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Media distrust exacerbates proliferation of fake news

The proliferation of fake news on the internet has become a global problem and often leads to chaos

The Jakarta Post
Tue, June 25, 2019

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Media distrust exacerbates proliferation of fake news

The proliferation of fake news on the internet has become a global problem and often leads to chaos. Indonesia's 2019 presidential election, which ended in riots, was marred by fake news. The Jakarta Post's Sebastian Partogi talked to Ross Tapsell about culture-specific risk factors that exacerbate the circulation of fake news in the country.

Tapsell is a senior lecturer and researcher for Australian National University’s (ANU) gender, media and culture department who writes plenty of research papers and academic books on media ownership in Indonesia. In April, he was denied entry to Indonesia by the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Immigration Directorate General on the request of the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry, which alleged he did not possess the ministry-required research permit. The following are excerpts of the interview:

Question: You discuss the ownership of Indonesian media in your latest book, Media and Power in Indonesia: Oligarchs, Citizens and the Digital Revolution (Rowman and Littlefield International, 2017). Why do you think it is important to shed light on media ownership in Indonesia?

Answer: Big Indonesian news outlets [including those covered by Tapsell in his book:  CT Corp owned by Chairul Tanjung, Global Mediacom owned by Hary Tanoesoedibjo, Emtek owned by Eddy Kusnadi Sariaatmadja, Visi Media Asia owned by Bakrie Group, Media Group owned by Surya Paloh, Berita Satu Media Holding owned by the Riady family, Jawa Pos owned by Dahlan Iskan and Kompas Gramedia owned by Jakoeb Oetama] are dominated by eight conglomerates. Most of them were affiliated with certain politicians and/or political parties, and are thereby biased toward their owners’ business and political bends.

Some media owners whom I interviewed for the research project admitted they had no problem using their media outlets to push their political or business agendas forward by granting the politicians and political parties they favor more coverage, for instance.

When they do cover politicians and political parties that stand on the other side of their preferences, the coverage is usually negative. They [the media owners] even have no problems saying that they are very influential politically; in some cases they even have no problems admitting that they help certain political candidates win certain elections using this biased coverage. 

These media outlets’ political agendas are actually plain to see for a lot of Indonesian audiences, who can actually discern the partialities of the outlets’ coverage. Therefore, many Indonesians become increasingly disillusioned with mainstream media outlets, knowing that these outlets are no longer independent in their political coverage as it is being steered by their owners’ political interests.


What are the negative consequences of the public losing faith in mainstream media?

Well, the less people trust official sources, the more likely they are to trust unofficial sources. This is why, with the advent of alternative information platforms such as the internet, social media and WhatsApp, fake news circulates even more widely among Indonesians now.

Women in kampung areas, for instance, make WhatsApp groups to obtain information because they don’t trust the government and mainstream media. Through WhatsApp, certain nongovernmental groups can broadcast certain statements, which haven’t been verified as valid yet but are written like proper press releases, making the circulation of fake news in the country even more rampant. This is why the fake news on vaccinations – such as fake news which claims that vaccines can cause autism or AIDS – has circulated wildly in Indonesia, causing many worried parents to refuse to have their infants vaccinated. Many Indonesians have already been skeptical about mainstream media outlets for quite a long time.

Ross Tapsell (Courtesy of Ubud Writers and Readers Festival/Wayan Martino)
Ross Tapsell (Courtesy of Ubud Writers and Readers Festival/Wayan Martino)


Why is that?

This lack of trust in the mainstream media is rooted in the country’s authoritarian New Order regime (1966-1998), when public communications were handled by official sources, who often censored news items published or broadcasted in local media outlets. Knowing that they could not rely on official sources and mainstream media outlets to get unbiased news, Indonesians started to explore other means to obtain information, such as relying on word-of-mouth messages. Lack of trust in official news sources is not reserved only to Indonesians but also other societies surviving authoritarian regimes.


Speaking of WhatsApp, why do you think Indonesians like using instant messaging platforms, seemingly excessively with groups?

This has much to do with Indonesia’s collectivistic culture, where strong emphasis is placed on communality and social bond. If you think of a kampung area in Indonesia, wherever you go there people – even strangers – will always greet you; “Hey, apa kabar?” And long conversations will soon follow. This is why many Indonesians will automatically and immediately share dubious news content in their WhatsApp groups, just to spark conversations even if they haven’t checked their accuracy or if they disagree with the content.

This tendency to share information indiscriminately through instant messaging services or social media platforms in order to bond with others is not prevalent among Indonesians only but among Southeast Asian societies in general. Southeast Asia is more collectivistic in culture, in contrast with the Japanese culture, which is more private. In more private societies like Japan, people don’t share as much information [through these communication platforms] with others, lessening the circulation of fake news.


Keeping these issues in mind, what can media practitioners, activists and the government do in order to curb the spread of fake news in Indonesia?

In order to tackle the proliferation of fake news on communication platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook, the Indonesian official sources – particularly the government – need to work hard to reclaim public trust so that more people will rely on credible media outlets for main sources of information. Local media outlets should also strengthen their presence among local communities, especially in rural areas; they should reach out to these communities and strive to establish their reputations as credible sources of information within these communities by actively engaging locals as news sources and establish community-based information nodes, for instance.


Your ANU website mentions that you have also spent several years working in several Indonesian media outlets, like The Jakarta Post and Lombok Post, as well as ANU’s Malaysia Institute. What are your impressions of people from the two countries?

I am inspired by the Indonesian journalists, they are interesting, outspoken and passionate about making real changes in their societies. I find that Malaysian journalists are more reserved; still it’s great to hang out with them.

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