New Media may be a Threat

New media may be a threat. This is what Prof. Dr. Drs. Tjipta Lesmana, M.A., M.A.R.S. said at the public seminar held on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at UPH Graduate Campus. As he reviewed new media from the perspective of Political Communication and Press Freedom, Tjipta said that new media could pit the public and caused chaos.

This would happen if there were no rules regulating the new media users. In democratic country, where freedom of speech is upheld, new media could be a powerful tool for everyone raises their voices freely. New media could gather many facts and information quickly without filtering. Dangerously, everyone could see and read it, both the accurate and the fake news.

While accurate news could inform people, fake news might mislead and provoke people. This would eventually cause chaos. Therefore, one important question left unanswered, is new media code of ethics needed?

Dr. Irwansyah, MA added that new media changed how people interact with one another. This also changed the concept of freedom. There were no longer any communicators or communicants. They were simply called participants. Everybody could participate in new media, especially social media.

The discussion left people thinking how new media really contribute to the society. This seminar was part of The UPH Graduate Campus? Open House and Public Seminar Series. In six hour, there were three seminars held featuring experts from communications, civil engineering, and management.

Besides Tjipta and Irwansyah, speakers featured included Ir. Sulistijo Sidarto Mulyo, MT and Prof. Dr. Manlian Ronald A. Simanjuntak, ST, MT from Civil Engineering Program who discussed about the collapse of Kutai Kertanegara Bridge as the result of the failure of Construction Management, and also Prof. Roy Sembel, Ph.D., Djauhari Oratmangun, and Juanna Judith H., SE., MA., Ph.D. from Management Program. (dee)

UPH Media Relations