Journalist Training; Involvement of the Campus Press as a Wheel of Conservation Work
The press in human civilisation plays fundamental functions, such as education, information sources, entertainment, and social control, so that it can influence or create public opinion (mass communication). The rapid development of the press in the past gave birth to student groups who were full of initiative to spread the truth. As early as 1914-1941, coinciding with the emergence of the national awakening movement, various names of student press began to emerge and focus on spreading ideas of change. At the end of 1950, the student press experienced a significant increase until today.
In some Indonesian universities, the campus press has developed into a student activity unit (UKM) and plays a role as a trusted disseminator of information. Recognising the function and involvement of the campus press as a driving force in the academic environment, Pundi Sumatra as the central region facilitator for TFCA Sumatra held a Conservation Journalism Training for Campus Youth in Riau Province on 16 - 19 March 2023.
The training, which was carried out with support from the Sumatran Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA-S), invited representatives of the Student Press Institute (LPM) from five campuses in Pekanbaru, namely LPM Bahana Student - Riau University (UNRI), LPM Idea - Riau Islamic University ( UIR), LPM Visi - University of Muhammadiyah Riau (UMRI), LPM Acclamation - University of Lancang Kuning (UNILAK), and LPM Aksara - UIN Suska Riau.
The training which was officially opened by Vice Chancellor III UNRI, Dr. Hermandra, S.Pd., MA. expressed his appreciation for the activities organized by the TFCA-S Faswil. In his remarks, he advised participants through their respective LPM to continue to improve their critical thinking and communication innovation, and to participate in supporting the movement to care for wildlife conservation and rescue according to the material provided. More or less the same substance was conveyed by BBKSDA Riau, administrator of TFCA Sumatra, and Rimba Satwa Foundation (RSF) as the host for field practice activities.
Representing the organizing committee, Damsir Chaniago in his remarks said that campus journalists are a bridge between truth and society, so their capacity needs to be increased.
""The younger generation has the ability to quickly disseminate information to the general public, what is important is that what is conveyed is correct and can drive policy," he said in the discussion session.,” ujarnya dalam sesi diskusi.
Conservation work that is currently being carried out by many parties requires the help of the younger generation to participate in promoting and publicizing it. With mastery of developing communication technology, the younger generation is able to package and convey existing information in an interesting and up-to-date way. It is also hoped that this younger generation will be able to continue the baton for the development of new environmental journalists in the country.
Prior Knowledge of Conservation
To equalize perceptions about environmental conservation, participants were given knowledge about the conservation work being carried out by BBKSDA Riau, TFCA-S, and RSF. BBKSDA Riau in their presentation explained about 36 cases of negative animal interactions that they have handled. According to data, the highest number of conflicts is in Pelalawan District. Rokan Hilir Regency has the least amount of conflict. Plt. Head of Conservation Section IV BBKSDA Gunawan.
In addition, Gunawan also explained that there are fundamental efforts for conservation through 3M. Starting from mutual respect or caring, mutual trust or maintaining trust, and mutual benefit or giving benefits. According to him, conservation is not like exact facts. Conservation must be carried out across borders, be humane, and provide benefits to society.
Furthermore, Yudha Arif Nugroho explained about the duties and roles of TFCA Sumatra, including institutional strengthening and intervention efforts, how to ensure community and local community strengthening in line with conservation, animal protection and forest management efforts.
Finally, participants received material from Rafhi Hardanto, as RSF staff who shared RSF's experience in conserving elephants and their habitat at Balai Raja and Giam Siak Kecil, starting from land use management, Forest Farmers Groups, agroforestry, community assistance, and the early warning system they do it with the community.
Compilation of Journalistic Features and Videos
Thursday afternoon (16/03) Winahyu Dwi Utami from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Pekanbaru presented material on the preparation of straight news and features. Winahyu explained more deeply that writing must contain human values and how much impact it has. The attractiveness of writing is also seen from the aspect of the conflict or problem raised.
The feature writing delivered by Winahyu focuses on in-deep writing, meaning writing that discusses more deeply an event.
“This feature is like we are telling a story. we use all our five senses, observe the environment and make every sentence flow into each other,” he said.
Based on the results of the initial survey filled out by the participants, straight news writing still dominates the reporting style of the five press agencies. However, according to Winahyu, some of the participants had been able to compose interesting news leads. The first day of training ended at five o'clock in the afternoon after a discussion and question and answer session by the participants.
The second day (17/03), Journalistic Video material was presented by Hermawan Hariadi, the founder of Siak Video. Video Journalism is a series of images that contain information or events. Hermawan conveyed how important it is for video journalists to convey information quickly. According to him, the rapid development of social media, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Tiktok, is now dominated by moving images or videos.
Hermawan also explained about shooting techniques to make it interesting to watch. There are three stages to the video creation process, namely pre-production, production and post-production. In addition, he also mentioned important components in video capture, such as audio.
"I was once asked where to buy a mic, no one was selling it. I made this myself,” he said, showing the microphone he had made himself while covering a trip on a boat. The result of these loudspeakers can make the news announcer's voice more clearly heard than the noisy boat engine.
Take a peek at the Work Locations of TFCA Sumatra Partners
Before completing the training activities, participants were invited to visit the RSF work site in Duri, to be precise around the conservation area of PT Kojo, Forest Farmers Group, Agroforestry, and the Gajah Codet Underpass at the Permai Toll Road crossing KM 60 - KM 75 on the third day of the training (18/03 ).
Participants are divided into 4 groups, each group will visit a different location to produce a variety of journalistic products. In addition to the training participants, there were the BKSDA Duri resort, the RSF team, the regional facilitators team, and the local community who were resource persons to obtain information sources. Each group will also be accompanied by a mentor who is an expert in journalism to direct the participants during the reporting process in the field.
For two and a half hours the participants have completed reporting activities at each location. When the sun was directly overhead, all the participants gathered under the elephant monitoring tower which is not far from PT Kojo's location, which is 500 meters high. Participants immediately took a sitting position under a shady tree. They then briefly discussed the experience of the visit. M.Sutono, as the regional facilitator team from TFCA Sumatra, conveyed that the millennial generation must care more about nature conservation. There is also a need for young journalists who care about conservation. Of course nature will have a positive impact on other living things.
“By speaking only a few people are affected, but by writing it can influence millions of readers. Be a journalist who produces writing that has a positive impact on readers,” concluded Sutono.
Field practice activities ended at three in the afternoon. The return journey is taken via the Permai Toll road and takes two and a half hours.
Entering the last day of the training (19/04) the participants were brought together again to jointly review the results of the journalistic writings and videos that had been made. In total there are six articles and three journalistic videos. for half a day at the Tanah Merah Coffee Cafe, Winahyu again guided the participants to improve the results of the participants' journalistic products.
The activity was closed by Syafrizaldi, as the governing body for Pundi Sumatra. He has been in the world of journalism for a long time. The message to the training participants that day was to never get bored in learning and seeking experience at a young age.