The students of Communications Study Program of President University visited the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia or DPR RI in Jakarta recently (10/12). This visit was part of the Introduction to Journalism subject delivered by a lecturer of Communications Study Program M. Raudy Gathmyr, S.Sos., M.Si. During this visit, the students had the opportunity to directly meet and interview Ratih Megasari Singkarru, the member of Commission X of DPR RI who is also an alumna of Communications Study Program of President University batch 2008.
“The topic that the students are currently taking is reporting local government. But I want to challenge them to go to the DPR RI office in person considering that Indonesia is now experiencing a legislative centered governance, so it would be more valuable for them to do a coverage there,” Raudy said.
However, an unexpected turn of event occurred that changed their prepared interview setting that initially was set as one to one interview into a talkshow format as per the request of the Head of the Secretariat General Bureau of the DPR RI. Despite having minimum journalistic experience, the students did not panic instead with all their readiness, they rearrange all the equipment that they had brought along with them as they listened to Raudy’s direction as their chaperone.
“Everyone in the team brainstormed together to decide how we would arrange the camera set-up. After that, we asked for Mr. Raudy’s approval and direction. So essentially, we were given the freedom but at the same time we were also assigned the responsibility while still being directed,” Keren Gracelie, one of the students who participated in this field practice, explained.
A similar statement was also expressed by another student, Angelina Natasha. “I was so nervous at that time. I, who initially worked as a camera person had to change into a reporter because we need to make a talk show. But thanks to the careful preparation and material taught in class, everything went well,” said Angelina.
According to Raudy, this particular coverage was quite tense because actually these students were first semester students. “The ones who did this coverage were students who were just only studying in the university for 4 months. Even so, they did well in their coverage even without any failure. Every scene was taken once,” said Raudy.
Aside from Ratih, the students also had the opportunity to interview an Indonesia senior journalist who currently serves as the Deputy Editor in Chief of iNews (one of the prominent news media in Indonesia), Ariyo Ardi at the MNC Group headquarters in Jakarta. In this coverage, the students tried to explore the journalist profession and learn to become good journalists.
Raudy hopes that through these direct practices, graduates of Communication Studies President University can become reliable journalists who are ready to work.