Legal Literacy - The press and mass media are the fourth pillar of democracy after the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Both have a role to convey information to the public freely, honestly, and in a balanced manner.

The independence of the press and mass media is one manifestation of people's sovereignty based on the principles of democracy, justice, and the rule of law.

This article discusses the paradigm of the existence of the press and mass media as pillars of democracy in Indonesia.

Understanding the Press and Mass Media

Etymologically, the word 'press' comes from Latin perssare, which is from the word premere which means "to press" or "to print." In a narrow sense, the press can be interpreted as print media, such as newspapers, magazines, and so on.

Meanwhile, in terms of terminology, the press is a social institution and a mass communication vehicle that carries out various journalistic activities. These activities include seeking, obtaining, possessing, storing, processing, and conveying information, whether in the form of writing, sound, images, sound and images, as well as data and graphics or in other forms using print media, electronic media, and all types of available channels. This definition refers to the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 40 of 1999 concerning the Press, namely in Chapter I Article 1.

Meanwhile, mass media is a tool or means to disseminate news, opinions, comments, entertainment, and so on that can be accessed by the wider community. Mass media acts as a communicator and agent of change that is able to influence the audience through every piece of information presented.

In this case, there are 5 functions of mass media, including the function of surveillance (surveillance), interpretation (interpretation), linkage (linkage), transmission of values (transmission of value), and the entertainment function (entertainment). In more detail, these functions can be described as follows: