The Pillar of the Press amid a Flood of Information

KOMPAS/SUPRIYANTO

Supriyanto

Repeatedly, one after another, links to news, photos, videos and images flood our gadgets in ways we cannot control. Sometimes they inspire; frequently they drain our energy.

This flood of information has taken place for a long time, but not many care. Some call it the phenomenon of information overload, infobesity or information explosion. Slowly, we are being swept away. With time, the flood is getting higher, like a tsunami. Without finding a solid pillar to hold on to, we will be engulphed, drowning.

The information communication technology revolution that gave birth to social media and short message applications is one of the causes. This new media enables all users to produce their own content, make it public by themselves and actively disseminate it.

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The technology industry giants are creating these platforms in a sophisticated manner. They are designed using well-known psychology and combine it with artificial intelligence. Anyone can fall into the habit of using these platforms and could even become addicted.

The presence of the new media, on the one hand, makes it easier for anyone to create information, creating what has been called the information era. On the other hand, it makes it easier for people to spread misleading information. The information era has transformed into an era of disinformation.

The massive spread of fake news, hate speech, discrimination, bullying, harassment of marginalized groups, fraud, trolling (provoking anger), doxing (spreading personal data online to damage someone\'s reputation), prostitution solicitation, radicalism and terrorism is included on the blacklist.

At the same time, without the users\' full knowledge, technology companies are also secretly siphoning off personal data and users’ behavior. Instead of making social media a means of social interaction, platform providers monetize the data of their users and make them their products, namely marketing targets.

The content is no longer spread organically but programmatically, according to orders. This applies not only to the marketing of goods but also to political campaigns. Organic and robotic accounts are mixed up. The same is true with original and engineered content. It is difficult for the public to find the truth.

Repeated exposure and constant bombardment are increasingly blurring the line between right and wrong. Several studies have shown that people will have maximum confidence in an idea after it is repeated three to five times (Brinol, 2008). Imagine when a lie is repeated on social media and spread by robots as if it is happening naturally. The extent of its infusion will be huge.

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The people of the United States were deceived by it. They only recently realized that the social media accounts that spread millions of political messages in the 2016 US election were robotic accounts that were computational propaganda, as Agus Sudibyo wrote in his book Tarung Digital (Digital Fight).

Realizing the extraordinary impact, a number of executives in the technology industry got restless and finally opened their mouths. A documentary called The Social Dillema recorded their confessions. They were aware that the technology they had created was like a coin. It had two different sides, and if used differently, it could have big consequences, ranging from disrupting individual mental health to polarization that threatened the integrity of the country.

However, nasi telah menjadi bubur (an idiomatic expression meaning “what is done cannot be undone”). Even during the pandemic, a disinfodemic continues to spread. Even though COVID-19 has infected 181 million people and caused 3.9 million people to die, there are still many netizens who have been subject to hoaxes so they believe COVID-19 does not exist or is a conspiracy.

Press pillar

Gordon B Davis in Management Information Systems: Conceptual Foundations, Structure and Development noted that information was actually data that had been processed into a form that could be understood by and useful to recipients in making decisions now and in the future.

The development of healthy information must be supported by five elements of healthy communication, namely communicators, messages, communication media, communicants and feedback. However, in the era of the information technology revolution, the elements of communication media need a lot of attention.

In facing the global technology industry, a state must be in the front. The state, for example, must put more demands on the platform industry, as many countries are now trying to do. Technology companies must be legally responsible for the large volume of misinformation and disinformation that is delivered to such a large number of users. With that responsibility, they will continue to narrow the entry and spread of unclear information, giving more space for clear information.

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In addition, digital literacy needs to be intensified to educate communicants. Digital data in 2021 shows that Indonesian netizens have not paid attention to misinformation and fake news. Humans, as homo sapiens, as world historian Yuval Noah Harari puts it, are a post-truth species, whose power depends on creation and belief in fiction. Without ethical guidelines and strict methodological controls, humans tend to accept information only according to their beliefs.

Strengthening the press as a vehicle for mass communication, which is really dedicated to carrying out journalistic activities, which includes seeking, obtaining, selecting, verifying, processing and conveying information to the public based on a strict methodology and code of ethics in order to overcome the subjectivity of the producers, is a necessity. Various problems that have become extraordinarily complex can be described comprehensively and objectively.

The fact that the expectations of the world\'s citizens for trusted media are rising again provides a moment for the press to self-reflect and improve. At the age of 56, Kompas, together with other press institutions, is determined to continue to develop its journalistic work so that it can be a firm pillar, a guide for public in dealing with the flood of information. Prayers, blessings and community support mean a lot to us.

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.