A Number of Experiments Assessed Decrease of Faith on Journalistic Works

INDUSTRY.co.id - Seoul - Times may change, technology may develop more sophisticated, but the future of media companies is still determined by how much honor the editorial space brings to various gold law and principles of journalism.

Academics and media practitioners in various parts of the world recognize that the level of public confidence in journalistic work in general has decreased.

Ironically, the decline of trust in journalistic work seems to be also triggered by the rapid development of information and communication technology. Not a few media companies are vying to be the first to preach. Unfortunately, it is often done without regard to other fundamental things, including the question of truth and the usefulness of journalistic work.

As soon as the conclusion of the General Chairman of the United Media Siber Indonesia (SMSI) Teguh Santosa after a conference on the future of news and media organized Korean Press Foundation (KPF) in Seoul, South Korea, for two days, 12 and 13 November 2017.

The first ever KPF conference was attended by no less than 100 participants from dozens of countries, and involved 17 speakers from academic and media practitioners and platform companies such as Google and Naver. The main theme of the conference is Future of News Media: Platform, Trust, and Innovation. The conference was opened by South Korean Prime Minister Le Nak-yeon.

"There is a kind of journalism crisis that begins with the view that being first in proclaiming is better than preaching the truth, and attracting more attention than getting trust," said Teguh Santosa in a statement sent from Seoul on Wednesday (14/11).

This view gave birth to low quality journalistic work, followed by public distrust of media organizations. The impact is a decrease in the number of audiences or readers, followed by the destruction of the business side because the business world also did not trust the media company, which was forced followed by a reduction in the number of journalists.

"Despite the emphasis on the importance of platforms and innovation in the face of increasingly fierce media competition, all speakers from media, academic and ICT industry practitioners agree that professional journalistic content or work remains the main thing that determines the future of the mass media." said Teguh again.

"The use of platform and innovation should not be out of the line of respect for the law and the gold principle of journalism, but there is a belief that the use of platform and invasion is necessary to maintain the quality of journalistic work," Teguh said.

One of the speakers at the conference, Asia's Director of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra) Gilles Demptos, said that the development of digital media created waves of disruption that undermined respect for journalistic principles and laws.

The news of hoax, hate speech and misdirection of information became a seemingly ubiquitous phenomenon. Doubt against digital media is getting bigger day.

The main task of cyber-media managers, according to Demptos, is to maintain credibility in the midst of competition by not ignoring the principles of truth and while maintaining the trust of readers.