Jennie M. Xue

The fourth estate: death or reborn anew?

by Jennie S. Bev

Originated from Burke, the author of Reflections on the Revolution in France, and made popular by Thomas Carlyle in On Heroes and Hero Worship, the conventional mass media (or the press) is known as the fourth estate, which is a particular capacity in the society to advocate and frame political issues.

With the rise of Web 2.0, which is the second coming of the power of the Internet in changing people’s lives, there are approximately 53 million blogs today that double every six months. There are also millions of user-uploaded videos, images, and sounds on Web-based broadcasting services like YouTube, Bebo, and Odeo.

The latter is known for its so-called “unframed” and honest reportage by the public, hence its “citizen journalism” nickname. Does it mean the press as the “official” reporting institution is being threatened by those Web 2.0’s offsprings, which I dare calling as “the new estate”? What can we expect to see in Indonesian journalism landscape given new estate’s meteorite rise? Is it staying or dying? Is its rise threatening the existing press? How are new estate media changing the landscape of Indonesian journalism?

Universities key to corruption eradication

by Jennie S. Bev

Indonesian public universities, such as University of Indonesia (UI), Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), are perceived as reputable and conscientious, from which many bright civil rights activists known as the country's strongest moral force are born and cultivated.

Those universities, on the other hand, are also known as the most productive manufacturers of the country's leaders, politicians and decision makers, of which many of them are commonly known as corrupt, both morally and materialistically. In one definition, corruption is known as an abuse of trust and, in most cases, public power is involved.

Such paradoxical phenomenon --one being "angelic" and the other being "devilish"-- is more than interesting. It is puzzling and mind-bending because apparently, in many instances though not all, the same person can change his or her orientation in different environments. What are the causes and how can such occurrences be minimized or even eradicated? Thus, why is the correct mind-set necessary to be entrenched early with constructivist learning theory?