Concerning journalism at our campus

Satya Wacana Christian University (UKSW) has no formal academic courses in journalism. UKSW students with a strong interest in journalism must use informal channels to study in this field, and as such, the Internet can be very useful. 

As student journalists we have been able to study journalism, particularly "college journalism," by referring to the student newspapers of other campuses.

The Internet provides us with relatively easy access to information. For example, we can read and analyze online versions of Suara Mahasiswa (University of Indonesia), Isola Pos (Indonesia Education University), Hayam Wuruk (Diponegoro University) and Balairung (Gadjah Mada University).

"These outlets do not just focus on the internal university news," said Bambang Triyono, the senior editor of Scientiarum, one of the student publications of UKSW.

As well as our domestic references, we also study several online publications from overseas. Our "foreign list" includes The Harvard Crimson (Harvard University), The Dartmouth (Dartmouth College), The Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell University) and others.

We maintain interest in how these publications organize themselves into a professional organization - capable of publishing media on a daily basis - because in Indonesia we have not come across any daily student publications. Our student newspaper, Scientiarum, is published three times per academic year.

But, "It is not fair to compare (the capacities of) their institutions with ours," says Andreas Harsono, a journalist-cum-trainer, in an email.

"I think their educational institutions are more mature than ours," Andreas adds.

Quoting famous English writer George Orwell, Harsono says the maturity of an institution is acquired through historical continuity.

"Let's take a look at the history of UKSW, the place where you study. Look at how UKSW experienced a vast shift within its institutional memory."

In 1994, UKSW saw internal conflicts resulting from an undemocratic election of a rector. This involved the exodus of dozens of doctorate and masters-qualified lecturers including Arief Budiman, a PhD of Harvard University.

Fourteen years later, this conflict is still unresolved, and affected parties have not made a clear reconciliation.

We once asked the university directors about the possibility of a reconciliation, but they refused to talk. They "assumed" that the conflict was "over".

These days, however, many alumni still refuse to have anything to do with our campus. Andreas Harsono is one of them.

Utilization of the Internet

"Going online has become a necessity for businesses, the media in particular, expecting to progress to the new millennium."

This sentence appears at the top of thejakartapost.com profile page.

". the Web is the future of news and information," it goes on.

Theofransus Litaay, a lecturer of law at UKSW, said that October 2008 saw the last printed edition of the Vrije Universiteit student journal in Amsterdam (where he had gained his masters degree). From now on, the journal will only be made available in its online form.

While keeping printed newspapers alive, student press institutions in the US have also invested time and energy into online media. The team behind The Harvard Crimson (founded in 1873), for example, have developed a website with complete archives of all previous stories from the publication. People can browse this information easily using a search engine.

Layout and design is also an important consideration in developing a student newspaper website. If you visit TheDartmouth.com, you will see a comprehensively-designed website index page containing columns for photos, news, opinions, a print version (usually in PDF format) and other information. These features are also seen in most other US student newspaper websites. It seems like the world recognizes that, in terms of student media, the website is "the future".

Now, how about student media in Indonesia? Do they realize this?

The writers are student-journalists of Satya Wacana University.

Tulisan di atas diterbitkan the jakarta post
Tim penulis (Yosafat, Jessica Permatasari and Satria Anandita Nonoputra)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/22/concerning-journalism-our-campus.html