Do’s and Dont’s in Citizen Journalism

Desi Yoanita

, Ido Prijana Hadi

, Agusly Irawan Aritonang

, Alexander Setiawan

Communication Science Department, Petra Christian University

Informatics Engineering Department, Petra Christian University

Keywords: Citizen Journalism; Accuracy; Journalism Ethics; Digital Media; Online Media.

Abstract: In this digital age, it is easier for a person to express and disseminate his thoughts to the public. In addition

to the free features provided by various social media platforms (blogs, microblogs, etc.), the mainstream

media also provide a forum for ordinary citizen (non-journalists) to publish their thoughts. As done by

Kompas Cyber Media with Kompasiana and detik.com with Pasangmata. According to the Economist

Intelligence Unit, the Democracy Index of Indonesia ranks 68

out of 167 countries assessed. Of course

freedom of expression is one of the assessment barometers. The effort to open space to voice opinion is a

positive action that must be improved. But on the other hand, there should be an effort to check the accuracy

and ethical standards so that the published content does not contain of hate speech or hoax which can caused

fatal implication. This study focused on how the Kompasiana and Pasangmata editors filter contents

uploaded by citizen journalists on their platforms. Using case study method, the researcher conducted in-

depth interview to the editor of both media. The results showed each media has uniqueness. Content on

Kompasiana is just a form of writing, and conversely content of Pasang Mata is photo and caption. This

difference impacts on the mechanism of checking the accuracy of both platforms.

1 INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, news are not only produced by

professional journalists. Ordinary people can also

report events they were witnessing. This practice,

called citizen journalism, become more and more

popular, especially with the fast development of

information technology. Belair-Gagnon, the director

of Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass

Communication said, “In each case, a new

technology prompted us to be aware that citizens can

contribute journalism in certain ways. In the shift we

are seeing since 2004, citizen media is becoming

fully integrated to journalism.” (AFP, 2016)

Citizen journalism also indicate the enforcement

of democracy in the country that practices it. One of

the indicators of democracy is the freedom of

expression; the freedom to voice the opinion. Citizen

journalism is a form of expression from an

independent ordinary society and it (should) not be

influenced by any power (Lesmana & Yoanita,

2014).

In addition, citizen journalism also gives benefits

to mainstream media. Having very limited human

resources, it is impossible for media to cover and

report all events around the world, especially

unexpected tragedies such as accidents and disasters.

Major events such as 2004 tsunami, London

bombing 2005, Mumbai terror attack 2008, and

many more were first reported to the public by

eyewitnesses, when the professional journalists

could not reach the place that it happened. Richard

Sambrook, Director of News Division of BBC in

2005, noted that his organization learned that “when

major events occur, the public can offer us as much

new information as we are able to broadcast to

them.” (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2014). Therefore,

now more and more mainstream media provide

space or special rubric to accommodate the work of

citizen journalists. For example, CNN, Fox and

Canada's CTV have embraced user-generated news,

and YouTube hopped onboard awhile ago. The

Washington Times even devoted an entire section to

articles by its citizen reporters (Hogg, 2009).

Not only that, nowadays mainstream media even

develop news based on trending topic in social

media. However, for all benefits of citizen media, its

critics point out the downsides of this rising trend.

It's been called untrustworthy, shoddy and

inarticulate (Hogg, 2009). Whereas, the primary

purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the

402

Yoanita, D., Hadi, I., Aritonang, A. and Setiawan, A.

Do’s and Dont’s in Citizen Journalism.

DOI: 10.5220/0009021800002297

In Proceedings of the Borneo International Conference on Education and Social Sciences (BICESS 2018), pages 402-407

ISBN: 978-989-758-470-1

information they need to be free and self-governing

(Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2014). Nevertheless, contents

that made by citizen journalists still have to be

filtered by editorial board.

In Indonesia, freedom of expression became a

serious concern as it ruled by Indonesia Constitution

1945 (Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik

Indonesia 1945). But the implementation of the

freedom has been questioned for years, especially

during Soeharto’s regime. According to Ariel

Heryanto in Hill, in New Order Era, press became

propaganda tools and have to face the risk of press

breidel if they oppose the government (Hill, 2011).

After the regime fell down in 1998, the

Parliament amended the Indonesia Constitution. One

article is related with freedom of expression

assurance. The amendment regulates specific norms

about human rights. Article 28 F is about Indonesian

citizen’s right to communicate, collect, posses, keep,

and publish information using any channel available.

