THREAT OF HOAX IN INDONESIAN JOURNALISM Firmansyah S. Ikom Bandung Islamic University firmanmalmstein@gmail.com Executive Summary: Information search on Indonesian television news uses social media as a source. Because of that, there are high possibilities that the news on television could be affected by hoax information from the usage of such social media. As a result, the confirmation and verification process of the information is challenged with the speed of information in the midst of media competition, especially television. Introduction Journalism in Indonesia is experiencing a crisis. The proliferation of fake news related to coverage of a number of major political events is a major challenge that gave impact to the media sector. Fake news (hoax) proliferate fertile towards the election. Journalism in Indonesia is threatened with exposure to hoaxes. News in Indonesia is easily exposed to hoaxes due to the rapid large amount of information spread over the Internet. The mass media, especially television which prioritizes speed is threatened to deliver hoax news because it is pursued by airtime. Scattered information that has not been confirmed and verified makes the program stakeholders (news producers) of television stations confused. Prudence and information verification are challenged with the speed of information spread and at the same time reporting in the midst of competition between television stations. Social Media Hoax Threat Towards Television Journalism In this study, a descriptive method approach was used to provide an overview of the possibility of news hoaxes that might occur on television. The process of data collection was conducted by interviewing informants from the national news television producers in Indonesia. The interviewees were Mia Ilahude (Kompas Tv), Arif Perkasa (iNews), Ronald Panggabean (Tv One), and Kevin Egan (Metro Tv). All informants acknowledged that there might be mistakes or they might be delivering hoax news when speed is the key now, especially on television. The verification and clarification process are sometimes ruled out. Information usually conveyed without any clarification and verification. In addition, television news now is not only competing between televisions but also with online media. According to them, in the process of verifying the news, sometimes they search for information through online channels from social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google. However, they usually search from a credible source or media channel. But surprisingly, they do not make these as their main reference. If the news source appears first on social media, the seeking of information process will be from social media itself. There are also times when information came from unexpected sources including social media. Now many people with sophisticated cellphones record events or things that happen around them and upload them
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