For its inaugural edition, held at JPLive! Space on Sept. 17, the event took the theme of Behind the Headlines: How Public Discourse Takes Shape, led by the Post’s senior editor and columnist Endy Bayuni.

A veteran journalist of more than 40 years in the industry, Endy writes on Indonesia's evolving political landscape and foreign relations with a particular focus on democracy, human rights and global affairs. He previously served as chief editor from 2004 to 2010, and from 2016 to 2018.

Throughout the 90-minute session, Endy provided the audience with a glimpse into the editorial team’s decision making process and the public discourse that results from the published headlines.

The front pages of print media is a good gauge of assessing discourse as every night, editors decide the stories that make it on the front page, followed by other stories, commentaries and analyses on the following pages.

“We only have 12 pages. [...] With digital media, the space is unlimited; we can have as many stories as we can produce, so the limitation is more on our resources. Most media outlets have limited resources, and therefore they have to make choices about what they wanted to publish. This is where they decide when the stories are part of the public discourse” he said.

However, with the rise of digital media, Endy noted that the stories that go viral are not necessarily the stories published on the news, as they can include anything from misinformation to celebrity gossip.

“This is the reality in the news media. In the past, we had a kind of quasi-monopoly on the news information that circulated because we had control. But now with the internet, people choose. They’re more interested in K-pop, [a celebrity’s] haircut, about the Premier League result. [...] Important developments no longer arrive alone; they land in the same field as opinions and viral moments, all fighting for the same seconds of attention.”

At the same time, editors are also taking into account other considerations. Publish a story too late, and they might lose credibility. Publish too soon, and factual discrepancies might arise, costing further credibility.

“When reading the news on social media, we need to distinguish what is urgent, what is popular, and what is important,” he said.

Endy closed the session by highlighting the importance of public discourse in democracy, not just to monitor but also to actively participate in, as policies can be influenced by public pressure and opinion.

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