Yet when the freedom came in, the risk is

another extreme, uncontrollable implementation of

it. Hoaxes and hate speeches escalated, especially

since Presidential Election in 2014. The Ministry of

Communication and Informatic found a number of

websites and social media accounts that spread

cyber-hate and hoax, and they are keep on rising

since October until December 2016. The cyber-hate

content including racism-religion, provocation, hate

speeches. For the social media accounts, have been

found more than 300 (Agung, 2016). In 2017,

Indonesia Police Headquarter investigating 3325

hate speech cases, rising 44,99% from 2016

(Mediastiara, 2017).

Two mainstream media that provide official

space for citizens to publish their idea to the public

are Kompas and detik.com. Kompas Cyber Media

(one of Kompas Gramedia Group division) founded

Kompasiana in 2008. At first, kompasiana.com was

created as internal blog platform for Kompas

Gramedia journalists. But then this platform evolved

into blog platform and online publication (news and

opinions) for Indonesian citizen

(www.kompasiana.com). Kompasiana known as the

first citizen journalism space which provided by

media mainstream. In 2010, they won the Asian

Digital Media Awards from WAN-IFRA.

PasangMata.comis a media for citizen build by

detikcom in 2014. They provide place for citizen

who wants to share their information such as news,

photos, and videos through online platform

(web and mobile apps) Pasangmata.com

(www.pasangmata.detik.com). While

kompasiana.com provides media for written text,

pasangmata.com prioritizes photos and videos.

This research described how Kompasiana and

Pasang Mata implements journalism ethics even

though their contributors are not professional

journalists. We interviewed the chief editor of both

platform to discover their pattern in verifying and

maintaining their trustworthiness.

2 LITERATURE STUDY

2.1 Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism is the activity of ordinary citizens

(non-professional journalists) in gathering the facts

of an event in the field. They compile, write, and

report their coverage in social media. Pepih also

finds that in its development, what the citizen report

are not always events; they also report opinions from

the society in response of an event, locally or

nationally. Another important thing about citizen

journalism is that the citizens are not paid. Ordinary

citizens include homemakers, students, teachers or

professors, as well as blue-collar workers, and they

are not limited to sex, age, or groups (Nugraha,

2012).

Kovach and Rosenstiel formulated nine elements

that professional journalists should obey. Later,

Kovach and Rosenstiel suggested six bill of rights

and responsibilities regarding citizen

journalism(Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2014). They are:

on truthfulness, on loyalty to citizens, on

independence, on monitoring power, a public forum,

on proportionality and engagement.

Meanwhile, the concept of public journalism has

developed into the so called citizen journalism,

where citizens give their contributions by means of

blog and interactive online forums. A controversy

has arisen whether citizens who are not employed by

a news organization can be called

journalists;however, this movement is indeed a

significant force in today’s mass media(Rich, 2010).

2.2 Media Credibility and

Trustworthiness

The essence of journalism is a discipline of

verification. It is what separates journalism from

entertainment, propaganda, fiction, or art (Kovach &

Rosenstiel, 2014). As Dennis McQuail also said, for

many years the mainstream media have commanded

a significant level of public trust. Objectivity has

Do’s and Dont’s in Citizen Journalism

403

represented a core principle in professional

journalistic practice (Gunter, 2009).

However, in the past few years, journalist (or

media) are losing public’s trust (Katz, 2017).

Nowadays, media more and more losing their

objectivity, especially when it is related to political

issue.In Indonesia, some media owners are

politicians. This condition of course influence the

media ideology and policies regarding news they

publish.

As Mark Thompson said (Maras, 2013),

impartiality and objectivity are becoming rarer

qualities in mainstream journalism. There are

different ways of responding to these changes: 1)

reapplying and coaxing more out of the objectivity

norm, reaffirming the necessity of reflection and

judgement, defending it in a changing world of

journalism where accountability is an important

problem; 2) adapting objectivity to new perspectives;

3) blogging and citizen journalism represent a

challenge to the very conditions of the norm.

Therefore, in the era that information very easy

to get, audiences begin to look for alternatives

source, such as articles produced by other citizens.

Besides, now the press is more in favor of the

financiers. So media sometimes publish news that

are profitable, even it doesn’t really important for

the community (Kasemin, 2014).

2.3 Freedom of Expression in

Indonesia

In Indonesia, freedom of expression has long been a

concern by many human rights activists. Some print

media must swallow the fate of being banned by the

Old Regime and the New Regime for reporting news

that contradicts the government. In the 1970s, the

relationship between government and the press was

marked by latent tensions. The situation led to

disunity in 1974 and 1978, marked by mass bans by

the government (Hill, 2011).

During the Old and New Order, all media in

Indonesia has to get lisence from the government, so

they can publish their contents. If in the future the

content bothering the people in power, the

government will revoke the license. This situation

certainly also suppresses individual voices. Their

freedom of expression was obstructed by the

authorities.

