REVISED EDITION: Indonesian Journalists Technographics Survey Report 2013

TABLE OF CONTENT
PART 1 HOW INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS USE THE INTERNET 04
PART 2 HOW INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS FIND INFORMATION ONLINE 10
PART 3 INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS’ TECHNOGRAPHICS PROFILE 15
PART 4 INDONESIAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA’S VIEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND NEWS PRODUCTION 17
Indonesian journalists Technographics Report 2012-2013
01

The results of our research show that social media play an
increasingly significant role in influencing public discourse.
Social media have established themselves as the extension of
a journalist’s eyes and ears. From monitoring issues, identifying
shifts in public opinion, to facilitating discussions among fellow
journalists. In other words, social media have become the veins
that facilitate the intensifying vitality of the journalists role in
this democratic era.
With this, I would like to congratulate my fellow lecturers from
Paramadina University Communications Program and
Maverick’s Team for the hard work in completing this research.
Anies Baswedan, Ph.D,
Rector of University of Paramadina
02

We were curious. That was the reason why in 2011, we
came out with our first Indonesian Journalists Techno-
graphics Report. The goal was simply to find out how
Indonesian journalists consume the Internet and social
media—both for personal and professional use.
In 2012, together with The London School of Public
Relations Research Centre in Jakarta, we launched
a more or less similar report, but the main focus is a
bit different. We were trying to find out about media
organizations’ social media policies and strategies—and
whether they had been integrating social media or
even mobile apps into their business strategy.
This year, hand in hand with University of Paramadina,
we’re back to find out the answers behind one of the
most intriguing questions we had in the back of our
mind: is social media actually THAT powerful it can
even influence mainstream media’s agenda setting[1]?
How much does it affect mainstream media in produc-
ing news?
We know that some celebrity Twitterers’ followings
even rivaling or surpassing the circulation of Kompas,
the nation’s largest circulating daily. But do they matter
much for our mainstream media? Do volumes of con-
versations in social media about a certain issue influ-
ence the news that is going to be published on tomor-
row’s paper or the topic for tonight’s TV talk show?
FOREWORD
These past few months, we had conducted a survey
involving 363 Indonesian journalists as respondents.
They came from various desks and from different
areas in Indonesia: Sumatera, Java, Kalimantan,
Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and as far as Ambon
and Papua. To complement this survey, we had also
interviewed the “Newsroom PIC” in nine media
organizations, namely Plasa MSN, Kompas.com,
Hardrock FM, Sindo Trijaya FM, Trans TV, Metro
TV, Rolling Stone Indonesia, Tempo and The
Jakarta Globe.
The result is this report you are about to read.
What we found through our survey and series of
interviews may be a little bit unnerving for some
of you—but it will, indeed, become a great base
for further debate and discussions. Which is good.
We’re cool with that. We urge you to debate and
discuss about this. Be curious. We believe that
questioning about something is a great way to learn
about something and to know where you stand.
That’s exactly how we started out in conducting this
research anyway; and that’s how we approach our
business as well: we are a curious bunch.
Anyway, without further ado, go ahead. Dive in.
Ong Hock Chuan.
Technical Advisor, Maverick.
03

PART 1 HOW INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS USE THE INTERNET
A. General Usage
6 out of 10 journalists spend more than 5 hours on the Internet every single day, and 8 out of 10 access it more than
4 times a day.
04
PART 1

B. Personal Usage
05
PART 1

Interestingly, 8 out of 10 journalists nowadays use social
media for self-development. This includes learning or
acquiring knowledge about something that will help
them grow—both as a person and as a journalist. An
appealing take on this would be closely related to our
so-called ‘journalist class’.
For years, brands and companies have been holding
special classes for journalists as a part of their communi-
cations strategy. The objective is to help journalists learn
or deepen their knowledge about a specific issue or
the latest trend in related industries. Equipped with this
knowledge, it is expected that the journalists can cover
the issue later on with an additional depth. However, one
of the biggest challenges in conducting journalist class is
indeed: time. With tight deadlines and constant pres-
sure, journalists find it hard to allocate 3 - 4 hours of their
working time to sit in a class and learn.
What if brands and companies can provide an online
version of ‘journalist class’, thus the journalists can take
these classes on their most convenient time? Think of
something like Coursera®[2], an education company
that partners with top universities and organizations in
the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for
free. Their technology enables them to teach millions of
students rather than hundreds.
And knowing that 7 out of 10 journalists actually try to
boost their credibility via social media, can we provide a
certain certification they can put up online to equip—for
instance, their LinkedIn profile? What about a LinkedIn
testimonial from the online class’ mentor in the journal-
ists’ profile page? A rating system to show which journal-
ist is most credible or knowledgeable in covering which
industry.
C. Professional Usage
*Answer can be more than one
Yes
No
06
PART 1

