Press academy starts reporting course

Press academy starts reporting course

By R. Fadjri

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A learning center imparting journalistic
skills stands tall in the center of Umbulmartani village, located
between Yogyakarta and the tourist area Kaliurang.

The LP3Y campus, located at the Yogyakarta Institute of
Research and Publishing Education, was launched on Dec. 19, 1996.

In anticipation of the year 2001, LP3Y Director Ashadi Siregar
and three of his associates -- Daniel Dhakidae, Masmimar
Mangiang, and Hotman Siahaan -- established the LP3Y campus to
support all the institute's activities.

LP3Y was established in 1977 by a number of student activists,
including Ashadi Siregar, Hotman Siahaan, Amir Efendi Siregar and
Masmimar Mangiang.

Since LP3Y is a private institute which is trying hard to
realize and develop a free press as well as democracy among the
people, it plays a unique role in the area of press education in
Indonesia. These ideals were formulated through adopting the
standards of journalism, democracy and human rights.

"Professional and liberated journalism could become a factor
in the development of democratic life," said Ashadi.

On the one hand, LP3Y is running pragmatic activities, like
practical instruction of journalism (mass communication). On the
other hand, however, it is also developing democratic values
through education about the press and human rights in society.

According to Ashadi, it is impossible to separate journalism
from a free press as demanded by the public, who like to see
tangible facts published by the press.

LP3Y teaches standard journalism to budding reporters. These
courses were started in 1982.The institute has designed a course
which does not fall into the staioard category as can be found in
formal education. This standard often proves to be a hindrance,
materializing in the form of passive attitudes among those taking
such a course. This could have been caused by a one-way teacher-
student interaction which does not encourage criticism.

Realizing this, LP3Y has made efforts to foster active two-way
interaction. An educative program has been designed using
manuals, components and a timetable. The participants are divided
into groups of five or six people and are flanked by assistants.

LP3Y started its journalism program with very simple means.
The institute gave lessons in an old garage measuring six meters
by nine meters. Equipment consisted of old typewriters complete
with benches and a long working table.

Students worked from dawn to dusk to meet their publication's
established deadline. The institute succeeded in running four
curricular programs in the garage. Later, LP3Y moved into larger
quarters, although it still had to rent the new place. The long
benches are gone now and have been replaced with folding chairs,
computers and air-conditioned rooms.

But nothing has changed in terms of the students' workload.
The students still have to go through the work of reporting,
comprising news coverage, writing, interviewing, designing and
running a publication.

Their home paper appears every Saturday. Before the days of
computers, articles were typed out and then copied.

Today, LP3Y is in its ninth educational program, with 20
students enrolled. The course takes six months. At least 17
publishing firms have benefited from the academy's curriculum.

Aside from providing a course in journalism for would-be
reporters, the academy also provides two-month courses for
seasoned journalists designed to elevate them to an editor level.

These exercises consist of media management for public
relations personnel, exercises in cooperation with public
relations employees, lessons on how to write about AIDS and
fields of specialization.

At the new campus, LP3Y has introduced a course on cultural
reporting, which includes journalistic values in the social and
cultural context. It is an important concept that should pit
pragmatic journalistic acumen against public support.

"A professional journalist would be nobody if he found himself
in a crowd that did not appreciate journalism," commented Ashadi.

To activate the concept, the new center is running several
activities for journalism students whose main job is to hone the
public's awareness of the media. Some of the activities consist
of putting feelers out in the media, engaging the public, and
creating appreciation for journalism through cultural
publications.

Hopefully, the struggle in Indonesian towards a free press has
begun within a public institution. When people have made the
press a part of their lives, the media will gain the public's
full support in becoming a free press in the real sense.