Media Monitoring End of Project Report Indonesia

MediaMonitoringEndofProjectReport–IndonesiaSiteA. ContextofCOVID-19inIndonesia

The firstpositive casesofCovid-19 in Indonesiawere identifiedon2March2020,aftera

dance instructor and her mother tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Both were

infected by a Japanese national. By 9 April 2020, the pandemic had spread to all 34

provinces in the country and by 10 August 2020, the number of cases has surpassed

125.000, withmore than 5.723 deaths and still an average of 1.000 to 2.000 new cases

everyday1.

On 23 April 2020, the Indonesian government announced large-scale social restrictions

(Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar/PSBB) and banned all means of transportation, both

domestic and international. Soon after, various official information platforms were

launched, such as thewebsite (www.Covid19.go.id), the hotline (119 ext. 9), and tracing

mobileapplications(pedulilindungi).

Thedeploymentofaninformationcenter,includingahotline,isconsideredapositivestep

by theGovernment,however, it is questionableas to theextent it is able to support the

communityiftheinformationprovidedisunclear,delayed,andmisleading.Fromtheinitial

PSBBuntilthe"NewNormal"phase,announcedon1June2020,theregulations,guidance,

andstatementspublishedabruptlychangedjustafewdaysafterissuance.

When the people were still adapting to working from home, organizing all community

servicesandgatheringsonline,andmaintainingminimumphysicalcontact,thegovernment

suddenlyannouncedthe"NewNormal"phaseofencouragingthepublictoreturntotheir

regular activities in order to boost the economy,while still practicing health protocols to

preventthespreadofCovid-19(yetnotasstrictinadherenceasthepreviousPSBB).

Furthermore,inanyphase,mostoftheactivitiesofschoolorwork,includedsearchingfor

andsharingofinformation,allofwhicharecarriedoutonline.Unfortunately,eventhough

the internet provides adequate information and education, on the other hand, it also

facilitatesthespreadingofmisinformationandhoaxes.

1 www.covid19.go.id

On 27 April 2020, theMinistry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo)

announcedtherewerealmost600hoaxesrelatedtotheCovid-19pandemic.Althoughthe

Indonesian government frequently identified the hoax creators and misinformation

spreadersthroughLawNo.11of2008onElectronicInformationandTransaction(amended

byLawNo.19of2016),theefforttocatchtheculpritanddemandpublicclarificationonthe

hoaxhasbeeninadequate,anduntilthesuspecthasbeencontactedand/orarrested,the

misinformation is potentially continuing to be spread virally resulting in material and

immaterialdamage,duetothenatureoftheinformationthatisbeingsoeasilydistributed2.

A. Government’s response to the misleading news

InIndonesia,thegovernmentsystemisdecentralized,withtheregionalgovernments,both

at the provincial or district level, having autonomy in decision-making. The Indonesian

government system is alsodemocratic andmultilayered, andas theexecutive leader, the

president seeks approval for any regulation change to the parliament members as the

legislative.Thissystemhasoftenresultedindelays,andinconsistencyinthestatementsor

messages delivered across the country; raising confusion amongst the public regarding

which statements to trustand follow,orworse,misleading thepublic in theirbeliefsand

actionsinamannerwhichcouldworsenthesituationofthisCovid-19pandemic.

The Centre of Political Studies of the Indonesia Science Institute (LIPI) criticized the

governmentsysteminmonitoringtheinformationspreadtothepeople.LIPIstatedthatthe

government has been downplaying the threat of this pandemic. It showed the many

statementsfrompublicofficialswhohadstatedthatCovid-19isnotmorelethalthantheflu

virus, and the lack of concern from the leader by promoting Indonesian tourism through

engaging a social media influencer and spending 72 billion rupiahs to raise interest in

tourism.3

Anothercrucialissueininformationmanagementisthelackofdatatransparencyandactive

misinformation about the nature of this pandemic. The government has been trying to

portraythattheCovid-19issueisanormalsituationwhichislargelymanageable.Thekeyto

2 https://youth4ig.asia/blog/indonesia-response-covid-19-p2/ 3 http://www.politik.lipi.go.id/kolom/kolom-2/politik-nasional/1365-data-transparency-and-misinformation-of-covid-19-in-indonesia

maintainingthisperceptionisdeliberateeffortsbythegovernmenttofiltertheinformation

allowed to be presented to the public. Until recently, the Ministry of Health had only

disclosed the number of new cases, those hospitalized, those who had recovered, and

deceasedpatients.

