UNAIR NEWS – After 13 years of dedication on journalism, Agustinus Eko Rahardjo now serve for Indonesian President information portal. The man known well as Jojo is an alumnus of Communication Studies bachelor program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP), UNAIR.
During his busy routines as a staff of Deputy IV which manages contents and presidential policy page, he spared one hour of his time to share his stories of his study and present career now. UNAIR NEWS made it to meet him at lunch time in Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, on Thursday, August 18.
At college, Jojo admitted that he was not academically excellent. He even finished his bachelor degree for eight years from 1995-2003. “Academically, I was not an excellent student. I finished my degree for eight years. My GPA was not so good,” he said.
During his study, Jojo was active in various student organization, in or out of campus. One of them was Student Press Organization (LPM) Retorika FISIP UNAIR when he joined as a journalist. His journalism skills were honed well there. He did not only write for the magazine published by LPM Retorika but also in other mass media.
After honing his journalism skills in campus, he chose to work as a journalist. For 13 years he had worked for reputable media in the country and abroad, from Tempo, Radio Sonora, representative Radio CVC Australia in Jakarta, Kompas TV to CNN Indonesia. He has covered presidential election, worked around the palace and other regions.
The man born on August 5, 1977 has had some training experiences to improve his journalism skills. He took part in a multimedia workshop in RNTC Holland in 2010. He was chosen as participant of International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) in 2012 and visited some states in the US to observe first hand a presidential election in digital era. In 2014, Jojo joined a leadership workshop and management in Haggai Institute, Hawaii, AS.
After having an extensive career in mass dedia, Jojo decided to join the government. He is tasked to disseminate strategic and prioritized programs to public. The information was disseminated through http://ksp.go.id. On the page, he wrote many things about government programs such as social prosperity aid. His latest piece was on the president’s speech in the presence of legislative member regarding 2017 State Budget (RAPBN).
Face Challenges
What are the challenges in managing information on the state programs? Jojo said that his position is different from the mass media he used to work at. When he was in mass media, the man coming from Surabaya was expected to be in a neutral position. But now, he is expected to publish state programs. Even his personal page is filled with his posts related to his job.
“Most important thing is to remain professional as I chose to live this path. May job here is not very different from when I was in mass media, most importantly we do not manipulate the facts,” said Jojo who used to be a news coordinator in CNN Indonesia.
Besides his job as the presidential officer, Jojo also teaches in Universitas Multimedia Nusantara, and Universitas Bakrie. The courses he handle are not far from broadcasting program production and multimedia technology.
As a lecturer, he gave an input to his alma mater, UNAIR. “Do not take too many students in a class. They can lose focus especially in smartphones era like now,” added Jojo.
Author: Defrina Sukma S
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
Sebagaimana ditayangkan di http://news.unair.ac.id/en/2016/08/19/unair-alumnus-agustinus-rahardjo-guards-president-policy-information/