Communications expert from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM,) Dr. Ana Nadhya Abrar., MES., hoped that journalists would not get trapped in the routine. They are expected to be able to select matters that correspond to the interests of journalists, media and the wider public.
Abrar has the opinion that when carrying out their tasks, journalists should equip themselves with analytical abilities. Even more so that current phenomena showed that many resource persons were making lies.
"Recently, we have seen that many resource persons like to manipulate, making use of an event for their own interest. If this is taken for granted by journalists, the readers are at loss. So, journalists should be prudent, able to select which one is news worthy or not," he said at Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM on Tuesday (9/2) in response to the National Press Day on 9 February.
For Abrar, the news of the conflict between businessman Hary Tanoesudibyo and Chief Justice, for example, is not news worthy. In his opinion, this gives forum for Hary Tanoe to become famous even more.
"People might think that this person dares to challenge the Chief Justice, but actually, this news is not interesting. It will be much more interesting if the media cover the gold mining of Freeport or amendments to the Anti-Corruption Law, for example,” he said.
So is the case of Wayan Mirna who died after drinking a coffee in a public space, which continues to be reported by the media. It seems that the media have no other news worthy reporting. Therefore, journalists should not run here and there in making stories and interpreting the job they are doing.
"Journalists should refrain from not giving a thought, just working for fun, getting a coverage and their media getting more popular,” he said.
For that matter, in conjunction with the National Press Day, journalists should make self-introspection. They had better ponder whether what they have been doing is right or wrong. If necessary, journalists need to take a journalism training.
"Yes, they need to re-charge themselves as they have to make something new,” said the Communications lecturer of the Faculty. Despite the presence of agencies that give awards to journalists, according to Abrar, this is still inadequate. Journalists are still faced with a homework in terms of share ownership as much as 20% from the media where they are working.