Bridging the Gap: Designing a Contextual Data Journalism Curriculum for Indonesian Media Education
Article
Abstract
This study addresses the growing demand for data journalism education in Indonesia, where the integration of data-driven practices into journalism curricula remains fragmented and underdeveloped. The research aims to identify key gaps in the instructional design, content, and pedagogical approaches related to data journalism, with particular attention to the contextual challenges faced by journalism educators, students, and practitioners. Employing a qualitative exploratory approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with journalists and educators, focus group discussions with key stakeholders, and document analysis of accredited journalism programs. The findings reveal systemic shortcomings across all stages of the data journalism workflow, including limited access to usable data, lack of training in data cleaning and analysis, weak narrative construction, and minimal engagement with visualization tools. These gaps are compounded by institutional constraints and cultural perceptions that marginalize technical competencies in journalism education. The study contributes to the theoretical discourse on workflow-based pedagogy and highlights the need for a context-sensitive curriculum model that aligns technical skills with interpretive and ethical dimensions of journalism. The results underscore the importance of designing collaborative, modular, and locally grounded educational frameworks to strengthen data journalism capacity in the Indonesian context.
Abstrakt
Studi ini membahas meningkatnya permintaan akan pendidikan jurnalisme data di Indonesia, di mana integrasi praktik berbasis data ke dalam kurikulum jurnalisme masih terfragmentasi dan belum berkembang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi kesenjangan utama dalam desain instruksional, konten, dan pendekatan pedagogis yang berkaitan dengan jurnalisme data, dengan perhatian khusus pada tantangan kontekstual yang dihadapi oleh pendidik, mahasiswa, dan praktisi jurnalisme. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan eksploratif kualitatif, data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara semi-terstruktur dengan jurnalis dan pendidik, diskusi kelompok fokus dengan pemangku kepentingan utama, dan analisis dokumen program jurnalisme terakreditasi. Temuan menunjukkan kekurangan sistemik di semua tahapan alur kerja jurnalisme data, termasuk akses terbatas ke data yang dapat digunakan, kurangnya pelatihan dalam pembersihan dan analisis data, konstruksi naratif yang lemah, dan keterlibatan minimal dengan alat visualisasi. Kesenjangan ini diperburuk oleh kendala kelembagaan dan persepsi budaya yang meminggirkan kompetensi teknis dalam pendidikan jurnalisme. Studi ini berkontribusi pada wacana teoretis tentang pedagogi berbasis alur kerja dan menyoroti kebutuhan akan model kurikulum yang peka terhadap konteks yang menyelaraskan keterampilan teknis dengan dimensi interpretatif dan etis jurnalisme. Hasil penelitian ini menggarisbawahi pentingnya merancang kerangka pendidikan yang kolaboratif, modular, dan berbasis lokal untuk memperkuat kapasitas jurnalisme data dalam konteks Indonesia.
Propaganda or not? An Analysis of Tony Velasquez’s “The Kalibapi Family,” 1943-1944
Article
At the height of Japan’s occupation of the Philippines, among the major priorities of the Japanese government was to bring back a sense of normalcy, to pull the Filipinos into their fold, and to support their war causes. This was done through various means, such as wartime propaganda through the control and censorship of Philippine media. The Tribune was one news publication that fell under Japanese control, and its contents, including its comic strips, were heavily censored during the war. This study analyzes the historical and artistic contents of the comic strip “The Kalibapi Family.” Penned by Antonio “Tony” Velasquez, the strip was published by the Tribune from 1943 to 1944. This study seeks to answer the following questions: How did Tony Velasquez illustrate the conditions and different aspects of life under the Japanese Occupation through “The Kalibapi Family” comic strips? Did Velázquez try to satirize the Japanese? Did he put some elements of resistance in the comic strips? Data for the study were gathered through the online archives of the Filipinas Heritage Library and the National Library of Australia. After a process of purposive sampling, 30 strips were selected and explored through content and discourse analysis. The study found that although “The Kalibapi Family” was initially dismissed as propaganda, the comic was generally more pro-Philippine Republic. Velasquez presented a nuanced perspective where he showed how a Filipino artist could portray the real situation at that time in a more comical manner that the general public can understand.
Torture in Martial Law Cinema
Article
In the context of the broad historical amnesia and authoritarian nostalgia that attended the rehabilitation of the Marcoses in Philippine politics, the filmic representation of torture has served as a crucial element in constructing the memory of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. This article examines how torture in Martial Law cinema contributes to the cultivation of the public’s historical consciousness about the dictatorship. Touching on significant concerns about the representability of political violence and trauma, sense memory, and the question of sensationalism, the article analyzes the film ML (2018) by Benedict Mique, which graphically portrays Martial Law torture through conventions associated with torture porn. It highlights how the film’s explicit reenactment of political violence engenders reflections about the crisis of historical memory, and the continuities between Marcos Sr.’s dictatorial rule and fascist violence under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. The article explores how such generic adherence to violent cinema can advance our understanding of the complex sensory dynamics of filmic spectacle in shaping political memory and articulating socio-political commentary.
Ranting as Rhetorically Responsive Social Actions on Sports-Talk Radio: A Critical Discursive Approach
Article
This study uses a critical discourse analytic approach to examine the use of rants by callers on a prominent sports-talk radio show. Rather than being simply invective or contentious forms of social interaction, the findings show that rants are typically carefully constructed social actions that often use disclaimers to manage strong epistemic stances regarding knowledge of both the sporting events and sports culture. Rants are often created in opposition to other caller’s comments, making them rhetorically responsive. Rants also generally solicited intersubjective affiliation from the talk show host and displayed carefully crafted, accountable identities that reflect stylistic forms of communication and cultural norms. The up-close, discursive orientation reveals the multifunctionality of ranting in sports-talk radio interactions.