Ontheotherside,thegovernmentthroughtheMinistryofCommunicationandInformation

has actively responded to tackle any misinformation which is spread throughout the

community.Thesetypesofinformationwillnotstaylonginthesocialmediaoranyonline

platforms. The misinformation such as taking herbal medicine for Covid-19 treatment,

conspiracyissues,etc.havebeentakendownfromthemediawithindays.

Unfortunately, there are many Indonesian officials and public figures who provide

information regarding thecurrent situationandmightmisleadcitizensandcause themto

make incorrect decisions. For example, in early February, a Harvard epidemiologist

reminded the Indonesian government about the possibility that Indonesia already had

undetected positive cases of Covid-19. In response, the Indonesia Minister of Health

dismissed the suggestion as an insult to the Indonesians’ ability to detect the virus. His

statementandresponserepresentsthestancetakenbyIndonesianpublicofficialsregarding

anyinformationrelatedtoCovid-19.

B. ProjectSummary

OneoftheimpactsoftheCovid-19pandemicisanexcessiveamountofinformationspread

publicly, particularly in online media, without giving an opportunity for the community

themselves to absorb and screen whether they are receiving accurate or misleading

information. In this study,misleading information in onlinemedia refers to any deceitful

content, such as disinformation (i.e. fake news), rumours, manipulated content, or

authenticmaterial used in thewrong context. Under any form, however,misinformation

undeniablyposesathreat,asthiscontentcanmaliciouslymanipulatepeople’sbeliefsand

theirdecisions,carryingthusasocialimpactwithtremendouspotentialtocausereal-world

impacts.

Theaimof thisMediaMonitoringprojectwas tomonitoranddocumentmisleadingnews

and/orinformationinregardstoCovid-19inIndonesia,specificallystatementscomingfrom

thegovernment.Findingswillbeusedasabaselinetoadvocatemedialiteracyskillsandto

designmorelocal-basedinformationdisseminationforms.Itmayalsolaterbepresentedto

government representatives and a national expert’s panel to seek follow-up studies and

recommendations foractiontobetaken in futurepandemics.Long-termactionoutcomes

canalsobeusedtodevelopcommunityguidelinesonanti-misinformationwhichcouldbe

circulatedregionallyasapreventiveactionforsimilarsituationsandtoimprovethecapacity

oflocalonlinejournalistswhereneeded.

In Indonesia, the monitoring has focused on three of the most popular news portals in

Indonesia; detik.com, kompas.com and liputan6.com, with one of the three linked social

mediaposts (Twitter/Facebook, ifavailable) tothenewsarticles.Thismonitoringhasonly

analysed the government statements related to Covid-19 published within the period of

January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020, and whether they are suspected of being misleading

information. The monitoring team involved a group of scientists and representative of

communitiesinreviewingandgatheringinformationandinsights.

C. Methods

ThemediamonitoringwasconductedbyutilizingGooglesearch,withthekeywords:“(news

platform name)., Covid-19” and “(news platform name)., corona”. The selected search

category was then changed from “All” to “News”, and the date range tool activated to

narrowthesearchresultstoonlywithintheperiodofJanuary1,2020toMay31,2020.

ThecollecteddatawascompiledintoamediamonitoringtemplateinExcelformat,withthe

detailsofthenewsplatformname,dateofpublication,thetitleofthearticle,asummaryof

thecontent,and the link to thearticle.Eachof thenewsarticleswas thencategorized in

order to identify whether it contained a statement coming from the Indonesian

government; if yes, which government actor it is. The newswhich contained statements

from the Indonesian government was then categorized into either one of these content

categories: (1) Prevention, (2) Treatment, (3)Disease epidemiology (includingprevalence,

new incidence, risk factors), (4) Governmental management (including regulations,

governance,etc);and(5)Relateddiscriminationandxenophobia.

