Minister of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) Johnny G. Plate, has asked the mass media to continue fighting in the digital era by adapting dynamically to technological changes.
“Media is a pillar of democracy, opening public’s window of information,” he remarked during a webinar on journalism here on Thursday.
He said that the media and society are currently facing two challenges. One is the disruption of technology due to the presence of social media and the second is the coronavirus pandemic, which has changed almost all aspects of life, he explained.
Indonesia is also entering the era of the 5G internet network, which offers high-speed internet services, he said. Change is certainly unavoidable, so the media must be able to adapt and be agile in responding to these changes, he added.
Therefore, Plate appealed to media industry players to reformulate the vision of the media ecosystem.
He said the qualifications of human resources must be taken into account by measuring their readiness to carry out jobs and digital skills, since the digital era has given rise to many new ways of working.
Meanwhile, director general of postal and information technology equipment resources, who is also the acting director general of post and information technology administration, Ismail, said that the coronavirus pandemic has forced the public, including the media, to adopt digital technology. Digital transformation promises efficiency, supports the development of new products and services, presents new business models, and removes boundaries between industries, he pointed out.
In the context of mass media, conventional media certainly needs to be transformed, for example by opening subscriptions to digital newspapers, he said.
Digital transformation offers digital media monetization opportunities and income from advertising, he noted. In taking advantage of them, the media will face the challenge of how to increase public’s willingness to pay a subscription fee in order to get good quality information, he said.
In the midst of global trends, digital media players can generate a good income if they have good information and have segments, he added. Hence, journalists need to improve their abilities, he said.
In addition, the media also faces the challenge of reading literacy which is still low, so the media must make news headlines that attract attention, otherwise known as clickbait, he remarked.
“Let’s encourage people to consume news properly and correctly,” Ismail remarked.
Source: Antara News