Most Indonesian journalists use social media to find
story ideas (8 out of 10 journalists) and to find support-
ing data/numbers for their news reports. Apart from
that, they plunge into social media to see public opinion
and monitor a particular issue.
Despite the debate on its lack of reliability, 6 out of 10
journalists are still using social media to validate informa-
tion. Thus your Internet footprints are still quite impor-
tant in determining how half of Indonesian journalists
look at your brand/companies.
In April 2012, Journalism.co.uk published a piece of
writing by Rachel McAthy on how to verify content
from social media[3]. She talked to Craig Silverman[4],
an award-winning journalist and the founder of Regret
the Error (now part of Poynter Institute[5]), a blog that
reports on media errors and corrections, and trends
regarding accuracy and verification.
Silverman encourages journalists to take a step back
when they find themselves getting caught up in the
‘need for speed’ when news is breaking, and ask them-
selves ‘is this photo, or this video or piece of informa-
tion, really so essential or urgent that we can’t wait and
investigate other avenues with it?’
“I would caution journalists in that moment to sit back
and ask whether it’s essential you go without taking
an extra step here or there. I think a lot of the time it’s
probably not. There are definitely times I’m sure when
news organizations have to make a call, e.g. everything
we’ve looked at tells us this is accurate even though we
have a barrier to getting hold of a person. Take a dis-
tance and evaluate—do we need to put this out now, or
can we take an hour or two and figure out what more
we can provide to confirm or deny this? You also need
to evaluate why you can’t talk to that person. Have you
exhausted all avenues?” [CRAIG SILVERMAN]
07
PART 1

9 out of 10 journalists are actually using social media
to leverage their networks of experts, spokesperson, or
news sources. Brands and corporate people should start
looking at this trend of ‘online networking’—instead of
the usual offline media gathering.
The good thing is, once you are in the journalist friends
or following lists, they’ll be exposed to your thoughts and
activities (and vice versa) on a daily basis. And we’re not
only talking about your so-called professional thoughts
or activities, but also your personal ones—which is just as
important: because it makes you look human.
When you are a company’s spokesperson, you know
that you need to have three qualifying traits: Authority,
Credibility, and Likeability. If authority and credibility has
very close relationship with your work experience and
professional standing, the likeability part is something
that you can work on through online relationship with
your journalist friends—be it on Twitter or Facebook—
where they’ll see you as a fellow human being with
families and kids and flaws and soft spot for cute kittens
instead of a cold and faceless corporate spokesperson.
Think about it. This, in turn, could be the basis of a flour-
ishing relationship.
08
PART 1

6 out of 10 journalists are starting to use social media to
identify opinion leaders for a certain issue or topics. If
you were a company’s spokesperson, it would be good
for you to also channel your thoughts, comments and
updates on industry-related issues through your social
media accounts. Equipping these thoughts, comments
or updates with similar hashtags or keywords used by
media or news outlets will also increase your chance of
being heard or identified by the journalists. Furthermore,
think about having a ‘commentary box’ on your cor-
porate website; where spokesperson, CEO, or experts
can put their comments or standings on a certain issue
or circulating news in the industry. This will serve two
purposes: one, to keep your website contents’ alive and
updated; and two, to get your voices heard and increase
your chance of being quoted.
09
PART 1

PART 2 HOW INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS FIND INFORMATION ONLINE
10
PART 2

