National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) acting deputy for maritime affairs and natural resources Arifin Rudiyanto said on Wednesday that mass media played a vital role in helping achieve the SDGs by relaying information about the efforts to a wider audience and help to turn it into a collective movement.

"Mass media can provide a platform to raise awareness among the public about SDG initiatives and to properly monitor and evaluate the government's efforts to achieve SDG targets," Arifin said during the Jakpost UpClose webinar titled “The role of mass media in achieving the SDGs in Indonesia”.

Arifin said the government was still struggling to create an effective communication strategy on SDGs especially to people in remote regions, adding that authorities were seeking to work more closely with media organizations so that they could relay information about SDG initiatives in a fast, effective, precise and timely manner.

The ongoing pandemic has impacted public health, the economy, education, poverty alleviation, gender equality, the environment, climate change and other issues to be addressed under the SDG agenda, hampering Indonesia's bid to meet the targets.

Read also: Indonesia commits to aligning post-pandemic recovery with SDGs

Last year, Indonesia reaffirmed its commitment to align its post-COVID-19 social and economic recovery plan with the SDGs ahead of its membership of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Role of media

Online publication IDN Times chief editor Uni Lubis said that her organization had come up with various creative campaigns to make issues related to SDGs interesting for younger audiences such as millennials and Gen Z.

"We organize a millennial summit each year to talk about issues related to millennials, many of which are also related to SDGs, including sustainable energy, poverty, infrastructure and food estates,” she said. “We also launch a climate change campaign each December, during which we interview sources who have taken real action to fight against climate change.”

Read also: Sustainable development crucial in Indonesia’s COVID-19 recovery, experts say

Aside from reporting about SDGs, Republika newspaper and online publication, meanwhile, utilizes its philanthropic organization Dompet Dhuafa to help Indonesia achieve its SDG targets, chief editor Irfan Junaidi said.

"It's not enough for us, the mass media, to only report the SDG initiatives, we need to also offer solutions. Republika through our philanthropic organization Dompet Dhuafa, for example, has made various efforts to help improve public welfare including by building hospitals,” Irfan said.

What's next?

Despite the mass media's current role in accelerating SDG achievement, Uni said a large number of journalists needed more training on how to report news related to SDGs.

"Many journalists write on issues related to SDGs, for example frequent and massive floods but they do not put the context of climate change or SDG initiatives in their reports, because they're simply not familiar with the issues," she said.

She said the mass media should also consider working together with the government to provide training programs on SDG issues for journalists.

Nina Sardjunani, senior official at the National SDG Secretariat under Bappenas, promised that her office would devise training programs for journalists in the near future.

“We want to provide a deeper understanding for journalists about SDGs, and how to capture and report social phenomena under a SDG lens. I hope we can create the modules by next year,” she said.