The Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

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Public Participation through Citizen Journalism in Newspaper (Case study in Local Newspaper “Suara Merdeka”) Ririn Risnawati*1 Sri Syamsiyah Lestari Sjafiie*2 0112 *1Respati University of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, *2Suara Merdeka Newspaper, Indonesia The Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2012 Official Conference Proceedings 2012 Abstracts Media mainstream such as newspapers often give the news in one direction. Newspapers’ readers just received news that has been presented to them. Actually they have events and opinions that they want to share to other people. Understanding the needs of public to share, ”Suara Merdeka” as a local newspaper, gives the opportunity for public. Every Monday, there is a special page called Tilik Kampung that gives an opportunity for people to write their own news. This page is like a citizen journalism page. In addition there are some rubrics that provide opportunities for citizens to write, such as Short Message Service (SMS) by mobile phone. Through this citizen journalism, newspaper will be a public sphere for the community as proposed by Jurgen Habermas. In addition there are many voices and choices have described in Dan Gilmor’s book, “We the Media.” Nevertheless, the writing will be chosen and selected by the editor. Suara Merdeka is the largest newspaper in Central Java Province Indonesia with a circulation of more than 100 thousand copies per day. Tilik Kampung has been running a few months and the result is quite a lot of posts from people who come to fill the page. In this way will be greater public participation from the readers. Keyword: Citizen Journalism, Tilik Kampung, Community (public) Participation

iafor The International Academic Forum www.iafor.org

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The Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

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Background Most newspapers provide only news stories that were collected and written by their journalists or reporters. Such information or messages are delivered in one-way process from media to audience. However, on the other side, there are actually many people who are eager to share information they have through media, in this case, newspaper. Lack of interaction between media and audience makes newspaper lose opportunity to gain more advantage in the era of rapid-growing information technology for the time being. Newspaper as printed media is left a step behind by electronic and online media. Television and cyber media gives broader space to interact with the audience. As a matter of fact, the audience or readers of newspaper have their own information, whether it is news, pictures, photos, or videos. They actually would like to share their information to others to solve their problems or just to disclose any inspiring ideas. One of indicators that show the desire to share is overwhelming amount of short message service (SMS) which was sent to newspaper. Suara Merdeka, the biggest daily newspaper in Central Java, Indonesia, has such a rubric to accommodate SMS sent from its readers. Citizens write many things such as road construction, soccer games, or any other occasions. After observing that phenomenon, we perceive that people have strong desire to share information, discuss, or disclose many things to others to find solution. People can only write limited words in every single SMS so they can’t tell their stories comprehensively. That reason inspired the daily newspaper to formulate new concept which is asking people to write their stories completely. About a decade before, there was a new paradigm so called citizen journalism. In this paradigm, people do not only receive news stories written by journalists but also write their own stories. Citizens are not merely as an object but become a subject in the process of news reporting as well. Society or people who have activities that were missed by journalists will write those activities on their own and send them to the newspaper media. The concept will make the relation between printed media and its readers more interactive. The readers will also have sense of belonging to the media if they get involved in the process of providing news. Realizing the interactive concept, Suara Merdeka made a breakthrough by dedicating one full page to the public to write their news stories. The title of this page is “Tilik Kampung” and it’s published every Monday. This page is only one example of pages that give space to the public to participate. Desiring to participate actively in writing news, faces an opinion that “only journalists can write news stories because they have certain standards of skill to collect and compose news” sometimes. Some studies carried out by students on “Tilik Kampung” page show that society really needs such an interactive page. However, this paper wants to emphasize public participation as an implementation of citizen journalism. Problems This kind of public participation becomes the center of attention in this research. What made members of society or common people send their stories to the newspaper without hoping any honorarium? Is there difference between journalists and common people in writing news stories? How do people participate in citizen journalism through “Tilik Kampung” in Suara Merdeka?

