Semarang – The Community Service Team of the Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Diponegoro University (FISIP UNDIP), held an activity entitled “Building Critical and Narrative Student Journalism through Human Interest Reporting Training at SMA Negeri 4 Semarang.” The activity was conducted on Wednesday (September 2, 2026) at SMA Negeri 4 Semarang.
The activity was organized by the Media Communication, Journalism, and Gender Expertise Cluster (KBK KMJG) of the Department of Communication Science, FISIP UNDIP, with a Community Service Team consisting of Dr. Adi Nugroho, M.Si., Dr. Drs. Sunarto, M.Si., and Agne Yasa, S.I.Kom., M.A.
This activity aimed to strengthen students’ journalistic skills, particularly in conducting reporting to convey facts and to uncover human experiences, atmosphere, character, and the human interest side behind an event.
The activity received a warm welcome from Teguh Alif Nurhuda, M.Pd., the supervising teacher for the Journalism Extracurricular Program at SMA Negeri 4 Semarang. According to him, journalism training such as this provides a valuable learning space for students to develop their journalistic skills in a more focused manner.
“We welcome this activity as it provides students with the opportunity to learn directly about the reporting process and develop journalistic skills that can be applied in school media activities,” said Teguh.
The activity was also attended by Ahmad Hafidzul Mushtofa, S.Pd., the supervising teacher for the Photography and Cinematography Extracurricular Program (FOSPA) at SMA Negeri 4 Semarang, along with participating students from both the journalism and FOSPA extracurricular programs.
In the training session, Dr. Drs. Sunarto, M.Si., delivered material on the fundamentals of journalism, reporting, and news writing formulas. Participants were introduced to the journalistic process, from seeking and obtaining information to processing it into accountable reports. Reporting was also understood as the process of reporting events based on observation and information sources.
“The 5W+1H formula is a crucial foundation for students to explore an event more comprehensively and to organize it into clear information,” said Sunarto.
The next session was delivered by Dr. Adi Nugroho, M.Si., who discussed news values and reporting structures. Participants were invited to understand various news values, such as significance, timeliness, proximity, prominence, conflict, impact, and human interest. They also learned about news writing structures, including the inverted pyramid and chronological patterns, as well as examples of their application in reporting writing.
“Understanding news values helps students select information worthy of being reported, while writing structures help them present that information in a coherent and easily understandable manner,” said Adi.
In addition to gaining conceptual understanding, students also engaged in practical exercises. Agne Yasa, S.I.Kom., M.A., explained that participants also tried to create a simple report based on the ongoing training activity. Students were guided to observe events, identify important information, and develop their observations into a news story.
“Through simple reporting exercises, students can directly practice observing events, discovering important facts, and processing them into a news report,” explained Agne.
The training also emphasized the importance of factual accuracy, fairness, balanced information and covering both sides, objectivity, and check-and-recheck processes in reporting. Participants were also introduced to the use of journalistic language that is simple, concise, clear, straightforward, and engaging.
Through this activity, the Community Service Team of the Department of Communication Science, FISIP UNDIP, hopes that students will become more critical in observing events in their surroundings and be able to develop them into factual, engaging journalistic works with a human interest angle.
This activity is also part of the implementation of the Three Pillars of Higher Education through Community Service, specifically through the transfer of journalistic knowledge and skills to the younger generation, particularly in supporting the development of journalistic activities and school media at SMA Negeri 4 Semarang.
(Agne Yasa)