JAKARTADAILY.ID – The Indonesian Fact-checking Summit 2021 questioned the accuracy of issuing hoax labels by the authorities on journalistic works.
The issue of accuracy in the hoax labels was raised by all speakers during the summit’s discussion titled "Questioning the monopoly of truth in the hoax labels: Who can check the facts." The speakers include Gaib Maruto Sigit, the head of law and advocacy division at the cyber media association (AMSI); Caroline Damanik, deputy managing editor of Kompas.com; Nuril Hidayah, the head of research and development committee at the Indonesian anti-slandering society (Mafindo).
Gaib Maruto Sigit said that the labels of hoaxes could not be given arbitrarily. "It could not be given arbitrarily to journalistic works that have undergone a process of field verification and published by credible media," he said during the discussions on Thursday, December 16, 2021.
He asserted that the institution that has the authority to give such labels to the journalistic works is the press council, and should not be the other institutions. He added that the media that has conflict of interest with business interest, should not conduct verification of facts in the journalistic works of other media.
The second part of the discussion during the summit covered the issue of "Distribution format and pattern of the fact check contents: Why are verified contents gain less traction on the internet than those of hoax ones?" and was addressed by Aribowo Sasmito, Co-founder and Fact Check Specialist of the Indonesian Anti-Slandering Society; Wydia Angga, producer of Cek Fakta KBR podcast; Dr. Adaninggar Prima Nariswari, a Youtuber/Tiktoker regarding fact check contents; Fritz V. Wongkar, a member of TV-Kabar Makassar fact check team; and Arianne Santoso, a panelist from Google Indonesia.
During the session, speakers said that not only the hoax labels, but the contents of misinformation and disinformation are also often distributed faster and wider compared to those already verified ones.
They said that mass media and fack checkers, who verified the contents, should have the right priorities and strategies on content distribution to stop the hoax news.
During the third session of discussions on "Clearing the Programmatic Ads in Online Media from the potential Mis/Disinformation," speakers highlighted the issue of programmatic ads from digital technology companies whose contents contain fake information. Such a condition has become a concern, despite the fact that online media need income.
To tackle the issue, the speakers underlined the importance of creating a healthy business ecosystem. All media should continually keep quality by publishing ads that comply with the advertising code of ethics and avoid false information.
The speakers during the third session are Fakhrurrodzi Baidi, CEO of Riauonline.co.id; Moch. Rifki, head of Publisher Development MGID Indonesia; Heru Margianto, managing editor of Kompas.com, and Denia Isetianti, a netizen whose content was used without permission in an online advertisement; and FX. Lilik Dwi Mardjianto, a lecturer of journalism at the University of Multimedia Nusantara.
Heru said that they stopped cooperation with MGID Indonesia as the contents of programmatic ads from the company are heavy with hoaxes. He cited as an example its content of advertisement on product for weight loss which used photos taken from the internet and fabricated narrative. "The brutal one is a content that informs as if Social Minister Risma supports the product and gave an award. It’s a hoax content," said Heru. (*)
