Asia Times: A freer press - but an irresponsible one?



	January 08, 1999	atimes.com

Media/Technology

A freer press - but an irresponsible one?
By Kafil Yamin

JAKARTA - Since 1992, Alex Siburian has been a stringer for an English newspaper in the Indonesian capital, contributing stories on issues affecting villages on the outskirts of Jakarta.

He was paid a measly sum for each story that saw print and likeother Indonesian journalists who were similarly situated, he couldonly dream of a promotion or a pay rise. To augment his income, hetook on other writing jobs from colleges.

But his fortunes changed recently. The other day, he went to see hisformer editor and proudly told him: ''Bang (older brother), now Irun my own media outfit. I offer you a position."

He showed his former boss a piece of paper, which the latter readand which made him scream. ''Alex, you're chief editor now. You'rethe big boss!"

The piece of paper is a Press Publication License issued byInformation Minister Yunus Yosfiah to Siburian, naming him bothchief editor and chairman of a new tabloid.

Siburian is one of hundreds of reporters given new press licensesafter the government liberalised press rules following thedeparture of former president Suharto and the installation of anew government last May.

Since then, the Information Ministry has issued hundreds of newpress licenses, most of them to tabloids so that each city or townin this country of more than 200 million people has its own.

But the move, though meant to demonstrate a new climate offreedom in Indonesia, has produced some adverse results.Journalists and other media practitioners now realise thatgetting a license is the easy part; what to do with this privilegeand responsibility is the difficult part.

Siburian, for example, is struggling to attract investors in hisnew tabloid. So far, he has only been able to recruit six peoplefor his staff because that is all he can afford at the moment.''We can print three or four editions. After that, I have no ideahow to survive,'' he said.

''Press business is a costly and long-term investment. Only a fewinvestors are willing to get down to this business. Besides, thecountry is now going through prolonged economic crisis. Investorswould think more than twice to make up their mind in thisbusiness,'' observed Andreas Harsono, chairman of the StudyInstitute on Free Flow of Information .

Audrey Tangkudung, reporter-turned publication chairman, has towork extremely hard to keep his newly-established Ekonomi magazinesurvive. Even though his magazine appears once a month, he works14 hours a day.

He has also set a loosely negotiable rate for advertisements inhis paper. ''My top priority is to get ad revenue to coveroperations. This is not the right time to expect profit,'' he toldIPS.

Due to a lack of financial backing, these new publications canhardly recruit good and experienced reporters. So one problemleads to another. As a result, they turn to young andinexperienced reporters, most of whom are fresh out ofuniversities and raring to meet new challenges.

''They are willing to get low pay while working hard,'' saidSiburian, who concedes that these new reporters hardly get anytraining. ''So they go out and hunt (for news) with no proper andbasic knowledge. Their main asset is their energy."

This, many believe, is the reason behind the rash of one-sided,biased, emotional and irresponsible writing in the Indonesianpress. And the 'reformasi' fever is adding fuel to this.

''There is pre-assumption that good coverage is anti-government,anti-establishment. Media are now outspoken. But what is beingoutspoken worth under this free era? You can write everything nowwithout fear. That does not need courage,'' said MangarahonDongoran, a senior reporter of the Bandung-based 'Pikiran Rakyat'daily.

Information Minister Yunus, who is regarded as a strongreformist, had this to say to journalists.

''I promote freedom of the press. But please make use of thisfreedom for your own good. The government will no longer closedown the media for its criticism or being outspoken. But thepublic will intelligently know which media deserve their trust andappreciation. If you rely only on emotion or your personal mood,readers will throw away newspapers or magazines,'' he toldreporters recently.

Media observers tend to agree with Yunus' assessment. They saysome journalists have over-stepped their bounds, and havethemselves become the object of protest by some quarters.

Private TV station SCTV received flak from Muslim demonstratorsrecently for its alleged one-sided coverage of a shooting incidentamidst the violence outside parliament during a special session inOctober.

The 'Merdeka' daily had to run a full-page apology to taxidrivers after hundreds of them marched to its office to protestits coverage of a conflict between them and their employers.

An editor of one local magazine said the new media outfits failto present a balanced picture of the events they cover and duringdemonstrations, the papers openly side with the students.

''I am a witness of student brutality during rallies. But thestudent brutality has never hit the media headlines,'' said astreet vendor in Slipi, Central Jakarta. ''All brutalities seem toonly belong to the military and the police."

Djaffar Assegaf, chief editor of Media Indonesia daily saidnew reporters fail to draw the line between objectivity and theirown emotions. ''Many of our current media employ greenhorns whoform close relationships with students. The young journalists havefailed to keep a distance from the events they cover,'' Djaffarsaid in an interview with private TV station RCTI.

Harsono attributes this failure to the low quality of humanresources and weak institutional control. ''They lack backgroundknowledge on the issues they cover. Frequently, they ask stupidquestions."

As to institutional control, the problem is more serious. ''Thereis no strong and acceptable institution to control the press. Ithink it's time to have a sort of media watch,'' Harsono added.Unless the press can police its own ranks, he said a governmentclampdown may become an attractive option.

''More and more people complain about the press coverage, andthey will turn to the government to impose measures on the press.And the government will have reason to put harsh restriction onthe media. This is what I am afraid of,'' he said.

A recent poll conducted by the Jakarta Post showed that 42.5percent of respondents said press coverage has been excessive andout of proportion, 23.3 percent said the press has been unethicaland 17.9 percent said it has engaged in character assassination.Only 9.3 percent said that the press encourages readers to be morecritical.

And it looks like the government is closely watching. Speaking atan anniversary celebration of state news agency Antara recently,President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie warned the press againstefforts to establish a ''tyrannical power'' that dictates publicopinion.

(Inter Press Service)