TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Friday, April 28, 2017, launched the Anti-Hoax Journalist Network (Jawarah) at the Vice Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

The team was originally named Jawah, but VP Jusuf Kalla suggested revising the name to Jawarah because it sounds heroic. Jawarah resembles an Indonesian word called “jawara” which is a street credit given to a champion.

“Jawah seems unfamiliar for us. How about calling it Jawarah, so it can have the same sense of heroism,” Jusuf Kalla said today.

Kalla hopes that Jawarah can take the leading role in preventing a wildfire spread of fake news that is commonly known as hoax news. VP Jusuf Kalla views that mass media is essential in the present time.

One of the initiators of Jawarah, Margiono, explained that Jawarah is aimed at strengthening the mainstream press.

“We don’t want media to be used as a mean to spread hoaxes,” Margiono, who also serves as the Indonesian Journalist Association (PWI) chairman, said.

Margiono explains that there are mainly two ways to suppress the emergence of hoax news. The first one is by a direct verification, and the second one is by using a device that to filter out hoax or fake news.

Jawarah consists of a number of journalists, chief editors, and media experts. The team will involve state officials, community leaders, or other alternative sources of information to help with the verification of fake news.

ADITYA BUDIMAN