Reporters as the Spearheads of Media: Millennials Be Their Best to Remember Sumpah Pemuda

Indonesia has been the country of young people who are bold enough to speak up what on their mind is. It's usually what appears in our mind when we remember the day of Sumpah Pemuda. Now, on this chance, we're about to meet the Reporters of Hype section in IDN Times, Nadia Umara (Nadia) and Erfah Nanda Sentra Wijaya (Nanda) to ask them about their roles and the correlation to Sumpah Pemuda day. 

In the newsroom, they shared with us their thoughts about what actually Sumpah Pemuda was for them. "It was a sign of the struggle of young people in Indonesia at that time to get what they deserved as humans. However, for me, the thing today that we can take from the spirit of Sumpah Pemuda is what we, as millennials, can give to make Indonesia a better place to live," Nadia explained. In addition, a determination should also be the one thing that marked the energy of young people nowadays. 

As reporters, Nadia and Nanda admitted how much Indonesian media could affect the society around us. However, Nadia mentioned that what they reported basically would be based on what the influencers, public figure, or motivators had stated as well. Nanda, then, added, "We'll need to take care of the dictions—we do choose ones that aren't provoking and intriguing. Plus, to be honest, we never post any negative information and comments about a certain occurrence. Rather than spreading news focusing on the negative aspects of a public figure, let's say, we prefer spreading the positive sides that this person has."

As netizens, Nadia and Nanda said they never wanted to be hasty in receiving the information they obtained. One of the things to do should be checking and rechecking the accuracy of the news by monitoring all social media. As reporters, they would also do the same thing in putting together the news sources. "I don't want to be in a rush to publish certain hype news if the sources aren't sufficient enough. When we make mistakes, it'll be fatal since once the information is uploaded, many people are reading it right away. Online media is posted and received within a blink," Nadia stated. 

In this Sumpah Pemuda day, we're reminded that we can still contribute to the development of Indonesia by simply being the best of whatever we are now. As reporters, Nadia and Nanda understand that the public tends to receive whatever they're told and never ask for any clarification. It's natural, so it isn't wrong; this is just our task as an online media company to give positive news, instead of giving the society something provoking.