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Theory Citizen jurnalism emerged in early 2000s and was developed to accommodate people who wanted to share what they’re witnessing and experiencing, as Dan Gillmor said in We the Media: “ We were witnessing-and in many cases we were part of-the future news.” People not only play the role as news consumers but also as news producers. “Some grassroots journalism will become professionals. In the end, we’ll have more voices and more options,” said Gillmor.(Gillmor, 2004) According to D Lasica in Online Journalism Review (2003), there are several forms of participatory journalism, among others are: 1. Audience participation, such as comments on news stories, private blogs, photos or videos recorded by mobile phone camera, and local information written by a community. 2. Independent news and information which are published in website 3. Letters from the readers. Some newspapers give the readers a space to deliver their comments on the news stories 4. Soft notes in mailing list or email 5. Private video broadcasting sites. Based on those types which are described above; citizen journalism can be delivered by the community such as news or photos which describe the activities nearby. The concept of “public sphere” from Jurgen Habermas explained that mass media support the idea of ‘sphere’ as open space and forum for the audiences or the readers to share their opinion (McQuail, 2011). Suara Merdeka as the local newspaper on this research gives opportunity to the readers to write, share and send their opinion and activities. The Mathematical Theory of Communication from Shannon and Weaver (Saverin&Tankard, 2011) or the Information Theory, explains about how the information can be choosen, produced and sent. This theory can be applied in this research because the newspaper’s editor and the readers, both of them, have their function to edit and to send the information which can be share as the news. Method This is a qualitative research using case study method with descriptive approach (Yin, 2012). This kind of method is applied because this research takes only one daily newspaper in certain period of time (a month, July, 2012). The researchers use only one of six community editions in Suara Merdeka; Semarang Metro, as the unit of analysis from this case study research. This research describes public participation which is expected to be huge, due to the biggest circulation of Suara Merdeka in this city and towns surrounding. The idea that looking at something from multiple points of view improves accuracy, called Triangulation (Neuman, 2006). This is applied to keep the research valid and reliable. Data validity in qualitative research shows how accurate the data were gained. And the interviews were also carried out with the key informan and informans who are in charge in the media (Editor-in-chief and editors of Semarang Metro) and the audience or contributors of “Tilik Kampung”; are the part of the triangulation data collection for this research.

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Description of Location This research or paper took place at Suara Merdeka which is located on Jalan Raya Kaligawe Km 5 Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. The daily newspaper was published for the first time on February 11, 1950 and now has more than 100.000 copies of circulation a day, with taking middle-class in Central Java as the segment orientation. Central Java has 35 regencies/municipalities but Suara Merdeka uses psychographic approach to divide the province into 6 community editions as followed: 1. Semarang Metro: covering Kota Semarang, Kabupaten Semarang, Kabupaten Salatiga, Demak, Kendal, Grobogan. 2. Solo Metro: Kota Surakarta, Kabupaten Sukoharjo, Karanganyar, Sragen, Wonogiri, Klaten, Boyolali. 3. Suara Pantura: Kota Pekalongan, Kabupaten Pekalongan, Kota Tegal, Kabupaten Tegal, Brebes, Batang, Pemalang. 4. Suara Muria: Kudus, Pati, Jepara, Blora, Rembang. 5. Suara Banyumas: Banyumas, Banjarnegara, Purbalingga, Cilacap. 6. Suara Kedu: Kota Magelang, Kabupaten Magelang, Wonosobo, Kebumen, Temanggung, Purworejo dan Provinsi DI Yogyakarta. “Tilik Kampung” is a special page dedicated in each community edition and published for first time in February, 2012. According to H Amir Machmud SH MH, Editor-in-chief of Suara Merdeka, “Tilik Kampung” was chosen as the name because of originality of the public report in various kinds of stories without segment limitation. The readers of “Tilik Kampung” are asked to notice for awhile to articles or news stories of various activities in society that are provided and written by members of the society on their own. This research only observes “Tilik Kampung” in Semarang Metro edition. There are some rubrics in this page beside main news. They are Rame Kampung that consists of news pictures and Greget Kampung that accommodates human interest stories. Table 1. “Tilik Kampung” Semarang Metro, July 2012 Date News Title Monday, Santri Aswaja Lestarikan July 3, Tradisi Rebana 2012 Komisi VIII Kunjungi YPI Al Khoiriyah Nguri-uri Bahasa Jawa Trik Jitu Jadi Santri Produktif Perpisahan TK Al Ustman

Picture Yes

Writer Dina W

Yes

Junaidi

Yes Yes

Abdul Arif Ahmad Asrof

Yes

Monday, Stikes Hakli Raih Akreditasi July 16 B 2012 HUT SMKN 1 Demak

Rubric Rame Kampung (picture only) Yudi

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The Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

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Monday Saling Berbagi dengan Yes July 23 Masyarakat 2012 Tarhib ramadan dikemas Yes dalam dongeng Islam Lapangan parkir Yes Monday July 30 2012

