UNS — Discussing the sociocultural-based public communication strategy amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Pradana Ricardo, Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta student, won an article competition on Wednesday (17/2/2021). The competition titled The Power of Communication (DPOC) 2021 was held by Communication Science Student Association (Himakom) Universitas Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa Banten under the theme “The Role and Effectiveness of Communication amid the Pandemic”.
Through his article, Ricard – his short name – explained the importance of humanism and Indonesian culture in public communication performed by the government. The student of the Indonesian Language and Literature Program Class of 2019 said that he raised the topic because, during the pandemic, the government only providing advice and suggestion for the community to apply a healthy and clean lifestyle (PHBS) and other health protocols. The pandemic, he said, is not only revolving around statistical numbers but also human resources and governance, especially in Indonesia, whose people have strong cultural and traditional values. In the post-truth era, the narration and story accepted by the community became ‘more important’ than the scientific explanation.
“I think the government needs to open a room for cultural experts to participate in mapping the strategy for Covid-19 handling and to communicate the program to the community using the sociocultural approach,” he said, Thursday (25/2/2021).
Ricard gave an example that educating people regarding PHBS and other health protocols in Javanese community should be connected to the belief that humans as the leader on earth should always ‘memayu hayuning bawana’; to always make efforts to protect oneself. To uns.ac.id, Ricard stated that he already devised the idea since he took a Javanese Culture course last semester. In writing his article, he received supervision from the Faculty of Cultural Studies (FIB) faculty members, especially Asep Yudha Wirajaya, S.S., M.A. Ricard admitted that writing an article in communication science is challenging especially in term of scientific background.
“I am a literature student who is more focused on cultural and linguistic knowledge. Even though there is a connection between language and communication, I feel that I need to enrich my comprehension and reference on communication science to support my writing,” the FIB student said.
At the end of the conversation, Ricard said that he would continue to improve his writing skills and accomplish more through the field. He also hopes that he will benefit the community through various ideas and achievements during his university life. “I am always open for discussion on writing. Hopefully, I can share my knowledge with friends,” he concluded. Humas UNS
Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