In 2000 Indonesia parliament amended the

Indonesia Constitution article 28. The amendment

specifically assures the Indonesian’s right to collect

and produce information. Not only did the media

gain their freedom, but also individual voices got

their voice. This proggress also supported by the

development of information and communication

technology that allows everyone to obtain

information and produce information.

However, this freedom then utilized by some

irresponsible people or group to distributes fake

news, hoaxes, hate speeches. This phenomena even

become national concern in the time of elections.

Hence, in September 2015, the Indonesia Police

Chief, issued a warrant to take firm action on

disseminators of fake news, hoaxes, and hate speech,

especially in social media. The disseminators will be

punished by Electronic Information and Transaction

Law (Chief, 2015).

3 METHODOLOGY

This research used the qualitative method and the

researchers will do case studies because according to

Yin (Yin, 2013)in study cases the focus of a research

will be on the contemporary phenomenon. The

citizen journalism phenomenon has a rapid

development in line with the growth of

communication and information technology.

According to Miller, in its application, case

studies generally use relatively extensive interviews,

or even observations, to recognize the life (such as

the development, behavior, appearance) of the

researched analysis unit. In addition to interview and

observation, case studies often involve idiographic

interpretation which emphasizes on certain issues,

such as the social actions and social relationships

influenced by the existing social contexts (Pawito,

2007).

In this research, weinterviewed Iskandar

Zulkarnaen(Chief Operation Officer of

Kompasiana). We also interviewed Ardi Cahya

Rosyadi and Marwan as editors of Pasangmata. The

result of the interview will be analyzed and verified

by observing those two platforms.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Media Characteristics

Kompasiana is a blogging platform established in

2008 by Kompas Cyber Media. At first, it was made

to accomodate Kompas’s journalists who want to

write many things aside fromnews. But exhausted

with their daily routines, Kompas’s journalists have

no time to write in Kompasiana. Later on, Kompas

BICESS 2018 - Borneo International Conference On Education And Social

404

then open that platform for public. In 2017,

Kompasiana has new slogan: beyond blogging. It

enhances Kompasiana position as Citizen News and

Opinion Channel.

It has several themes such as: economy, fiction,

lifestyle, entertainment, humanities, politics,

technology, video, and tourism. There are two

seasonal categories such as Kotak Suara (only

during election season) and Tebak Hikmah Ramadan

(only during Ramadan). In Kompasiana, member

can only publish article with more than 70 words.

They can share almost anything including opinion,

tips, or tutorials. However, Kompasiana disallow

member to use this platform for selling their

products. Member also disallowed to post more than

one article within an hour.

Meanwhile Pasangmata is an online platform for

citizens who want to share factual events such as

traffic reports, accidents, disasters. This platform

established by detik.com in 2014, and can be

accessed from web or mobile apps. Members can

send photos or videos along with caption in 140

characters maximum. Pasangmata encourages

citizen to be an active witness, that eager to share

what they see or experiencing, especially when it is

important for others.

Pasangmata has point reward system for their

member based on contents that they send. Members

can redeem their points with gifts provided in

detikshop catalogue.

4.2 The Registering Process

Until December 2017, Kompasiana has 355.000

members called ‘Kompasianer’(Kompasiana, 2017).

They categorized two kinds of membership: verified

member and validated member. Verified members

are member who registered and actively writing for a

year, especially in special themes. Validated

members are member whose registration already

checked by their citizen registration number.

Pasangmata call their citizen journalists as

‘Mata-mata’ (spies). To be a ‘Mata-mata’, citizen

should register using Facebook or Twitter account.

After that, user should fill online form that contain

their personal data such as address and telephone

number. Until February 2018, Pasangmata has

16.000 members.

In the internet era, account verification is an

important thing because everybody can fake their

identity. If someone can’t be honest about their basic

identity, then how can we be sure he/she publish the

right information?Pasangmata editors usually use

member’s contact to confirm about important

information related with photos/ videos that they

post.The authencity of identity and content is crucial

because audience have the right to expect that the

evidence of the integrity of the reporting be explicit.

This means that the process of verification should be

transparent (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2014).

4.3 The Filtering Process

Kompasiana and Pasangmata publish their “Terms

and Condition”that their member must obey before

they publish. Basically Kompasiana and Pasangmata

has some same standard about citizen journalism.

Both of them are subject to government regulations,

especially Electronic Information and Transaction

Law. They also publish cyber media guideliness

which have user generated contents provisions, such

as antiplagiarism, prohibit contents containing hate

speeches, hoaxes, and blasphemies. However, still

there are some members who disobey the rules,

either intentionally or unintentionally.The quality of

citizen journalism basically cannot be the same as

that of conventional media. In this case, the most

prominent factors are accuracy and

subjectivity(Quinn & Lamble , 2008).

