Community Gathering at Ruang & Tempo

The IofC Indonesia team were invited to join a community gathering held by Tempo Institute, which is one of the media companies in Indonesia. This program was held on Friday, 16 November 2018 attended by people from different communities. The theme was Stop the Spread of Fake News. It was a potluck gathering where the participants contributed different food and beverages to be shared. We came to share and to discuss about fake news which is getting more dangerous. Fake news affects our view of our surroundings, politics, media, national security and our discussions with other people.

Reza Pratama, a creative writer from yukepodotcom, a media entertainment company in Indonesia, said that fake news spread faster than truth does, not only on social medias but also in the family circle. Acep Syaripudin, a digital literacy officer, said that we may apply 3 things to do before sharing news: whether the news is right or not, is it useful or not to share the news, and whether the news is urgent or not.

Irna Yugaswatie, president of IofC Indonesia shared on how we can reflect on the news before spreading it to the public before sharing.  Gregy Gustavo from Indonesia Future Leaders (IFL) said that IFL is also concerned about the urgency of fake news so we recently held a gathering on approaching people to share the accurate news. Dahlia Rera, from Tempo Institute, also our IofC friend, shared about how Tempo Institute builds networking with communities which are also concerned with the issue of fake news. “We had a talk show in different cities, interviewed people, and found out that fake news is everywhere and it affects society.” Henni Mulyati, from Masyarakat Anti Fitnah Indonesia (Mafindo), shared about the concern of this organization to engage more people caring for fake news. “We should critically evaluate the information before spreading the news.”

At the end of the session, each community shared about updated programs and any partnership we can create.  It was great to learn and to collaborate with different communities. We also gladly inform everyone that, in collaboration with Tempo Institute, IofC Indonesia, we will start co-working space at Ruang & Tempo.

Reported by Yofrina Octika Gultom