It's Not That Easy To Inform The Public Of COVID-19

Illustration (Photo: Christopher Gower, Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Director General of Information and Public Communication of the Ministry of Communication and Information, Widodo Muktiyo, admitted that it was not easy for him to disclose data and information regarding the development of cases and handling of COVID-19 in Indonesia.

This is because the corona virus pandemic is a problem that is facing Indonesia for the first time, even the whole world. All information obtained at this time has never been known before.

Moreover, the COVID-19 outbreak is not only detrimental to everyone in terms of health, but there are also economic and social losses that are also felt in the community.

The bad effects of COVID-19 are not only due to the widespread spread of the disease. There is another effect, namely the emergence of a sense of panic in the community due to weakening economic power. In the end, residents become stressed so that their immunity decreases and they are vulnerable to contracting COVID-19.

"There was a situation that was forced to face new conditions and had broader implications. Therefore, it is important for us to provide information so that all Indonesians understand, can be calm, and then react to it," said Bambang in a discussion at Graha BNPB, Jakarta. Timur, Wednesday, May 13.

Wibowo said, one of the obstacles in providing information about COVID-19 was Indonesia's geography, which consists of many islands and the diversity of cultures in each region.

Indonesia's geographical conditions and cultural diversity, according to Widodo, affect the delivery and reception of information in the community. So that it also generates various forms of response in the community.

Then, Widodo explained that there are three levels of problems in conveying information to the public in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. First is the internet network problem. If there is a problem with the connection, it must be resolved by each Internet service provider.

Second, the dissemination of misinformation on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. "If someone violates (gives wrong information), then it is taken care of by the security. Otherwise, we ask (the upload) to be taken down," he said.

Third, the level of dissemination of information that is untrue and that leads to hoaxes is the groups in messaging applications such as WhatsApp. The spread of hoaxes in WhatsApp groups is the most dangerous because it is closed and it is difficult to trace who made it.

"The more we are at home, the more fun we are to spread information on the WhatsApp group. When the issue spreads to the economy and society, it makes it easier for misinformation to harm us," he said.

"This is our challenge. The public should not swallow all the information. If the information gets all kinds of things, then we don't understand which information is correct or not to hurt others," he continued.

Furthermore, Widodo stated that until now the Ministry of Communication and Information had recorded 686 hoax issues regarding COVID-19. Then, there have been 103 cases that have problems with legal crimes. The spread of hoaxes is spread on the internet, social media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp.