Future News Worldwide 2019 For Young Journalist

29^th April 2019, I pulled the red hood over my saturated form as I saunter in the rain, small pellets of water spitting on my hands as the remainder of the drops quench the scattered puddles decorating the asphalt. Then I waited until it stopped at the mini-market near my home, I was so messy and had to deal with some difficult problems at that time.

Beep!  There was an email notification on my phone, I saw the push notification at the top from Sarah Gorman the Programme Manager British Council UK and the words “Future News Worldwide 2019” and “We are pleased to inform you that your application has been shortlisted and we would like to make you an offer…” caught me. I completely lost my breath momentarily. I was trying to tell myself to calm down and that it was probably just another random British Council email that was taunting me. ­Well of course, I went to my email right away and there was my ACCEPTANCE EMAIL! It’s so completely amazing I have been selected from over 3000 applicants from 114 countries and it came at just the right time because I was slowly starting to lose hope.

Admittedly, as soon as I opened the email and saw the bottom of the email, “See you in London” I almost burst into tears. I completely wanted to full-out bawl my eyes out because I was so happy but that absolutely would’ve made me look mad. So I continued, accepted my offer and sent the documents which required to fulfill. I always had a passion for writing coupled with a curious nature but never thought I could make money from being creative and journalist. After graduated from university, I moved through a variety of roles including SEO Content Writer, News Reporter, Creative Reporter and Field Producer, Travel Writer, and Digital Content Marketing Manager. Even though I was not graduated from Journalism major, I found my journalism passion in Public Health major. When I got involved in Anthropology research, learned and interviewed sources regarding Gendered Risks, Poverty, and Vulnerability in Indonesia, I realized that I should be a change maker. Hence, I started use my voice through blogs and newspapers since I was in University.

On 21^st June 2019, I met other Indonesia Delegates and we had pre-departure briefing with Ms. Ambarizky the Programme Manager British Council Indonesia at Office 8 South Jakarta. British Council Indonesia team were so helpful and supported us when we were puzzled and panic over visa application and pre-departure preparation.

There were 100 journalists from 50 countries who have been selected to attend the conference, one of them has made WhatsApp group, Facebook Page and Linkedin Group. Then we used these groups to communicate and to share ideas. They also initiated to make Secret Santa Gift Exchange Games, it’s simple and fun games though, after one of the delegates enter all of the participants’ names in a virtual “hat”, the system randomizes all of the names and selects each participant’s gift recipient for him/her. Furthermore, we thought that it would be better if all delegates bring their local souvenirs. I bought some souvenirs and prepared stuff that I needed to bring and I was so excited to meet them.

I arrived at London Heathrow Airport on Sunday, 14^th July 2019 and met some delegates from Pakistan, Greece, and Africa. We took some pictures and shared to our WhatsApp group.

Few hours after we arrived at Travelodge London Docklands by Uber, we took underground train and strolled down to Oxford Street, it was 8 PM and still bright. Besides being the chief shopping arena in London, Oxford Street has a rich history. Having a close understanding of its history will reward anyone wishing to visit the place. It occupies a central position in Londoner’s life, that the street is a popular attraction featured in many of the London old city tour programs.

We had an awesome welcome reception meeting at Thomson Reuters London around 6 PM. This welcome dinner was a powerful way to build trust, belonging and connection between delegates and break through cultural, social and other barriers, as we shared food and stories.

After that, all delegates gathered in the lobby hotel and we started our Secret Santa games, all delegates brought a present from their country and I got gifts from a French delegate. He gave me some cakes from the French Bakery.

I was so excited at the 1^st-day conference, 15 July 2019, we had an incredible line up of speakers. The first speaker was Nick Tattersall, Managing Editor News for EMEA Thomson Reuters. “I’m jealous of every one of you in this room,” said Nick as he began his session on Reuters approach to trust and transparency. He was also explained that the increase in disinformation and ‘fake news’ using bots, algorithms and trolls, leading to fundamental challenges for the media. Sreenivasan Jain, Managing Editor of New Delhi Television (NDTV) continued the session and began discussed how journalism can rebuild trust by investigating and exposing official falsehoods. When asked how we can eradicate hate speech, Sreenivasan said that as journalists it’s not our job to try and eradicate things from society. Our job is simply to expose wrongdoing and hold those responsible to account. Hate speech exists because those in power allow it to thrive without cost, so we need to make them feel the consequences through high impact journalism. After lunch, Christina Lamb one of the most popular journalist who is a Chief Foreign Correspondent The Sunday began her talk with a recent story about a body that fell from an airplane onto a garden in London. There was opportunity to visit to newsrooms and the conference closed with workshop session delivered by Google News Initiative, Facebook, UK School of Journalism and Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.

British Council team brought us to cruise down the Thames together and enjoyed fabulous views of the great river with music from a live band and half a bottle of wine each while we enjoyed our course dinner. OMG, it was sooo nice and I joined the African Delegates practiced Kongo Dance together!

Jon Snow came to began his talk approximately at 9 PM. He was best known as the longest-running presenter of Channel 4 News and one of my favorite journalist. Well, almost all delegates wanted to take pics with him. (And me too!)

There were other brilliant speakers at the 2^nd-day conference, 16 July 2019. Delegates were excited when Taylor Nelson, Director of Knowledge Dissemination from Solutions Journalism Network began her talk about rebuilding trust in the media by challenging cynicism and empowering the audience with solutions. She explained that Solutions Journalism gives reporters and publications the chance to be active participants in the conversation, create impact, demand accountability and display though leadership. We felt speechless when Nadine White shared her experience and gave advice, “Always remember your reasons for wanting to be a journalist. Feed your passion, lean into what makes you different, and engage with what makes your voice distinctive.”

FNW experience has allowed me to learn new things about journalism, meet passionate young journalist around the world, and grow as a person and a professional. After the conference had finished we spent our quality time and enjoyed the dinner before back to our country on Thursday, 18 July 2019. We also took some pictures with our flags then promised to ourselves that we had to be change-makers and use our voice. I would like to say thanks to British Council and Reuters for providing this amazing event and of course all delegates that made this event more special!