The statementswere then categorizedas towhether theywerepotentiallymisleading to

the public or not. If yes, the number of engagements (share, repost, or comment) was

recorded,togetarepresentationoftheinformationdistribution.Inthisprocess,misleading

information isdefinedasanyshared informationprovidedby thegovernmentwhichmay

causeanincorrectorpotentiallyharmfulactionorresponsebythepublic.Itincludes:

i. Bias information: a particular tendency to express feelings or opinions,

especially ones that are preconceived or unreasoned, and/or to interpret

informationthatconfirmsone’spre-existingbeliefsorhypotheses.

ii. Disinformation: false information which is publicly announced in the newsmedia with the sharer’s intention to mislead and deceive the public forpoliticalorsocialgains.

iii. Misinformation: false or inaccurate information created as a result of anhonestmistakeandnegligencebythesharer.

For any statements which were related to technical or medical information which the

monitoringteamwasunsureastowhether itwasmisleadingornot,theteamsoughtthe

professional advice of EOCRU senior researchers (epidemiologists, physicians, and

virologists)toverifytheaccuracyoftheparticularstatements.

Thenextstepwastocross-checkthe informationwiththepublic.Duetothe limitationof

time for the project, we were only able to organize two online focus group discussions

(FGD),on6thAugust2020withagroupofyoungpeople(agedbetween17–25yearsold)

and11thAugust2020withagroupofadultswithvariousbackgrounds.Detailedinformation

aboutparticipants’profiles frombothgroupscanbe seen inAnnexA.Participantsof this

FGD had been invited to the discussion through a WhatsApp message which had been

shared through various networks. If someone agreed to participate, he/shewould join a

WhatsAppgrouptoreceivefurtherinformationaboutthefocusgroupdiscussion.Byjoining

the group, participants gave permission to themonitoring team to record the discussion

processandquotetheiropinions.

Thediscussionmainlyfocusedonhowthepublicrespondstogovernmentstatementsinthe

mass media, whether these statements influence or affect the individual actions and

decisions,andfinally,wesoughtrecommendationsonhowtospreadpositiveandaccurate

informationtothepubliceffectively.

Thefollowingquestionswerediscussedwiththeparticipants:

1. Howoftendoyouaccessanonlinenewsplatform?Comparedtothebeginning

of PSBB, has the intensity decreased, increased (more often) or is there no

difference?

2. Whatkindsofnewsorinformationattractyourattentionthemost?

3. How do the information and news you attain from onlinemedia impact your

decision-makinginyourbehavioursoractions?

4. Inyouropinion, isthereanygovernmentstatement,eithercentral,regional,or

legislative,thatisnotaccurate?Howdoyourespondtoit?

5. Doyouhaveanyadvice,suggestions,orrecommendationstofixorimprovethe

quality of the information delivered by the central, regional, or legislative

membersofthegovernment?

D. KeyFindingsandAnalysis

Thedatacollectionfromthethreenewsplatformsresultedinatotalof1,115newsarticles

using the aforementioned keywords; precisely 400 from liputan6.com, 366 from

kompas.com, and 349 from detik.com. From the 1,115 news articles, 675were found to

includestatementsfromtheIndonesiangovernment,whiletheother440didnot.

The675newsarticleswhichincludedstatementsfromtheIndonesiangovernmentvariedin

termsof thespecificgovernmentactorsstating them,andwere identifiedas follows:408

fromcentralofficials,150fromprovinceofficials,94fromdistrict/municipalitiesofficials,5

fromPeople’sRepresentativeCouncils (DewanPerwakilanRakyat/DPR), 3 fromProvincial

People’sRepresentativeCouncils (DewanPerwakilanRakyatDaerah),and15fromothers,

suchasthepoliceandtheelectioncouncil.

The 675 news articles which contained Indonesian government statements were also

separatedbasedon their content,with the following findings on each category: 18 news

articles under the category of “prevention”, 15 under “treatment”, 264 under “disease

epidemiology”, 376 under “governmental management”, and 2 under “related

discriminationandxenophobia”. From those675newsarticles,640of themare found to

notbemisleading.Thereare35news itemswhichweresuspectedofbeingmisleading:2

suspected as “bias information”, 31 as “disinformation”, and 2 as “misinformation” (with

thedefinitionofeachmisleadingcategoryasdefinedinthe“Method”section).

Therewas a total of 35 news articles that contained Indonesian government statements

which are suspected to be misleading. Most of the statements submitted by the

government canbe classified into2broad categories, namely treatment andgovernment

policiesrelatedtotheresponsetoCovid-19.Thegovernmentconsideredittobetooearly

to introduce several alternativeCovid-19 treatments thathavenot yetpassed the clinical

trialstage.Anotherstatementisaboutinter-islandhumanmobilizationpolicies,suchasthe

policyofreopeningflightsandallowingpeopletotravelwhentheholidaysarrive,whichare

risk opportunities in themselves. So, even though the number of potentially misleading

statementsisquitesmallcomparedtothenumberofstatementsconveyedingeneral,these

statementsstillhaveanimpactonsocietyintakingactionsanddecisions.