Outbound STIE Jalin Komunikasi

Akhmad Fikri Sunarto Citizen

Rubric Greget Warga Rubric Rame Kampung

Junaidi

Discussion “Tilik Kampung” is based on efforts to maintain public loyalty. Editor-in-chief of Suara Medeka, H Amir Machmud SH MH, said that “Tilik Kampung” was developed as the editors’ response to development of citizen journalism using various kinds of media, especially online forums. The editors think that public needs more space in printed media to express their thought. Public actually has found the way in online media. The Suara Merdeka editors accommodate the need of expression from public not only through rubrics such as “Surat Pembaca” (letter from the readers) or interactive SMS called ”Piye Jal,” “Njur Piye,” “Piye Cah,” etc. Public was also given opportunity to collect and write news stories like reporters to report activities in their neighborhood. Hopefully, citizens participate and get involved in reporting any developments and occasions happening in their neighborhood. For keeping relations with the stakeholders, Suara Merdeka tries to involve citizens actively so they will feel as part of Suara Merdeka all the times. Nugroho Dwiadiseno,who is in charge of Desk of Semarang Metro, said that people are very enthusiastic to Tilik Kampung. There are articles that were always sent by citizens to Desk of Semarang Metro. Every week, the desk receives 8 articles on average from public, and the desk only publishes 6 of them. Survey shows the enthusiasm. The 1st informan (Ariyani) said that she was motivated to write news stories in Tilik Kampung because she wanted to expose activities in her neighborhood through newspaper. And the 2nd informan (Joko Suprayoga) wanted to dispatch the development of fishery in his community. Many of them said that they want to expose their activities but they won’t invite journalist or reporter because of some reasons. The 3rd informan (Yuyun) explained that she was not confident to call journalist because she felt her neighborhood was small, while the 2nd informan said that journalists have their own frenzies. “Sometimes, our activities were so simple and not proper to be covered by journalist,” said the 4th informan, Nita.

Table 2. Hope to “Tilik Kampung”

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The Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication 2012 Official Conference Proceedings

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Key Informan

Hope

Editor-in-chief Suara Merdeka

1. Give public a space to express 2. Public is a part of Suara Merdeka newspaper

Tabel 3. Motive to give contribution to “Tilik Kampung” The Informans Motive and target The 1st To develop writing skill in media and to expose activities in my society Informan and my TPQ school The Informan The Informan The informan

2nd To inform fishery activities developed in my neighborhood, writing hobby 3rd To make people well- informed and to develop my society 4th Many, among others are to make people get informed about our group activities, to promote our programs, to exercise our writing skills. I feel more enthusiast because our activities could be published in a newspaper

From the table above, we can find that many people actually want their activities to be covered by media. They think that it is unnecessary to call journalist to cover every single activity they have, especially unimportant activities. In fact, they can cover and write their activities themselves. Media should respond the public enthusiasm. So far, there was no chance for citizens to write and send their own stories to the media. With the presence of Tilik Kampung, people now have the chance and the media gets cordial relationship with its readers or audience. The high motivation was generated by eagerness to share information despite no honorarium from media. Suara Merdeka doesn’t give any honorarium for citizens whose news stories were published in Tilik Kampung. Although there’s no honorarium, they are so enthusiastic to send their news stories to Tilik Kampung. They want people know or read their activities so that their neighborhood will become popular. They also hope government or other people will pay attention to their problems. However, the capability of common people to write news story is not as high as the motivation to participate. The 3rd informan said that he didn’t know the standards in journalistic writing. He just wrote what he saw or experienced and send it to Tilik Kampung, so that other people know what happened in his neighborhood. There are some obstacles for common people to send their articles to Tilik Kampung. The 2nd informan said that the new’s sources were nervous while being interviewed. Source 5 said that he sometimes finds it difficult to write a news story to explain his activities. That’s why the media applies different standards for common people and professional journalists in writing news stories. Editor-in-chief of Suara Medeka, Amir Machmud, gives his explaination about the difference between articles written by common people and real journalist. “Citizens shouldn’t play the full role of journalist. No need to try to investigate law cases. Article written by citizen should be basic report which doesn’t need conditions of check and recheck too

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much. So that’s why it doesn’t generate complication when an article needs ethic and legal consideration through journalistic verifications,” said Amir Machmud. In order to prevent any additional burden of journalistic responsibility to Suara Merdeka editors, the standards of articles written by citizen must be different from those by journalist. The citizen articles should prevent conflict that needs both-sides verification. Soft articles which are telling about any public activities are preferred in citizen journalism. The articles could play the role as public relations for its society or community. There’s no overlapping between citizen articles and journalist articles. The citizen articles will be edited first and not automatically published. Editors will also compromise to informative articles which don’t need confirmation or journalistic verification. Editors won’t publish the articles that don’t meet the conditions. Anyway, public expression shouldn’t violate the rights of other people. This will teach the citizen journalist to write articles carefully based on factual data. Chief Desk Editor of Semarang Metro, Nugroho Dwiadiseno, said that there are many citizen articles with complicated composition but editors could understand it because most of them don’t have journalism education before. “They only have courage to write and participate in citizen journalism, but we appreciate. It takes time, process, and consistence,” he said. Actually, there are many people who want to participate in Tilik Kampung but do not know how. Amir Machmud said that responses from the public to Tilik Kampung are good in general but not similar in each community edition. Conclusion People have desire to participate and send their reports to newspaper. This participation is voluntary in nature, without any honorarium. People will feel happy if their reports were published in newspaper and read by other people because their society becomes popular. However, there are still many people who do not know how to write a news stories or report and how to send them to media. “We’ll keep on encouraging public participation through the page of Tilik Kampung, besides other pages that open opportunity for common society to express their interests. We’ll enhance the content of page Tilik Kampung for unlimited periode of time, because our relationship with the stakeholders is also never unlimited.” (Amir Machmud)

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