Online Media Visit: Study Visit Activity for Communication Science Students at Udayana University to detikBali

Monday, December 18 2023, a study visit was carried out at the detikBali office, Renon, South Denpasar. This activity was carried out by students of the Communication Science study program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Udayana University, semester 5, in the context of learning and applying the Media Management course. This study visit activity was carried out to find out more deeply about the online media system and its differences with existing conventional media.

The current rapid development of information technology has caused the level of media consumption to shift slightly towards social media and online media, although conventional media such as television, radio and newspapers have not been completely abandoned by society. One of the online media that is currently frequently consumed by Indonesian people is detikcom. Detikcom media itself also has regional media spread across various regions in Indonesia, one of which is Bali.

DetikBali is a regionalization of detikcom which is based in Jakarta, which will start operating in 2022. The existence of detikBali media is intended to contain hyperlocal news so that it is not too Jakarta-centric. This does not mean that previously there was no news about local Balinese content, but previously if there was local Balinese news, the contributor had to report the news to the center first and then it was edited and uploaded by detikcom in Jakarta. With detikBali, it makes it easier to access and find out local information and news not only in Bali, but also West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara.

The types of columns uploaded to detikBali online media are very diverse, ranging from news, football, law and crime, culture, tourist attractions, culinary, business, city history, figures, selected collections, about Nusa Tenggara, and Bali Bungah. The rubrics displayed are also packaged in the form of photos or videos. Like online media in general, detikBali also has several types of articles uploaded to its website pages, such as hard news, soft news or feature news, as well as timeless or query articles. Examples of these queries usually take the form of lists, such as recommendations for holiday destinations in Bali at the end of the year, or articles such as weather forecasts, plane schedules, or the Balinese calendar.

The strength of online media itself lies in its actuality. Online media must always be up to date or provide information about current events, and be distributed quickly to be broadcast on the same day. Even though the news broadcast must be fast to upload, the news must also remain accurate and factual, while still meeting the journalistic code of ethics. In online media, the orientation usually tends to increase traffic, so that news that is viral is broadcast. As is known, a media company can survive, judging by the large number of advertisements it receives. So, if the traffic from the media is high, it will be easy to attract advertisers, and media companies will also gain profits from there.

However, this does not mean that online media only broadcasts viral news to gain profits, but of course it must provide news that is important for the wider public to know.

The study visit carried out to the detikBali office added insight and new knowledge about online media. From detikBali media, it can be seen that online media has a very dynamic nature. The news or information obtained must be uploaded quickly, because it is internet based. However, this also does not rule out the possibility that the online media will update the information if there is additional information or a more complete and detailed explanation is added. This is what differentiates it from conventional media in general. Online media is not free from errors. However, in this case, the most important thing is how the media updates wrong news or information, so that it does not give rise to fake news or hoaxes for readers. Hopefully this direct learning will be able to open students' understanding of how this online media system works and add new experiences.