Twitter, Facebook and blogs are still the top-three social
media outlets where journalists go to find news ideas.
Mostly, they monitored cataclysm and the development
of prominent issue, as well as capturing public opinion.
Instagram is also used as a supporting tool for sourcing
news by Indonesian photojournalists.
When it comes to using social media as references,
10 out of 10 Indonesian journalists prefer referring to
individuals’ social media account—this would mean
a certain people with credibility, an expert, an official
representatives from the government or a company,
or trusted news source from their own network. 8 out
of 10 are referring to other online media’s social media
accounts. Only around a half of Indonesian journalists
refer to a public figure’s accounts or corporate/organiza-
tions’ official social media accounts. What about those
ever-popular ‘social media celebrity’ who gain huge
followings on Twitter or Facebook despite not being that
well-known offline? Only 1 out of 10 journalists actually
considers them as their reference. Popularity alone could
not beat credibility in this case.
11
Indonesian journalists Technographics Report 2012-2013PART 2

Journalists from radio, television, magazines/tabloids are
most likely to interview sources based on the opinions
they expressed in social media. 7 out of 10 journalists are
actually using popular conversations or trending topic
on social media for news stories.
8 out of 10 journalists still consider mainstream media as
their most-trusted information source by far.
8 out of 10 journalists still
consider mainstream media
as their most-trusted
information source by far.
12

When journalists are looking for some information about
a company or organizations, 6 out of 10 journalists are
still referring to the company’s official website as their
first attempt. If they could not get the information they
want on the company’s website, they’ll go to find related
news or information about it in other news sites, and then
give the company’s official social media account a try.
Last year, the number were actually higher, with 8 out of
10 journalists referring to a company/organization’s web-
site as their first attempt in obtaining information. Most
probably, it was due to the obvious reason: how many
corporate/organization’s websites have their contents
updated regularly, making sure that there is updated
information from their side on the hottest issue or the
latest industry-related regulations? If corporations could
not adjust their websites with today’s fast-paced nature
of getting information, it would definitely be their loss.
The company will lose a precious opportunity of getting
their side of the story out when a journalist could not find
the information he/she is looking for in the website.
What about your company/organization’s website? Do
you think it’s journalist-friendly? Do you have updated
information there? If the journalist visit the site, will they
get excited or yawn? Do you know the latest industry
issue mainstream media is covering and have some
contents related to these issues on your website? Do you
have your spokesperson’s quotes on the website when a
new regulations related to your industry is being passed?
Do you have dark-site that you can activate right away
during crisis situations? Sounds like a lot of homework,
but you can start working on it one at a time. It’s worth
the investment.
Interesting to find out that Indonesian journalists think of
television as the least credible information outlet—even
less credible than corporate/organizations official social
media accounts. Online news portal is being considered
as the most credible information outlet, with print media
comes in second place.
13

This year, Kompas.com pops up as the most credible
online media according to Indonesian journalists.
Detik.com—which held the 1st position last year, comes
second.
When it comes to mainstream media’s official social
media accounts, most Indonesian journalists (surprisingly)
mentioned Kompas’ social media account
(@kompascom with +2,390,000 followers) as their refer-
ence, followed by Detik.com at the 2nd place
(@detikcom with +489,000,000 followers), and Tempo.co
at the 3rd place (@tempodotco with +307,000 followers)
14

PART 3 INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS’ TECHNOGRAPHICS PROFILE
15

Most Indonesian journalists occupy Creators, Spectators
and Conversationalists in the Technographics ladder.
Most of the Creators are photojournalists, while photo
editors turn to be the most passive by only becoming
Joiners and Spectators. Reporters, editors and editor-in-
chiefs/managing editors/producers are also quite active
as Collectors.
16

