Looking for a Technician and/or a Philosopher: Media Education in Contemporary Indonesia

Abstract

During the last years of the Suharto's regime, there has been an increasing interest in the critical approach to the social science. Student saw social sciences, including communication and media studies, as tools to fight the authoritarian power. Such trends continue to this time, communication students in increasing numbers are interested in the wuestion of power and its distribution and how readings of the media are being done by the audience. Soon after the fall of Suharto, the refom movements forced the new administration to deregulate the media industry. This liberalization enables the industry to expand in both the electronic media and the print media , creating job opportunities in the industry. Communication quickly becomes one of the most competitive higher -learning fields in Indonesia, students swarm communication schools, fighting primarily for seat in the broadcast programs. As a result, communication educators and magers now have to face a unique sitatuions in which they have to do balacing acts between two very different paradigms: "Empiricist" and "Critical."