Central Java Journalists Association Again Holds a School of Journalism for Faculty of Law Students
The Central Java Journalists Association (PWI) once again held its School of Journalism in cooperation with the Faculty of Law at Universitas Islam Sultan Agung (Unissula) Semarang — the sixteenth cohort, in 2023.
The programme, attended by 87 students, ran for two days, Wednesday to Thursday (30–31/8/2023), on the Faculty of Law campus.
The School of Journalism was opened by Vice Dean II of the Faculty of Law, Dr Arpangi SH MH, on Wednesday (30/8), and was attended by the Chair of PWI Central Java, Amir Machmud NS, together with a number of speakers: the Chair of the Provincial Honorary Council of PWI Central Java, Sri Mulyadi; PWI Secretary Setiawan Hendra Kelana; and R Widiyartono.
According to Dr Arpangi SH MH, the aim of the training is to equip graduates of the Faculty of Law with scholarly writing skills so that they are ready to serve society and to compete in the world of work.
He said the faculty is proud to be a pioneer of journalism schools among universities in Central Java.
"We hope this training is not seen merely as a way to obtain a diploma supplement certificate, but rather as provision for the future. Skills in scholarly and popular writing are needed at any time and in any place, and good writing serves every line of work," said Dr Arpangi SH MH.
In his address, the Chair of PWI Central Java, Amir Machmud NS, said the key point of the school is how to write well, especially writing of a popular-scholarly kind.
"Scholarly values are appreciated as the substance of academics' argument, because you are academics. 'Popular' is the packaging that wraps ideas, thoughts and opinions so that everyone can enjoy them, across all walks of life, whether academics or the man in the street," said the journalism lecturer, who teaches at a number of universities in Central Java.
According to Amir, writing well certainly requires skills or training. Drawing on his experience of teaching at universities, he noted that most students are still unfamiliar with, or poorly understand, the framework for writing popular-scholarly opinion pieces.
"That is why training like this is important for developing writing among students, so that they can write — for example, documenting community service activities. The training also helps in documenting public lectures, thoughts and ideas responding to social and political conditions, and everything around us," he added.
He stressed that without adequate writing ability, and without the competence to recognise different types of writing and how to apply them, it is difficult for anyone to give form to the ideas passing before their eyes.
"We may be used to writing in casual language on various social media platforms, but at a certain point we also need writing of a more serious calibre. I hope the 87 participants in this school of journalism truly make use of this opportunity and take in seriously what the instructors from PWI Central Java convey," he concluded.
The first day of the PWI Central Java–Faculty of Law School of Journalism, Wednesday (30/8/2023), covered Press Law and the Journalistic Code of Ethics by Sri Mulyadi, media convergence by Setiawan Hendra Kelana, followed by Article Writing by Widiyartono and Techniques for Writing Legal Opinions by Budi Sutomo.
The second day, Thursday (31/8), was devoted to practical article writing, with attention to choosing a theme, determining a topic, selecting an angle, choosing references and recognising one's command of language.