To commemorate National Press Day, journalists should be prompted about the press and past journalism in Indonesia that achieving freedom of the press needed a severe fight.

Indeed, 2019 becomes a political year which tests truth and commitment of journalism. “Journalism has been snared in an interest and become only a job so that Indonesian people would trust social media rather than access news,” declared Fajar Junaedi, a lecturer of Department of Communication Science of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) in a discussion on Friday (18/1) at Rector Building of UMY.

Fajar conveyed that journalism as the fourth pillar (a watchdog) monitoring a state should be public-oriented by providing truthful news taking sides of public. If not, public loyalty to journalism will fade away.

Thus, in the National Press Day, Fajar advised that journalists should be professional and obey journalism ethic codes as their commitment to disseminate truth. “Journalists should serve public, not an owner,” he emphasized.