By Hannah Chia

“We all share the understanding that we do now live in a time when most of our audience no longer trusts institutions,” added Wahyu Dhyatmika.

He thinks unbiased journalism is “indeed impossible,” and attributes it to the systems we work with, referring to the offline and online platforms, algorithm and ownership structures surrounding journalism.  

Tempo Digital is no exception to the struggles of keeping journalism unbiased.

Based in Indonesia, Dhyatmika shared how journalism faces pressure from the government, potential doxxing, harassment from netizens, and even violence. 

“Even our minds are not free from biases, but we can strive for honest reporting,” he said.

Honest reporting begins by acknowledging innate biases.

“Be transparent and honest about it, instead of pretending it doesn’t exist,” Dhyatmika said.

‘Audiences don’t interpret reality through facts anymore’

In August, several protests took place in Jakarta, Indonesia. The uproar resulted in riots over economic frustrations and the proposed hike in salary and benefits of the members of parliament. 

Despite the common feelings of dissatisfaction, Tempo Digital’s newsroom found that during the protest, there was also a division in opinions and interpretations.

Dhyatmika suggested this was due to the interference by military agencies into the protest, as well as the use of TikTok to disseminate information. 

Audiences now interpret reality through their own identity, and algorithms intensify fragmentation, he noted.

“What we face now is not just misinformation or disinformation, but … information tribalism, people in each group building its own version of the truth,” he added.

WAN-IFRA Members can replay Wahyu Dhyatmika’s presentation and view his slides on our Knowledge Hub by clicking here.

Responding to the changing audience landscape

“Objectivity was once the moral centre of journalism, but I think in practice it means suppressing perspective to appear neutral, and neutrality is almost impossible,” Dhyatmika said. 

Instead, Tempo Digital has decided to embrace subjectivity by replacing the “performance of neutrality with humility and transparency.” 

Bocor Alus Politics, a podcast launched by Tempo journalists from the political desks, is the most viewed political podcast in Indonesia, with more than 1 million viewers weekly. 

Dhyatmika said the podcast serves as a platform for “personal narratives told by journalists, openly subjective, but … backed by solid reporting on the ground.” 

“We allow subjectivity to breed, and surround it with transparency and editorial accountability,” he said.

Dhyatmika also attributed the success of the podcast to their journalists. Journalists increase relatability and credibility for audiences, and “give personality to the brand.”

The podcast aims to further build credibility by focusing on transparency and openness. 

“We have to practice it … and try to connect to the younger audience through transparency,” Dhyatmika said. 

Building conversations around stories 

“We accept that today, neutrality is impossible. We have to shift our responsibility,” Dhyatmika said.  

Amidst a polarised society, he suggested the focus should be on building bridges through constructive and solution-based conversations that bridge the divide.

“Instead of asking ‘Who is right?’, we ask ‘How can we solve this?’,” he added.

Dhyatmika offered an example of how Tempo Digital covered local politics in Jakarta.

The Post-Suharto era resulted in the decentralisation of power to the local government.

Now, Dhyatmika points out the increasing trend of centralised power control back to the president. 

In response, Tempo Digital sought to platform pro-democratic voices that have been increasingly sidelined, aiming to “redefine neutrality… because false balance is not fairness.”

Rather than strict neutrality, Dhyatmika prioritises transparency and accountability, allowing its audience to judge its credibility based on how it conducts its coverage.

Neutrality without accountability can be problematic, and this shift towards transparency and accountability needs to be supported by a wider media ecosystem, he said.

Rethinking media

Dhyatmika called for “collective action towards a more fair information ecosystem,” arguing that no single media entity can achieve it alone, given that “each media has their own biases.” 

Collaboration allows journalism to serve citizens rather than algorithms, emphasising the need for news organisations to see themselves as producers of public goods and not merely private content, Dhyatmika said.

Tempo Digital’s investment in collaborative initiatives such as CekFakta.com, a fact-checking coalition launched in 2018.

The coalition consists of more than 100 media organisations and has since fact-checked two national elections in Indonesia by sharing resources and responding collectively to misinformation and disinformation, enabling the network to “move faster than the hoax.” 

“We are not here to win arguments, we are here to sustain the public’s ability to reason together,” he adds.

Dhyatmika said such collective efforts are essential for journalism to survive, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.

The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in information distortion 

“The threat to fairness is no longer just human bias; it’s also algorithmic and institutional bias operating at an industrial scale.”

“AI and authoritarian power will try to frame what people trust and see as facts,” Dhyatmika said, “AI systems amplify dominant narratives, sometimes suppress minority voices and create synthetic truths.”

In response, Tempo Digital’s defence is systemic, collaboration, ethics and public solidarity, he said. When working on investigative work, Tempo Digital collaborates with its competitors to ensure work quality.

Dhyatmika also pointed out how the collaboration efforts distribute accountability across newsrooms and reduce individual biases. 

“Collective integrity can be the new answer, and can be the new objectivity,” Dhyatmika said. 

About the author: Hannah Chia is a student at Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.