Television
METRO TV
“Social media is now becoming
our potential news source.”
An interview with Wayan Eka
Putra, News Service Manager.
An interesting issue for Metro TV is one with news
value, most importantly when it involves public interests,
policy and high politic. High politic is mainly important
considering current situation and their position as a news
station. When an event has to do with human interests, it
has news value. Responses for international news are not
as high from Metro TV’s audience. When an issue has a
high level of importance to the public, that is news.
For Metro TV, there are two ways to get news: first,
based on an event; and second, based on agenda set-
ting. They’ll have people contacting them should there
is something happening, and they also have reporter-
on-duty to find information regarding such occurrence.
They relay their editorial meeting to develop an editorial
agenda on certain issues they’d like the public to know
better.
Social media is now becoming one of Metro TV’s
potential news source, because it provides them pictures
on how society thinks about certain affairs. Now every-
one can tell their own story or share their thoughts on
Twitter, they can also chat about certain issues on other
social media platforms. For Metro TV, it’s good to know
what the public is thinking about certain things. Howev-
er, social media is not being considered as one of Metro
TV’s main source. They prefer to use social media only
as their reference.
“There’s no policy for our journalists to monitor Twitter
or any other social media platforms,” said Wayan Eka
Putra, News Service Manager of Metro TV. “When
our reporters monitor their timeline, for instance, it’s
most likely because they have the need to understand
what’s really happening in our society. Our journalists
follow some social media accounts because they need
to monitor some prominent figures—based on their
interests or desk. However, it will not have any effect on
our editorial meeting.”
Any kind of information obtained via Twitter—or any
other sources, must be verified before being broadcast-
ed. It’s the journalists’ responsibility to ensure that the
information presented is factual. Issues that are circulat-
ing on Twitter do not automatically become a top story
in Metro TV. “We can create news and then it becomes
an issue on Twitter,” said Wayan. “We could also follow
what’s happening on Twitter, and use it as our reference,
but not as often. Often times, we do not even refer to
Twitter.”
PART 4 INDONESIAN MAINSTREAM MEDIA’S VIEWS ON
SOCIAL MEDIA AND NEWS PRODUCTION
17
PART 4 Indonesian journalists Technographics Report 2012-2013

There are some continuous issues, for instance corrup-
tion case or cataclysm events like earthquake, floods or
wildfire. For Metro TV, as long as an event is still devel-
oping and still having a certain importance for the pub-
lic, they need to continue running it. Metro TV, though,
will not rely on Twitter or other social media platforms to
monitor the continuity of some events. “Twitter is only
our reference, but not our main source,” Wayan high-
lighted this point once again. “There could be a certain
case, however, when we got the photograph from Lion
Air’s mishaps from social media users which became a
visual in our social media. But of course, we clarified the
truth first.”
Being asked which one is more important between be-
ing actual or factual, Metro TV said they prefer factual-
ity upon actuality. Understanding the importance of
confirmation and verification in journalism, Metro TV
applies this principle in their routine before broadcasting
any information. “For us, it’s better to be late as long as
we can get the confirmation from our source; although
we understand that it’s not good for television to broad-
cast an overdue event,” said Wayan.
In terms of actuality, Metro TV does not rely on social
media either, as they believe that social media can-
not be used to confirm or verify information. “Social
media does not throw actual issues, it throws anything.
Whether the issue is relevant and important, the filter is
our editorial team.”
Everything or everyone can be treated as news sources
for Metro TV as long as they can be confirmed and
verified. However, Metro TV said they cannot quote
someone’s status from social media as news, but only as
illustration. Metro TV has their own guidebook in news
production, and they also conform to government regu-
lations such as P3 SPS from Indonesia’s Broadcasting
Commission and Code of Conduct in Journalism.
For Metro TV, social media does not change the pro-
cess or principle in their news production, but it does
increase their team’s knowledge.
TRANS TV
“Social media is our supporting
source.”
An interview with Tifanny
Raytama, News Anchor
Issues that are related to human
interest and have a certain elements of drama in it are
considered interesting issues for Trans TV. Generally,
more into human interests and side-bar. Side-bar is more
about packaging different news angles about a certain
issue. The TV station has two ways in gathering news.
First, they develop their own editorial agenda, planned
by their producer or producer’s assistant. Second, when
a big occurrence is taking place.
They find interesting issues from their reporter-on-duty
and research team. Social media is used in a supporting
function when it comes to researching. Trans TV fol-
lows several social media accounts and monitors them
to know about current events, especially Twitter. “We
follow information from Detik.com, Kompas.com and
18

