Last Updated: 3 months ago
By: Koesworo Setiawan, S.Sos., M.I.K
Lecturer, Communication Science Study Program,
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Djuanda
The digital era has become an apocalypse for the media. That was a prediction made by media practitioners more than two decades ago. Back when print media was still powerful, pessimism had already emerged: print journalism was walking toward the gallows. Over the past 15 years or so, that prophecy has begun to come true.
Hmmmm… sounds pretty scary, doesn’t it? Before things get too serious, take a sip of your hot coffee first, pakde….
But it’s true. In less than the past decade, print media has run out of breath. One by one, they have collapsed—abroad and at home. In fact, the challenges facing print media had appeared long before that.
The first challenge arrived when private television stations began operating in the late 1980s. Television appeared vibrant, became a public reference, and warmed relationships in family living rooms. Television broadcasts even “intervened” in print media editorial meetings. Coverage by television journalists became the main reference for lead stories in weekly news magazines.
Newspapers were no less troubled. Editors agreed to make print media more colorful. Front pages gave wider space to photos and graphics. Newspapers also adapted to the fast-paced urban middle class. Generation X and millennials will surely remember when newspapers transformed from nine columns to seven. Some even appeared in a more compact tabloid format. One leading Indonesian newspaper even published both morning and afternoon editions. Still, the magnet of television was simply too strong.
The arrival of digital technology was like a tsunami for media—both print and electronic, such as television. The internet was not only a form of euthanasia for print media; it also eroded the elan vital of the media itself.
This is getting more serious now. Take another sip of your coffee, pakde… let’s continue.
The internet truly shifted the media production paradigm from media-centered to audience-centered. Television now submits to dramatic, spontaneous, authentic, and natural content from the public. Through mobile phone cameras or CCTV, compelling footage is created every day and is abundantly available. Television becomes a scavenger—re-editing, adding musical illustrations, and reselling the content to audiences. Not much different from a clipping service.
Newspapers have lost their direction. Citizen journalists work not only faster, but also report from the remotest corners of the country—resources that even news websites often do not possess.
Along with this, the character of the media has become mechanical and opportunistic. Mainstream media claim to act as clearing houses. In reality, however, broadcasts lacking educational value and devoid of deliberation parade endlessly across OLED screens. Print outlets and news sites choose the safe path, because by “making more friends,” cash flow runs more smoothly.
They remain steadfast in an informational function while burying critical—let alone investigative—attitudes. The function of checks and balances is almost entirely absent. The advice of Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, that journalism serves democracy, has become nothing more than worn-out words. Instead of being a critical force, the media has turned into the main sponsor of populism. Media outlets cheer as gimmick-laden candidates crawl into sewers or stage walkabouts in traditional markets.
This phenomenon is easy to understand because the media is a screw in the industrial machine. Conglomerated ownership of capital makes the media reluctant to roar. They hesitate to disturb injustice—especially when that injustice lies within their own conglomerates, or when those conglomerates are cozy with power.
Ideological erosion and digital technological innovation pose very serious challenges to the weakening of freedom of speech and expression. These two factors operate far more systematically than physical violence against journalists.
With the illustration above, it is worth reflecting once again on the theme “A Healthy Press, a Sovereign Economy, a Strong Nation” in today’s commemoration of National Press Day (HPN).