7. Benefits for Local Media

(The following section is written as a testimony by the Founder and CEO of KabarMakasar.com, Upi Asmaradhana, who tells how the CekFakta.com collaboration has increased the credibility of the media and sparked new content innovation in the form of audiovisuals.)

The fact-checking movement that began in May 2018 involved several national and local cybermedia, including Makassar city in South Sulawesi — which has contributed to safeguarding the country’s democracy.

The quality of democracy can be measured by how responsible cybermedia is over its content through journalistic and fact-checking mechanisms. These two methodologies have one thing in common: both can be used to test the validity of information spread in a society.

The fact-checking movement has also become more relevant as social media platforms constantly shadow journalism in the digital era. Fact-check is a solution for journalism to stay relevant in a changing age. Journalists need to transform into fact-checkers to fight against disinformation and misinformation. At the very least, that is how journalism can stay in touch with the ever-transforming society, which it serves. In a nutshell, fact-checking journalism answers the challenges posed by the modern age and its market.

Like it or not, Cek Fakta has pushed editorial teams to utilize many new tools within journalistic mechanisms and work processes. What started as a compulsion, as a result, new technology has become the standard methodology for the newsroom staff.

At kabarmakassar.com, the fact-checking movement has started to attract its own crowd. Especially when the editorial team has frequently encouraged fact-checking communities to initiate local groups and associations in Makassar and other cities/districts in South Sulawesi. Currently, there are two Cek Fakta community groups in South Sulawesi: one in Makassar city and another in the Selayar Islands district.

Transformation also occurred at the editorial level. Editors now realize their duties expand outside collecting and spreading information. But also to educate the general public on sources of information and their relevance to them. Therefore, community members as consumers of information and news can also be involved in the production process, especially concerning fact-checking. They are now part of joint production in the media.

KabarMakassar’s Involvement

KabarMakasar.com was one of the 22 digital media that initiated the birth of CekFakta.com as an effort to fight against hoaxes in cooperation with the Indonesian Anti Slander Society (Mafindo), the Indonesian Cybermedia Association (AMSI), and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

Kabarmakassar.com’s involvement in this long-term project is not far from the history of its founding. Established on August 29, 2009, KabarMakassar has consistently safeguarded journalism, including avoiding practices that can ruin journalism, such as clickbait.

We saw that Cek Fakta is a valuable movement to the editorial and the public. The editorial team and Cek Fakta have the same vision and mission: to act as a communication channel that bridges and protects the public interest.

After joining CekFakta.com, KabarMakassar frequently participated in the collaboration. We always make space in the editorial to deliver information through news articles, photos, and videos that support Cek Fakta. In addition, various journalist field reports with data collected by our Monitoring and Research Team were published via Cek Fakta’s unique channel.

Since 2018, KabarMakassar.com has continuously worked to clarify fake claims widely circulating in public and those viral on social media. In addition, we also constantly try to improve our readers’ literacy on how to independently verify the truth of a news story or post to ensure that the general public will be intelligent enough in digesting a piece of information. To that end, we are also frequently involved in training in the Makassar city area, especially for journalists, students, and communication officers of government agencies in South Sulawesi.

As a local media with the most fact-checker in the area, we—and 22 other media from all over Indonesia, were also involved in the fact-checking program during the 2019 Presidential election in Jakarta. Moreover, by the end of 2020, we also took part in Fact-Checking the Live Debate of South Sulawesi’s Regional Head Election and Regional Head Election Process that were held simultaneously.

Our newsroom’s participation in this joint collaboration has also raised the standard of our content and cooperation, which had been missing for the past few decades. This collaboration also debunked the myth that newsrooms, including its reporters and editors, can never share a room and information at the same time.

Serving the Local Community

The Cek Fakta movement has become a new role model for digital journalism. At the very least, it facilitated new ideas on what and how the fight to safeguard the local content should occur.

Since its involvement with Cek Fakta, our editorial team has also broadened our reach by serving new communities that are often become the target of false information. For example, indigenous communities, remote villages, marginalized communities, and those without equal economic and political access. They, in general, are Human Rights activists, women and children communities, and certain groups.

We hope that KabarMakassar, as a member of CekFakta.com, will continue to improve our coverage and Cek Fakta community services for the public. That is why, aside from designing a dedicated channel for Cek Fakta in Kabarmakassar, we also increased our Cek Fakta video production in our Youtube channel.

Furthermore, we are creating a visual team that would serve as content checkers to tackle the swath of fake video content in the Youtube platform. Finally, in the fight against the ever-growing false information, we also provide education through literacy programs for the public.

The latest, currently we have just launched Cek Fakta TV. The idea stemmed from the effort to optimize the development of new media formats for a fact-checking article. We would also like to push fact verification with video content.

IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED

• Inter-media collaboration is essential, but one should not forget the local context so that fact-checking contents can be easier to understand by your readership communities. In addition, with a local context, Your reporting can be more meaningful to the audience segment that You serve.
• Ideas regarding new content or programs can come from anywhere, as long as capable infrastructure and competent human resources are available.
• Joining the CekFakta.com network can unleash many potentials for the media to monetize.