Vivanews.com, and some public figures who are in the
spotlight at a particular moment,” said Tifanny Raytama,
News Anchor of Trans TV. “Online media’s social media
accounts are more updated. However, when we’re
talking about social media, just because they are fast,
doesn’t mean they are accurate.”
When it comes to continuity issues, Trans TV will
publish it as long as it is still relevant for the public. To
monitor continuous events, Trans TV does not rely on
social media. They believe that their reporters, local con-
tributors and research team will provide more prominent
information rather than those circulating in social media.
Although the growth of social media usage is increas-
ing significantly, it will take time for Trans TV to look at
it as their news source. The uncertainty when it comes
to confirming and verifying information obtained via
social media creates a sense of distrust. The TV station
monitors social media to find out what’s happening in
the society, but cannot rely on it to find relevant issues
for their audience.
“We prefer to air an actual event, but it must be sup-
ported by factual information,” said Tifanny. “We do not
have to be the first, we can be the second or the third as
long as we can offer a different point of view.”
Social media is used only as a supporting source. When
Trans TV needs to monitor social media for actual
events, they will monitor online media’s social media ac-
counts such as Detik.com, Kompas.com and Vivanews.
com. Trans TV has their own network of news sources,
ranging from contributors/correspondents, other print
media as well as social media. The station has bureaus
in ‘rating cities’—cities where Trans TV is most popular.
These bureaus are capable of selecting suitable informa-
tion for their audience
Similar to Metro TV, Trans TV adhere to government
regulations such as P3 SPS from Indonesia’s Broadcast-
ing Commission and Code of Conduct in Journalism.
The emergence of social media has no effect on Trans
TV’s news production process by far, and it is only being
viewed as a supporting source.
Radio
SINDO TRIJAYA FM
“Social media is a woodpecker.”
An interview with Gaib Maruto
Sigit, Station Manager
An interesting issue for Sindo Trijaya FM should have
a significant effect for the public: corruption, terrorism,
security/safety, law and economy. The radio station
by far relies on getting information from their sources,
journalists, online media and invitations for covering
events. When they need to find interesting issues to be
broadcasted, Sindo Trijaya FM prefers to rely on their
journalists-on-duty. Social media is used only to find out
what’s happening out there, and they prefer to read up-
dates from online media’s social media account like Ok-
ezone.com or Detik.com, or prominent figure’s account
19

like Marzuki Alie or Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. They
also monitor their competitors Twitter account, Radio
Elshinta. “We allow journalists to quote a statement from
Twitter, as long as it’s an official account,” added Gaib.
Sindo Trijaya FM, however, requires their journalists to
follow accounts that are relevant with the journalists’
designated desk. “There are a lot of issues coming from
Twitter, thus we require our journalists to have their own
Twitter account and follow other accounts related to their
work,” said Gaib Maruto Sigit, the Station Manager of
Sindo Trijaya FM.
Continuity events will be broadcasted by Sindo Trijaya
FM as long as it is still relevant to their audience. When
they need to monitor the development of such events,
they go to social media. “Social media is like a wood-
pecker,” said Gaib. “They create information faster than
any other media.”
Factuality weighs more than actuality to Sindo Trijaya
FM. They believe that they need to deliver the truth of
information, not the speed of it. Though speed plays an
important role, they prefer to present the truth. Sindo Tri-
jaya FM considers credible and competent individual in a
certain field as their trusted news source. However, they
also use social media as long as the information comes
from verified accounts.
There are several main rules for Sindo Trijaya FM when it
comes to delivering information to their audience. First,
anchor has to develop an introduction before bridging
it to the information itself, to provide the audience with
certain familiarity with the issue. Second, when they de-
liver sensitive issues, they need to consider both the truth
of it and the impact it will have on their audience.
According to Sindo Trijaya FM, social media has not re-
ally affecting the way they produce news, but it becomes
an alternative source for them in finding information.
HARDROCK FM
“Social media needs to be
monitored.”
An interview with Sahil
Mulachela, Producer
Any issues that are valuable
for their audience will always
become an interesting issue for Hardrock FM. Mostly,
they find these issues on online media and social media.
There’s the need to monitor social media as this channel
publish different issues rapidly. The radio station does not
have any specific accounts they should monitor, but they
admit that social media is a prominent news source for
them, especially Twitter. Continuity issues, for instance, is
interesting for Hardrock FM and they can actually moni-
tor the development of it through social media.
Actuality is more important to Hardrock FM compared
to factuality. Information is being published in such a
fast-pace nowadays, and people receive these informa-
tion at the same time. To find actual information, social
media is also being used. The radio station understands
that they cannot rely on social media in finding the truth.
Hence, they will refer to online media when it comes to
fact-checking.
“At least, in social media, we can get the issues,” said Sahil
20

