inp.polri.go.id - Jakarta. Chief of Public Relations Department of the Indonesian National Police (INP) Police Inspector General Prof. Dr. Dedi Prasetyo disclosed on Tuesday (2/7/23) the collaboration between INP and Press Council to protect freedom of press and enforce laws related to the abuse of the professions.

During the commemoration of National Press Day, under the theme "Disseminating the Cooperation between Press Council and INP in Protecting Freedom of Press", in Medan, North Sumatra, he said that the memorandum of understanding WAS signed by both parties to provide guidelines for monitoring and reporting content, especially in the lead up to the 2024 elections. 

The public literacy about election regulations was deemed important to protect the public from hoaxes, negative campaigns, identity politics, and other manipulative tactics.

"We need to ensure that the public is immune to these tactics so that they are not easily provoked or polarized," the Chief added.

He concluded that the dissemination of hoaxes in the media was a result of three factors, namely the media convergence, where media owners have multiple types of media, that may lead to the spread of news without factual basis or data; the rise of citizen journalism, where anyone can become a media maker, that may lead to the spread of unverified information; and, virality, where news reports quickly spread and become trending despite the public's lack of ability to verify the accuracy of the information.

(ay/af/hn/um)