the research list.
Just imagine, minimalist science, lazy to read books, but really like staring at gadget screens for hours, plus the most chatty on social media too. Don’t be surprised if Indonesia becomes an easy target for provocations, hoaxes, and slander. The speed of the finger to instantly like and share even exceeds the speed of his brain. Even though the information is not necessarily true, it is a provocation and divides the Republic of Indonesia.
Through gadgets, there is a lot of factual information circulating. Unfortunately the information they get is also not from reliable media, but from social media which is more filled with opinions, not facts. On the contrary, they even believe in fake news portals and accounts that spread hoaxes.
The Reuters Institute said that the biggest gap today is about public trust in fake news media versus valid media. The fact is that this is the case, measured through Alexa.com, some fake news media can even beat mainstream media such as Antaranews and Tempo.co.
Yes, welcome to the Post-Truth Era! Post-Truth is defined as ‘relating to or referring to a situation in which objective facts are less influential in the formation of public opinion than personal emotions and beliefs. In the Post-Truth era, people are no longer looking for truth and facts but for affirmation and confirmation and support for their beliefs.
Indeed, there are now many opinion sites that are biased, offensive, and tendentious to one group, they can capture the hearts and feelings of readers with the story-telling they make. The truth becomes unimportant.
Moreover, the credibility of the name of the media is no longer seen by our people who are lazy to read and talkative earlier. When the mainstream media actually contradicts the facts with the opinion media, the public actually turns to distrust of the big named media. So what is disturbing is not only social media containing hoaxes but also fake news media that spread polarized opinions.
SO WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?
There is an effective way, namely by building media literacy and bridging the polarization. Kominfo must be firm in labeling sites/articles as hoaxes with clear criteria and procedures. In addition, we must also carry out credible counter-narratives against hoaxes/misleading opinions.
The paradigm that people who criticize the government as haters must also be changed. Engagement on social media should be more nurturing, not fighting. @_TNIAU can be a role model for government communication patterns that protect social media. Finally, the public needs an independent entity to conduct cross-checks to find, report or ask questions about possible hoax information.
For the last paragraph above, during the 3rd Indonesian PR Jamboree (Jampiro) in Yogyakarta yesterday, Suharjo Nugroho tried to elaborate on the idea. In the opening session of Jampiro, after listening to Mas Arif Zulkifli’s explanation, the Tempo Editor on how to process credible editorial work in mainstream media versus making fake news or hoaxes, Pak Ahmad Heryawan alias Pak Aher, the Governor of West Java regarding Tabayun Journalism and Bu Niken Widiastuti, Director General of IKP Kemkominfo regarding how the government has tried hard to turn off the portal and hoax accounts, Suharjo who was the last speaker tried to summarize these great speakers with an initiation of the #KROSCEK project.
#KROSCEK is a collaborative project between PR Indonesia and Indonesian Journalists supported by the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information.
Adopting Tabayun Pak Aher’s journalism concept, #KROSCEK also has a number of Tabayyun pillars, namely ‘shidiq’, defenders and enforcers of truth. This means that #KROSCEK must take sides and defend the truth. Then Amanah, which means trustworthy. We must inform the news or actual events. Of course not to forget is Fathonah, which means intelligent and broad-minded.
Through #KROSCEK, the public can submit reports or questions about possible hoaxes from news sites and social media. Then in this portal there are also scientific studies from the academic world, PR practitioners and community organizations to maintain independence and trust. Journalists from national and local media can join as volunteers to conduct cross-checks by sharing resources, experiences, and resource persons.
The results of the information reports that have been confirmed in #KROSCEK by the stakeholders can eventually be used by journalists as credible news sources in their respective media. So that journalist friends no longer use Lambe Turah as a source of news.
Source https://www.kominfo.go.id/content/detail/10862/technology- community-indonesia-malas-baca-tapi-cerewet-di-medsos/0/sorotan_media