Kompasiana and Pasangmata has different

treatment for members who break the rules. As

Sambrook said, “As someone who supports the new

direction, I don’t suggest the BBC staff abdicate

their responsibility for accuracy, fairness, or

objectivity. As we open up to contributions from the

public, we must do so in a way that is consistent

with our editorial values.” (Kovach & Rosenstiel,

2014).

In Kompasiana, usually 300 articles per day

published by Kompasianer. All of them will be

published directly without editors’ intervention.

Within 24 hours, 15 content reviewers will review

the contents. During the review process, editors has

rights to do minor editing without Kompasianer’s

permission. Editors also has authority to delete

inappropriate content. There are three categorized

based on the review: 1) deleted content, for content

which doesn’t meet Kompasiana’s standard; 2)

qualified content, for content which feasible to

publish; 3) editor’s picks, for high quality contents

which considered as significant articles needed by

the society. Kompasiana ban members who five

times against the rules.

Zulkarnaen admitted that the most critical period

is during the election campaignperiod. Many

members write their opinion about their choice and

sometimes comparing or even revealing negative

things about other candidates. To anticipate this

Do’s and Dont’s in Citizen Journalism

405

condition, Kompasiana provides comment column in

every article, but only members can give comment.

If the comment given isn’t pleasing the author, the

author can delete or report that comment to the

editors.

Pasangmata specifically accepts photos or videos

with 140 characters for caption.In Pasangmata,

members can not publish photos/videos directly.

Photos/videos pictures should reviewed by the

editors. Among 300-400 submissions per day from

Mata-mata, usually only 150-200 published.

Common problems in Pasangmata are: bad quality

photos/videos;unoriginal photos/videos (members

took photos/videos from another media);

photos/videos from same events by different

members; and unclear caption. Many times editors

should contact Mata-mata to get information

regarding photos/videos that they sent. If the event is

important, editors report it to detik.com who will

send professional journalists to follow the story up.

Pasangmata also ban members who against the rules

more than twice.

Both platform give opportunity for other member

to report contents which considered disturbing the

public. However, editors will look up to the

regulations to decide wether the content should be

deleted or not. Kompasiana’s contents are more

risky because they are subjective (opinion based).

But as Zulkarnaen said, mostly Kompasiana member

are smart and mature. They write because they want

to share opinions or give suggestion, not to humiliate

or ruin someone’s reputation.

If the content doesn’t break law or regulation,

then editors let it remain. Editors consider

disagreement among members as part of democracy

and freedom of expression.If there were a law suit or

criminal case for the published content in the future,

either in Kompasiana or Pasangmata, the

responsibility is at Kompasianer or Mata-Mata.It is

very different with professional media’s policy,

where the responsibility is in the chief editor.

5 CONCLUSION

Kompasiana and Pasangmata has different

characteristic in terms of content. As a blog

platform, article in Kompasiana should written

longer, compare to 140 characters maximum in

Pasangmata. While Kompasiana publish all kind of

writing (idea, tutorial, opinion, etc), Pasangmata

focus on event reports by their member.

Nevertheless, ss part of mass media that has long

been a reference for society and recognized by their

credibility, Kompasiana and Pasangmata put editors

to review all contents from the citizen journalists.

Kompasiana and Pasangmata also give opportunity

to other members to give comments or report

contents that considered to violate general norms in

society.

Editors will delete or cancel publication of

content which doesn’t meet the editorial standards

(including breaking journalism ethics). As a final

stage of filtering, the member who disobey the rules

several times will be banned from those

membership.

Figure 1: Kompasiana article filter step.

The

content is

breaking

the rules

Users post

an article

The article

published in

Kompasiana.com

Reviewed by

editors

within 24

hours

The

content is

fine

The content

outstanding

Deleted

editors

Stay

published

Move

into

editor’s

choice

corner

BICESS 2018 - Borneo International Conference On Education And Social

406



Figure 2: Pasangmata article filter step.

REFERENCES

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1143433/new-social-media-tools-empower-citizen-

journalism/

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situs-hoax-berkembang-di-indonesia?

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https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/07/media-culpa-

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https://www.kompasiana.com/tentang-

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Learning.

Yin, R. K. 2013. Studi Kasus: Desain dan Metode.

Jakarta: PR RajaGrafindo Persada.

Users send

photos/videos

Reviewed by

editors

Good

quality,

high news

value,

good

caption

Bad

quality,

high news

value

Bad

quality,

low news

value

Published

Pasangmata

and

detik.com

Followed

up by

detik.com

reporters

Cannot be

published

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