Allthespecificmediastorieshavebeencompiledwitheachofthemainideasofthecontent

summarizedinthetablebelow,alongwiththetimeframeandnewsplatformofeachnews

article.

The number of engagements cited on the table (Appendix E) are based on each news

platform. The measurable engagements for Detik.com and Kompas.com on their news

platformsarethenumberofcomments,whileforLiputan6.comit isthenumberofarticle

shares.Inaddition,newsarticlesfromLiputan6.comwerealsosearchediftheywereposted

on itsofficialTwitteraccount,and if yes,howmanynumberof comments, retweets,and

likesoneachtweetwasrecorded.

Table2:Exampleofmediastories.ForfulltableseeseeAppendixE

No. Date,Platform

ContentSummary ContentAccuracy

Number ofEngagements

1. 26/01/20,Kompas.com

While the number of Coronavirus casesrose in China, the Governor of WestSumatra, IrwanPrayitno,welcomed150tourists from China. This caused acontroversy.

Misleading:Disinformation

11comments

There are several aspects that affect the number of engagements for each news item

published.Mainly,itwentviralbecauseoftheattention-grabbingtitleofthearticle.Others

hitthenumberbecausetheissuewascontroversial,andraisedpeople'scuriosity.

Infact,trackingengagementbyjustonearticleisachallenge.Notonlythespreadtosocial

media butmostly through communicationplatforms, such asWhatsApp.Oneof our FGD

participantsfromtheadultgroup,FA01,sharedherexperience,"...whenthegovernment

firstannouncedthePSBB,therewasnofollow-upannouncementfromthelocalgovernment

whetheritalsoappliesinBandaAcehornot.However,asprevention,myfamilydecidedto

practice the health protocols and started looking for information on themassmedia and

officialwebsites,butmostoftheinformationjustfocusonpublishingthenumberofcasesin

Indonesia.IreceivedmorevarietyofinformationthroughWhatsAppgroups,bothfamilyand

professional-relatedgroups”.

ThemassiveamountofinformationsentthroughtheWhatsAppgroupalsomadesomeFGD

participants,frombothgroups,feeloverwhelmedandanxiousbecausetheycouldnolonger

filterwhichinformationwasaccurateorjustahoax.

When the monitoring team asked the comparison of intensity in accessing Covid-19

information between the initial PSBB and today, the youth stated that their intensity of

readingonlinenewsorjustnewsingeneralhaddecreasedafterthePSBB.Thiswasbecause

mostmediamostlypublishedaboutCovid-19relatednewswithnosignificantandpositive

progress;thenumberofcaseshadonlybeenincreasing,andsomenewsplatformswerenot

accurate. The youth stated that theyonly chose to read thenews thatmight affect their

personal lives inawayoranother, for instance informationaboutnewcases inparticular

office complexes which concerned them when they must work from the office, or the

governmentpolicyregardingevenandoddcarplatesinJakartawhichmightforcethemto

takepublictransportationandincreasetheriskofgettinginfected.

Meanwhile, theadultparticipants stated that the intensityof themaccessing information

through the news portal had always been low, even though they kept reading the

informationcirculatingaroundthechatgroupsandsocialmediacircles.Yettheyadmitted

to having attempted to decrease it, as one participant FA02 stated that “toomuch news

makesithardtofilter,anditcankillyou”.Thisissupportedbyherstoryabouthermother-

in-law whose health had worsened after constantly watching Covid-19 related news on

television,yetafteraself-therapynottobeexposedtoanynewsplatformnoranyCovid-19

relatedinformation,herhealthimproved.

Itissafetoconcludethattheadultsdonotintentionallyandactivelyseekinformationfrom

newsplatformsorothermedia,buttheyjustconsumewhateveriseasilyaccessibletothem

inchatgroupsorsocialmedia;whichunfortunatelycomeswithahigherriskofexposureto

misleadingandlesscredibleinformation.