Mulachela, the Producer at Hardrock FM. “We follow
funny accounts like @radiogalau, or a financial plan-
ner or career coach’s account. When we’re on-air, the
producer will monitor social media to find out about
our listeners’ response.”
Nowadays, online media and social media are the main
news source for Hardrock FM. When it comes to regu-
lations in producing content, Hardrock FM believes
that when an anchor delivers information, they need
to align their perception with the audience; so that
they can communicate in the same wavelength. Thus,
the when the news is being delivered, the listeners can
relate to it better.
Social media has not changed the way Hardrock FM
produced news, but it had changed the diversity of
information received by their crews.
Print media
JAKARTA GLOBE
“Social media is an alert sys-
tem.”
An interview with Bhimanto
Suwastoyo, Head of News
Services
An interesting issue for Jakarta
Globe is the one suitable to their readers’ needs, mostly
about education, tolerance, and social knowledge.
Television, radio, online media, social media, and their
network are Jakarta Globe’s news sources. They con-
sider their network as their most effective news source.
As long as the source can be confirmed and verified, it
can be a news source for the paper.
Social media plays a role as an alert system for Jakarta
Globe. It gives them a hint on what’s happening some-
where. The journalists need to follow up on this and
find information about it from more prominent sources.
Social media doesn’t have the quality of accuracy. Every
information obtained from this channel must be veri-
fied and confirmed. However, journalists are allowed to
quote a statement from an official account.
Continuity issues are considered interesting for Jakarta
Globe. “If we cover an issue, we have to cover the pro-
gress of that issue,” said Bhimanto Suwastoyo, Head of
News Services from Jakarta Globe.
Jakarta Globe values factuality more than actuality.
When it comes to actual events, they can use social
media to find out public sentiments and publish the
event on their online media. Their printed version offers
a more in-depth look on certain issues. Jakarta Globe’s
journalists need to create a complete story surrounding
an event or issue. Incomplete stories are not accept-
able.
In Jakarta Globe, social media does not change their
news production process, but it does change their
news-sourcing process.
21

TEMPO MAGAZINE
“Social media is like splashes of
water on the river’s surface.”
An interview with Arif Zulkifli,
Executive Editor
An interesting issue for Tempo
magazine is an issue that is suit-
able to the public’s needs and also a newspack—where
there’s a correlation between an issue or event with
social, political, cultural, or economical context. Usually,
Tempo will bring up issues from their network of sources,
conversations with people, online media, and social
media; but the later is used mostly as an alarm for the
editorial staff.
“Social media is like a market where anyone can say any-
thing,” said Arif Zulkifly, the Executive Editor of Tempo
magazine. “One tries to get other’s attention by posting
a kultwit (series of Tweets; kultwit can be literally trans-
lated into ‘Tweet lecture’) in a proper style. However,
one cannot avoid negative responses about their kultwit
from others.” Seeing social media as a market where
anyone can say anything, Tempo does not see social
media as a reliable source. They do not go into social
media to find interesting issues as well.
“How can we rely on them? For instance, what makes
@triomacan2000 has loads of followers though they do
not have the credibility?” questioned Arif. “Well, they
provide random information, a combination between
fact and fiction; probably from 100 tweets about Bank
Century, only 10 of them are correct—and I had heard
about those things from more trusted sources. For those
who do not have an in-depth knowledge about the issue,
it would look as if the whole tweets are correct. I guess
it’s pretty naïve to rely on social media.”
Factuality weighs more than actuality for Tempo. They
see themselves offering “a story” and not merely “news”
to their readers. Thus, most of the times, they need to
find in-depth information about a certain issue. “Social
media is splashes of water on the river’s surface,” said
Arif. “Tempo is the sediment. One has to swim down the
river to get to the bottom of it, the sediment.”
Tempo sees social media as a platform for citizen
journalism—however, social media can still be useful
to monitor trends and current events. This is the role
served by social media for journalists.
There is no such thing as ‘a sensitive issue’ for Tempo,
even if it’s political. Tempo has the need to convey any
issue, no matter how problematic it is, to the public. In
Tempo, all journalists adhere to the idea of freedom in
journalism.
So far, social media has no effect whatsoever in Tempo’s
news production process.
ROLLING STONE
INDONESIA
“Social media provides us any
kind of information.”
An interview with Adib
Hidayat, Editor in Chief
Issues about music and lifestyle
22

