By: Dra. Indriyati, M.Pd
The 21st century is a century of freedom of information. The sophistication of information technology makes it difficult to block the flow of information. Especially for millennial generation (born after 1982) as the biggest user of gadgets and smartphones today. They are totally absorbed in the euphoria of the sophistication of information traffic. One or two touches on the smartphone board are able to send text, sound, photos, videos, memes, and vlogs to fellow friends on social media. In cyberspace they can exchange roles as donors and universal recipients.
There is nothing wrong they did. Because freedom of speech in public is protected by Article 28 of the 1945 Constitution and Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But lately we are often confronted with hoaxes, lies, hate speech, and fighting on social media. Such news actually hurts the noble values of Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.
In Soekamto’s (2009) view, Hoax news is a false report or an attempt to deceive and outsmart the reader / listener to believe something, even though the creator of the fake news knows that the news is fake. Characteristics of Hoax news are: Does not include trusted links, fake source links and without landing pages, forced to redistribute information, does not make sense, does not respond to questions (Nino, 2017).
Sophisticated technology has triggered hoax news traffic in online media is now increasingly unstoppable. The impact of students as millennials is increasingly accustomed to receiving hoax messages on the internet network. The end of the student will also be instigated to create a similar hoax news. This is because students who are on average teenagers identified with the search for identity, are very easily influenced by outside cultures. Based on a questionnaire that was distributed to 36 students in the city of Semarang, obtained information that 3 respondents did not like the news Hoax, 11 respondents were enough to like the news Hoax, 16 respondents were like the news Hoax, and 6 respondents were very confident in the news Hoax.
The impact of hoax news is really worrying for the young generation going forward. Because hoaxes gnaw the character of the younger generation. Hoax also threatens national disintegration or disintegration. Rizki (2017), added that hoax news can have more or less the same impact as slander. This false news can be one of the triggers of disputes, commotion, and also spreading hatred.
Thus all elements of the nation can take a role in accordance with their capacity in society. Including schools as the frontline in spreading the nation’s character values. For this reason, the role of schools is needed to erode characters who like Hoax news among students. One method that can be used is through the dissemination and creation of educational blogs. Educational blog is a website that contains writings, articles, and useful information that is updated regularly and accessed online, both publicly and privately to create a learning atmosphere and learning process so that students actively develop their potential. The educational blog also supports GLS (School Literacy Movement). Blog content can also be printed and displayed in every corner of the school wall and the School Library.
The socialization was conducted by researchers to respondents during Commemoration of Kartini Day and National Education Day. The socialization in this research is about the understanding of hoax news, the characteristics of hoax news, how to easily detect hoax news, the dangers and negative effects of hoax news, and how to easily avoid hoax news.
Blogging is done by respondents as many as three blogs, then the results are contested to reward respondents, and it is expected that respondents will always actively fill the blog with school activities, subject matter and material about hoaxes and provide positive information for web users. This educational blog is accessed regularly and can be read in general by all students. The purpose of creating an educational blog is to reduce hoaxers among students as millennial generation.
The final conclusion is the fact that there are changes to Hoaxer in each category. The socialization and creation of blogs to erode hoaxers among students in the city of Semarang is very effective. This is indicated in the category of not liking hoax news which increased by 866.67% the category quite liked hoax news decreased by 63.64%, the category of liking hoax news decreased by 87.5%, and the category very much liked hoax news decreased by 83.3%.
- The author is an Integrated Science Teacher at SMP N 19 Semarang