Interestingly,oneof thediscussionparticipants from theadult group FA03, also raiseda

concernrelatedtothemassiveCovid-19researcharticlespublishedbyIndonesiascientific

mediaor journal -"Currently, therearemanyscientificmediathatopenaccess for freeto

the public. Positively, the community can get more scientific and accurate information.

However,themassivenessoftheresearchpublicationringsmyalarmwhetherthemethod

anditsresultareaccurateenoughsinceithasbeenconducted,reviewed,andpublishedina

relatively short time. I believe the accuracy of the results still needs further investigation.

With the limited ability of the community to understand scientific articles, this can be a

misleadthemtoo".

This is also confirmed by the youth, who also realize that their parents or other adults

around themdonot bother to clarify the credibility of the information they receive, and

thusfeelaresponsibilitytoprovidethecorrect informationforthem. If there isanynews

thattheyouthfeellikereadingbesidestheonesthatdirectlyaffecttheirpersonallives,itis

thenews thatcouldhelp themto tackle thehoaxesandmisinformationbyeducating the

factstotheadultsandlesscriticalorlesseducatedpeoplearoundthem.

Whendiscussingtheimpactofmisleadinggovernmentstatementsontheirdecision-making

andbehaviours,theyouthparticipantsadmittedtobeingunshakenintheircommitmentto

keep following health protocols and not go out of the house as much as possible. An

exception, for those who are working, sometimes their decisions are influenced by the

regulations in their company. For example, the regulations for returning to work in the

officewillcertainlyinfluencetheirdecisiontoreturntousingpublictransportation.

However,thisisnotthecasewithallyouthinIndonesia.Theyadmitthattherearefriends

of the same age who are although educated, still seem careless and do not take the

pandemic seriously. They shared experiences of both young people and adults in their

communitiesrespondingtothe“newnormal”thatshouldonlyapplytofundamentalthings

likebusinessesforthegoodoftheeconomy,butmanyhavebeguntohangoutincafesin

biggroupswithoutwearingmasks,travelintercityorinterprovince,orevenvisitrecreation

spots. The FGD youth participants’ assumption is that after having to stay at home for

monthsduringPSBB,peoplebecomehavebecomemore impulsivewhen theyheard that

thegovernmenthadallowedparticularthingstogobacktonormaloperation,andthatthey

haveforgottentopracticehealthprotocolsandtherisksthatcomewithit.

This is also confirmed by the FGD adult participants, who felt that most people in their

community underestimated the pandemic, or worse, some even think that Covid-19 is a

merehoax,fakenews,orevenpropaganda.Theobservationbytheadultparticipantsisno

differentthanthatoftheyouth,wheretheyseeeventhebasichealthprotocolssuchasnot

meetingpeopleinbiggroupsorcontinuewearingmasksarenotbeingfollowed.

However,there isadifferencebetweentheyouthandtheadultsparticipants inhowthey

respond to misleading statements from the government. For instance, the Ministry of

Health’s statement about how herbalmedicines couldward off Covid-19. name , one of

participantfromtheadultgroup,said"Eventhoughthereisnoscientificevidenceaboutthe

efficacyofherbalmedicine to treatCovid-19, I still consume itasprevention." Incontrast,

the youths tend not to be impacted by these suspectedmisleading statements and only

follow the basic health protocols, which are clearly not misleading, in order to prevent

themselvesfrombeinginfected.

Anotherexperiencesharedbynameregardingthegovernmentstatementaboutreturning

to your hometown during Eid Fitr holiday: "I visit home carewheremy father is treated

frequently,andtoreachthatlocation,Iusethetollroad.SincePSBB,therestareaonthetoll

road is relatively empty, you can only see a few cars, but right after the government

announced thatpeoplewereallowed to return to theirhometownsandcelebrateEid, the

restareabecamecrowdedagain."

In conclusion, there are many aspects that influence someone to make inappropriate

decisionsandactionsbasedontheinformationtheyreceive.Lackofknowledgeandmedia

literacyatthecommunitylevelisnottheonlyreasonbehindthiscondition.Themedia,both

conventionalanddigital,playsanimportantroleinensuringthatthepeopleaccessaccurate

informationandcanunderstandthemessageofthatinformationwell.Ontheotherhand,

thegovernment,atany level,asasourceof informationmustalsobecareful inproviding

statementsorinformationtothepublic.Becauseeventhoughpeopleareabletofilterthe

informationandmaybe smarter in choosingmoreaccuratemedia sources, thereare still

largercommunitiesofpeoplewhodon'thaveliteracyskillsortheknowledgeandcapacity

toscreen/verifytheinformationtheyreceive.

