Govt asks media to jointly outline rules<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The government has called on media organizations to sit down with
\ngovernment officials to formulate regulations necessary to create
\nwhat it calls as responsible media.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul
\nMu'arif said here on Wednesday that \"irresponsible\" acts by
\ncertain media outfits had prompted the public at large to take
\nthe law into their own hands.<\/p>\n
\"We have to create a regulation that can develop a national
\nmedia with specific character,\" Syamsul said when opening a
\nseminar titled Media Responsibility in Creating National Culture
\non Wednesday.<\/p>\n
More and more media organizations were publishing and
\nbroadcasting pornographic and racist news articles and pictures,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The minister did not mention those that had deliberately
\ndisseminated pornographic and racist articles or pictures, but
\nthe Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) pointed out earlier that
\nstate-owned TV station TVRI's Dansa yo Dansa, private station
\nSCTV's Majalah X, and Metro TV's Life and Love contained
\nsuggestive content.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of National
\nEducation are currently drafting an anti-pornography bill.<\/p>\n
Airing or publishing material deemed offensive could get
\nsuspects charged under Article 282 of the Criminal Code
\npertaining to decency standards.<\/p>\n
The government had planned to limit the number of non-
\nprofessional mass media by imposing dozens of articles in the
\nCriminal Code, which could bring the press under control, and
\ncurtail the incidence of racy pictures and material, character
\nassassination, unlawful ads and bogus journalists (those who
\npretend to be journalists to extort money).<\/p>\n
Minister Syamsul warned in March that the government would
\ntake stiff measures against the broadcasting or publication of
\nsexually suggestive images.<\/p>\n
\"Law enforcers will take strict action (against media
\npublishing or airing sexually suggestive material). The
\ngovernment is therefore issuing a warning in advance. Action will
\nbe taken by law enforcers (police),\" he said earlier.<\/p>\n
Syamsul said on Wednesday that the regulation would not
\ncurtail press freedom, but harness and protect the national
\nmedia's function in education, national unity, culture and public
\ninterest.<\/p>\n
Syamsul said that the regulations to be imposed on the
\nprofessional media would be discussed by journalists, academics,
\nand social observers.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, senior journalist Djafar Assegaff said that the
\nnational media should carry out its freedom responsibly.<\/p>\n
Citing Code of Ethics of the American Society of Newspaper
\nEditors (1923), a statement of principles of the American Society
\nof Newspaper Editors (1975), and Sigma Delta Chi (1973), Djafar
\nsaid that all of them put responsibility as the top priority for
\nnewspapers to comply with.<\/p>\n
Media observer Sasa Djuarsa of the University of Indonesia
\nsaid that the increasing number of feisty media publications that
\nshowed racy pictures was normal in the reform era because it had
\nbeen under the full control of repressive governments since
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
\"The people are smart enough now to make a selection,\" said
\nSasa, expressing optimism that the people at large would not be
\neasily duped by smear campaigns.<\/p>",
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