Depok, August 12th 2023. Universitas Indonesia (UI) won an award at the Media Relations Award event held by The Union of Press Companies (SPS) in collaboration with the Provincial Government of Bali. UI won the Bronze Winner in the Press Release Category for the news entitled “UI Presents a Symbolic Electric Bus with the Highest TKDN to the Government for G20″. This award was given on the peak night of the 77th Anniversary of SPS which took place at the Governor’s Residence in Bali, Denpasar, Bali, on Friday (11/8).
The Media Relations Awards is a competition event that appreciates the performance of corporations or institutions in the field of media relations. This competition functions as a barometer to measure media relations performance throughout one year. In this competition, UI included one of the reports regarding the UI Electric Bus which was the result of innovation from the UI academic community in collaboration with domestic companies.
UI—in this case through the Bureau of Public Relations and Public Information Disclosure—intensively reported on the UI Electric Bus from June to November 2022, from when the electric buses were handed over to the government, until when the electric buses were operated at the G20 event. For the news of the handover of the UI Electric Bus, it was recorded that there were more than forty media reports.
For this achievement, the Head of the Bureau of Public Relations and Public Information Disclosure, Amelita Lusia, M.Si., CPR., who was present to represent UI at the event, said, “Thank you for the appreciation given to UI. The mass media is a strategic partner for UI, and this relationship with the media must be maintained. Various good news from UI can be conveyed to the public thanks to the role of the media. Once again, thank you to SPS for appreciating UI’s efforts.”
Apart from the Media Relations Award, SPS and the Provincial Government of Bali also announced the winners for three other awards, namely the Media Brand Awards, the Most Popular Corporation in Mainstream Media 2023, and the Most Popular Leader in Mainstream Media 2023. On that occasion, the Lontar Award 2023 was also given to the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, who has contributed to advancing the media industry and ecosystem in the region, especially Bali. In addition, the Provincial Government of Bali also received the 2023 Lestari Award for its success in maintaining the sustainability of local cultural heritage as a pillar for the local press.
The Chairman of SPS who is also the President Commissioner of the Pikiran Rakyat, Januar P. Ruswita, called on all parties, especially the government, to help save the Indonesian press industry. This was intended so that in the midst of fake news spreading in society, the press can still carry out its functions properly and with dignity.
He said, “The press industry is currently being threatened by the existence of a global digital platform. Many press companies have degraded themselves through their journalistic products by changing their works to follow platform algorithms. Therefore, the presence of the government in the form of authority that it has will build a press ecosystem that will enable the national press industry to become a healthy and sustainable business entity, as well as a member of the press who continues to produce quality and responsible products.”