E. PublicEngagement,ImpactsandBenefits

To date this project has had impact on the immediate community involved with our

engagement activities, but limited impacts to the wider public yet. We conducted data

collection(mediatracingandrecording)andgatheringmoreinformationandexperiencein

community level during thegivenproject time frame. Theparticipants andexpert groups

definitelyprovidedvaluableinformationandrecommendationswhichwillbeusefulforthe

team in designing further interventions. It is interesting to find that the focus group

discussion participants (both the young people and adults) have more or less the same

feedback and advise for the government, journalists, and partners for improved levels of

communicationduringthispandemic.Belowaresomekeyrecommendationsprovidedfrom

thisproject:

1. Firstly, the government should identify the different cultural and socioeconomic

groups in this diverse country, and then communicate separately with a tailored

healthpromotionapproachaccordingtoeachtargetsegment.Theyouthssuggested

that the government should collaborate with public figures, including cultural and

religion leaders, or social media influencers and use other forms of information

distribution that could be more attention-grabbing, such as videos or tiktok,

considering that most Indonesians do not have that much interest in reading long

news articles. However, the government should be careful in selecting the public

figurestheydecidetoworkwith,ortheycouldgiveevenmoremisleadinginformation

andmessagestothepublic.Theadultsaddedtothisbysayingthattheyouthsindeed

haveagreat influenceon familydecision-makingandbehaviour,and thatwhen the

government succeeds in making the youth understand the right things to do in a

pandemic, they could positively influence their families and communities to do the

rightthing.

2. The government suggested avoiding using unfamiliar jargon, and if possible, to use

local language in each separate region in the 34 provinces in Indonesia, so that it

wouldresonatemorewiththelocalsandbemoreunderstandableforthemtoadopt

therequiredbehavioursaswell.

3. Utilizing the health facilitators or cadres in district or village levels is preferred to

supportthespreadofpositivemessagesandinformation,insteadofdevelopingnew

informationplatformswhichareunrecognizedbythecommunity.

4. The information sources andmessagedeliverers should alsobeeducated to ensure

thattheyareconsistentwitheachother,andcarefulwhenmakingpublicstatements.

The government has a department responsible for evaluating public statements

before they are released to the public, and this should be utilised to ensure that

misleadingstatementsareavoidable.ManyIndonesiansdonothavetheresourcesto

research to confirm the validity of statements, and thus take things literally.

Misleading statements therefore mislead their decisions and behaviours, thus

increasingtheirsusceptibilitytoacquiringorspreadingthevirus.

5. Empowering and educating the public to have more media literacy; including the

ability to understand keymessageswhen reading specific news or information and

being aware of its impact; the ability to select suitable, appropriate and accessible

media; utilising critical thinking; and the ability to distinguish emotional from

reasonedreactions.Aboveallthegovernmentofficialsshouldberolemodelsforthe

community,particularlywhentheypersuadethepublictofollowhealthprotocolsor

behaveinaparticularmannerforthegoodofthewholecommunity.

6. TopreventthespreadofCovid-19,thegovernmentshouldalsoshowtheirpersistence

and consistency in their actions, regulations, and policies. Everything has to be

consistent as this is theway that the public trust toward the government could be

restored. Once the public trust has been restored and the government is finally

deemedascrediblebythepublic,thentheyshouldtackleallhoaxesandinformation

circulatingthroughthepublic.ThiswasalsosupportedbyaFGDadultparticipantwho

said that the energy and time of researchers andmedical workers could be better

usedforbeneficialresearch(suchasfindingacureandtreatingpatients), insteadof

havingtopour it intoclarifyingmisinformationthattheyarecontinuallybeingasked

todo.

7. Mostof theFGDparticipantsagreed that they felt that themediahadbeenputting

moreimportanceontheamountandspeedofpublishednewsarticles,insteadofthe

content accuracy of thenews itself. The FGDparticipants suggested that given that

most Indonesiansarehighlyattractedtoheadlinesandhaveatendencynottoread

the entire article, the journalists should not make the headlines as clickbait or

misleading.Theyshouldindeedmaketheheadlinesenticingorintriguingtomakethe

audiencewant to read and findoutmore about the actual facts, but notmake the

headlines implydifferent information incaseswhere theaudiencedonotbother to

read the restof thenews content. The journalists shouldalsobe trained to rewrite

government statements accurately, without skipping important details and only

writing what is alignedwith the agenda of eachmedia agency, but rather practice

goodjournalismwhichisentirelyforthegoodofthecommunity.

