Silver Lining of Digital Disruption

FOTO-FOTO: KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Ashadi Siregar

What goal is to be pursued in 2023? From the perspective of the Kompas Ombudsman, it is inevitable that the editorial team will always orient its work towards the public interest. In the pragmatic sense, the public interest lies in gathering information that is relevant to them.

Kompas’ upholds thisorientation, in which information is conveyed based on truth and objectivity, and the audience ideally finds inspiration for their social lives and humanity. Thus, there is still a sociological relationship between the public and Kompas. Entering 2023, the editorial office of course already has an agenda to serve the public with quality content.

‘Sin’ of paper

Rumors are spreading that several newspapers are shutting down. The death of media companies, both newspapers and broadcasters, is generally due to weak capitalization, lack of consumers and low sources of commercial advertising. And specifically for print media, paper carries heavy operational costs.

The limitations of the Kompas daily newspaper should be viewed with respect to ecological considerations, bearing in mind that newsprint comes from forests. Now, industrial forest plantations (HTI) can become pulp producers. However, monoculture industrial forest plantations are expanding and exploiting the forestry industry through deforestation, and this cannot completely replace natural forests in the context of global warming.

Natural forests are the lungs of the planet and an inheritance from the past that must be protected as a moral obligation by humans today. Therefore, efforts to increase the number of newsprint pages due to abundant content and advertisements, as well as increasing newspapercirculation as a marketing tool, present a dilemma. On the one hand, there are expectations for it, but on the other, it contradicts efforts to minimize deforestation.

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The best option for publishing newspapers is to use newsprint proportionally. This means calculating the number of pages and volume of print circulation economically, placing newspaper subscribers as the base and expanding digital subscribers. The public should also be aware that paper is expensive and that using it is inherently a “sin”.

The advances in digital technology in Industry 4.0 are seen as a disrupting conventional media. Newspapers and magazines have fallen. However, there is a silver lining to this disruption, namely in the rise of opportunities for print media to present themselves as a business platform that addresses concerns with a paperless lifestyle.

KOMPAS/AGNES THEODORA WOLKH WAGUNU

Kompas Daily has passed the age of 57 on Tuesday (28/6/2022). As one of the oldest national media, Kompas records various moments in the 77 year journey of the Republic of Indonesia.

Selective content

The Kompas daily has been advised to stick with its approach at the present time, despite the wide open market for marketing Kompas newspapers. The work process for content that is limited to newsprint has been overcome by publishing an e-paper version of the newspaper with supplementary pages. The limit on the number of supplementary pages depends on the technical processes for design and editorial content.

Furthermore, all content produced can also be viewed on Kompas.id, which is arguably limitless in terms of capacity. Of course, all this cannot be separated from public support. Consumers can subscribe to the Kompas newspaper and automatically gain access to the digital version. There is also the option of simply subscribing to Kompas’digital content.

Economically, public support can be viewed as a parameter of empirical interaction with the public. Meanwhile, paid digital marketing requires constant campaigning about integrating Kompas media. Here, it is necessary to develop literacy in reading content on linked media ecosystems: printed newspapers, e-paper supplements and Kompas.id.

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The Kompas daily should be seen as a prima donna. The choices of printed content are also subject to strict criteria. It is a universal tradition to print newspapers with pages formatted in columns, where information is used as banner headlines and the front page is loaded with a dominant and attractive visual layout.

This also goes for the placement of categorical rubrics on each page. These traditions will fade as newspapers die, unless e-papers emerge that retain the traditional visuals of a newspaper.

News banners typically convey events or phenomena deemed significant to the public. In the journalistic tradition, they reflect the editorial team’s sincerity in relaying information to its audience.

For this reason, the editorial team needs to set clear standards for content published in each Kompas media, comprising newspapers, e-paper supplements and Kompas.id.

Doing so can be said to increase the reliability of search engine results page (SERP) technology in surfing Kompas’ digital space.

Thus, Kompas subscribers can identify the differences and similarities between them, so that opening a newspaper or accessing the e-paper and other Kompas digital content will be more focused and efficient in meeting the subjective interests of the public. TheKompas Ombudsman hopes that in future, there will be a stronger public consensus in terms of the economic and sociological relationship of the media with Kompas.

Ashadi Siregar (chairman, Kompas Ombudsman)

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This article was translated by Kesya Adhalia.