are at the core of Rolling Stone magazine. Since it’s a
franchise magazine, most issues are driven from Roll-
ing Stone in the US—print and online. Social media is
used to find interesting issues or events. Usually, they
get these information from CNN, BBC or Rolling Stone
US’ Twitter accounts. Another channel of information is
the Twitter accounts of their fellow music journalists and
artists.
As a magazine, Rolling Stone Indonesia prefers factual-
ity over actuality. When covering a story, the need an
in-depth and detailed information. Social media can be
used as a news source, as long as the information can be
confirmed and verified. When it comes to regulations
in news production, to them it’s really simple: as long as
the news contains 5W+1H principle of what, when, who,
where, why and how.
Social media does not change Rolling Stone Indonesia’s
news production process; but it does change their news-
sourcing pattern.
Online media
KOMPAS.COM
“Twitter broadcasts
information every second.”
An interview with Taufik
Mihardja, Director
A trending topic, something that is unique, and have a
direct impact to the readers are the ingredients of an
interesting issue for Kompas.com. The news portal relies
on mainstream media as well as social media (especially
Facebook and Twitter) to find interesting issues. The
news portal even asked their journalists to have Twitter
accounts and monitor what’s happening—including find-
ing out the popular conversations among social media
users.
“Our readers are digital natives,” said Taufik Mihardja,
Director of Kompas.com. “They use social media a lot.
Hence, it’s also important for us to familiarize ourselves
with social media. Some actual issues can also be cap-
tured through social media. Sometimes, they are faster
than us, especially for circulating photos about a certain
event.”
Social media becomes one of Kompas.com’s news
source, and they monitor social media to find interest-
ing issues. When it comes to producing a story, Kompas.
com journalists are warned not to push spokesperson,
news source, or organizations. Continuous issues are still
considered interesting as long as they are being pub-
lished at the right moment and still becoming the topic
of conversations in public. Actuality and factuality carry
similar weight for Kompas.com.
Social media has changed the news production process
in Kompas.com. As an online media, they now have to
produce their news as fast as possible, as the audience
demands information faster.
23

PLASA MSN
“Social media is an early
warning system.”
An interview with Wicaksono,
Editor-in-Chief
For Plasa MSN, an interesting
issue is one with news value, become a trending topic,
and have good visuals (photographs). Plasa MSN is a
news aggregator. Their content partners are the ones
who create the news that will be published in Plasa
MSN. Although they do not produce their own news,
they still monitor social media to know current trends.
“Twitter is an early warning system or alarm,” said
Wicaksono, the Editor-in-Chief of Plasa MSN. “When
the alarm rings and my content partners do not cre-
ate a story about that yet, I would echo the alarm by
retweeting that issue—thus my content partners will be
notified about it and write an article about that certain
issue. Lately, when an issue becomes a trending topic
because of social media, its news value becomes higher
as well. Photograph has a very important role for Plasa
MSN, to the extent that we can not publish continuous
issues if we do not have good photographs to support
them. And we will prefer to cover news that shows a
female figure, because the majority of our readers are
male.”
Plasa MSN prefers factuality over actuality. “We pro-
duce story of the day, not story of the moment,” said
Wicaksono. Content partners are the only news source
for Plasa MSN. The main regulation in news produc-
tion includes having good photograph for each article.
As a news aggregator, social media doesn’t affect Plasa
MSN’s production process.
________________________________________
[1] Agenda setting theory itself describes a very powerful influence of the media and their ability to tell us what
issues are important - http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Agenda-
Setting_Theory.doc/
[2] https://www.coursera.org/about
[3] http://www.journalism.co.uk/news-features/how-to-verify-content-from-social-media/s5/a548645/
[4] http://www.poynter.org/author/craigsilverman/
[5] http://about.poynter.org/
24

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