F. Ongoing/FutureEngagementPlan

Astheperiodofthisprojectwaslimitedtomainlymonitoringofthemedianewsitems

being disseminated, and accessing some public opinion, there are a number of other

engagementactivitieswhichwillbedevelopedfurther:

1. Sharing the findings of the media monitoring to date with government

representativesandthewiderpublictogathertheiropinionsandinitiatediscussion

about the issue of accurate information sources and avenues for communication

withthebroadercommunity.

2. Holdinga seriesofpublic seminarsorworkshopsusingappropriateplatformswith

theaimtoincreasemedialiteracyamongtheIndonesianpublic.

3. Wherepossibletocontinuethemediamonitoringprocessforanextendedperiodof

time to access data over a longer and comparable time frame, and enable us to

conductaseriesofdiscussionswithavarietyofcommunityrepresentatives,toget

morecomprehensivedataandinformation.

4. To explore avenues to support the spreading of more positive messages and

information among the communities: by maximize the function of EOCRU official

socialmediaaccounts;andbydevelopingwaysofenhancingthecapacityofhealth

facilitatorsinourresearchsitesacrossIndonesia.

AppendixA:DemographyprofileofFGDparticipants

YouthFGDParticipantsAge Gender Occupation Location22 Female FreshgraduateinCommunications NorthJakarta23 Female MarketLaunchforGlobal Padang,WestSumatra25 Male BusinessStrategyAnalyst CentralJakarta20 Male Communicationsstudent,3rdterm Tangerang,Banten23 Female DigitalMarketingExecutive Tangerang,Banten23 Female Musician Tangerang,Banten

PublicFGDParticipantsAge Gender Occupation Location39 Female Author/Writer Semarang,CentralJava50 Female Privatecompanyemployee Medan,NorthSumatra34 Female Doctor,Lecturer Aceh,NorthSumatra27 Male Privatecompanyemployee Banjarbaru,SouthKalimantan38 Female Privatecompanyemployee Bekasi,WestJava36 Male NGOactivist Medan,NorthSumatra51 Female Lecturer Medan,NorthSumatra42 Female Lecturer NorthSumatra35 Female Physician SouthTangerang,Banten

AppendixB:NewsIncludingIndonesianGovernmentStatements

NewsPlatform

NumberofNews(01/01/20-31/05/20) IncludeIndonesianGovernmentStatements

Liputan6 400Yes 237No 163

Kompas 366Yes 230No 136

Detik 349Yes 208No 141

Total 1115 Include 675

Doesnotinclude 440

61%

39%

INCLUDEINDONESIANGOVT.STATEMENTS(01/01/20-31/05/20)

Include Doesnotinclude

AppendixC:IndonesianGovernmentActorsStatingtheGovernmentStatements

GovernmentActorsStatingtheGovernmentStatementsIndicator Variable TotalCount PerNewsPlatform

1 CentralGovernment 408Liputan6 114Kompas 151Detik 143

2 ProvincialGovernment 150Liputan6 67Kompas 40Detik 43

3 District/MunicipalityGovernment 94

Liputan6 44Kompas 35Detik 15

4 DPR(People’sRepresentativeCouncil) 5


5 DPRD(ProvincialPeople’sRepresentativeCouncil) 3


6 Others 15Liputan6 10Kompas 2Detik 3

Total 675

CentralGovt60%

ProvincialGovt22%

RegionalGovt14%

DPR1%DPRD0%Others2%

GOVERNMENTACTORSSTATINGTHESTATEMENTS(01/01/20-31/05/20)

CentralGovt ProvincialGovt RegionalGovt DPR DPRD Others

AppendixD:ContentCategoryoftheIndonesianGovernmentStatements

3%2%

39%

56%

0%

CONTENTCATEGORYOFGOVT.STATEMENTS(01/01/20-31/05/20)

Prevenlon Treatment

Diseaseepidemiology Governmentalmanagement

Relateddiscriminalonandxenophobia

ContentCategoryoftheIndonesianGovernmentStatementsIndicator Variable TotalCount PerNewsPlatform

1 Prevention18


2 Treatment15


3 Diseaseepidemiology264


4 Governmentalmanagement376


5 Relateddiscriminationandxenophobia2


Total 675

APPENDIXE:Summaryofallnewsstoriesincludedinanalysis

Date,Platform

ContentSummary ContentAccuracy

Number ofEngagements


While the number of Coronavirus casesrose in China, the Governor of WestSumatra, IrwanPrayitno,welcomed150tourists from China. This caused acontroversy.


11comments

2. 07/02/20,Detik.com

Indonesian He alth Minister, Terawan,predicted that the Covid-19 pandemicwill not last long, the reasonbeing thatin his opinion, the virus will disappearalongwithclimatechange.

Misleading:Misinformation

25comments

3. 11/02/20,Detik.com

IndonesianHealthMinister,Terawan,respondedtotheHarvardresearcherwhostatedthattheCoronavirusshouldhavealreadyenteredIndonesia,bysayingthattheHarvardresearchersarewrong.HeaddedthattheHarvardresearchersareinsultinganddiscreditingIndonesia.

Misleading:Misinformation

58comments

4. 15/02/20,Liputan6.com

Indonesian Health Minister, Terawan,stated that he was certain prayers arewhat have been keeping IndonesianssafefromtheCoronavirusoutbreak.

Misleading:BiasInformation

657 shares (onnewsplatform). 7comments, 14retweets, 41likes (onTwitter).

5. 02/03/20,Detik.com

TheMayorofSurabaya,TriRismaharini,urgedresidentstodrinkherbalmedicinetowardofftheCoronavirus.


50comments


MinisterofForeignAffairs,TitoKarnavian,statedthatIndonesiaisfortunatetobeatropicalcountry,becauseCoronaviruswouldn’tthriveintropicalweathersandthussuggestedthatthepublicsunbatheinthemorningsun.


0


Indonesian Health Minister, Terawanstated that people should not to wearany masks if not sick, or else it wouldjustraisethedemandandthusthepriceofmasks.Healsostatedthattheuseofmasks can decrease the oxygen intakewhenbreathing.


6comments

8. 11/03/20,Detik.com

TheGovernorofWestJava,RidwanKamil,announcedaboutquinineinWestJavathatissuggestedtohavethesamecontentaschloroquinewhichhadbeenclaimedasasuccessfulcureforanumberofCoronapatientsinWuhan,China.Hestatedthatwiththeexistenceofthissuggestedingredient,CoronavirusmedicinecouldbeproducedlocallyinIndonesia.


56comments


TheGovernorofWestJava,RidwanKamil,announcedaboutquinineinWestJavathatissuggestedtohavethesamecontentaschloroquinewhichhadbeenclaimedasasuccessfulcureforanumberofCoronapatientsinWuhan,China.Hestatedthatwiththeexistenceofthissuggestedingredient,CoronavirusmedicinecouldbeproducedlocallyinIndonesia.


0

10. 13/03/20,Liputan6.com

AchmadYurianto,theIndonesianGovernmentSpokespersonforCoronavirusHandling,onlyrespondedtotheincidentofaCovid-19patientescapingfromisolationbysaying:“It’sonlyoneday,whysayit’sanescape?”


23.500 shares(on newsplatform). (Notposted onTwitter).

11. 13/03/20,Kompas.com

Indonesian President Joko Widodoadmittedthatthegovernmenthadbeenkeeping some information undisclosedtothepublic,sothattherewouldbenopanic or restlessness among the public.One of the undisclosed information isthehistoryofCoronaviruspatients.


17comments

AppendixF:ContentAccuracyoftheIndonesianGovernmentStatements

ContentAccuracy(oftheGovernmentStatements)Indicator Variable TotalCount PerNewsPlatform

1 Notmisleading640


2 Misleading:BiasInformation2


3 Misleading:Disinformation31


4 Misleading:Misinformation2


Totalmisleading 675

6%

88%

6%

SUSPECTEDMISLEADINGGOVT.STATEMENTS(01/01/20-31/05/20)

Misleading:BiasInformalon Misleading:Disinformalon Misleading:Misinformalon

AppendixG:DocumentationofFocusGroupDiscussionswithYouthandGeneralPublic

Media Monitoring End of Project Report Indonesia

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