Journalists warned of misreporting drug cases<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Journalists must be more careful when reporting
\nillegal drug cases because incorrect reports might promote drug
\nabuse, Southeast Asian drug experts and officials said.<\/p>\n
They said media reporting of the region's drug cases often
\ntended to be quite sensational.<\/p>\n
The experts and officials were speaking on the first day of a
\nweek-long course for ASEAN journalists on illegal drugs, here
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
Cho Kah Sin from the ASEAN secretariat office cited several
\nlocal reports of celebrities arrested on charges of possessing
\nand trafficking drugs.<\/p>\n
The reports \"are glamorizing the issues,\" said Cho, assistant
\ndirector of Functional Cooperation Bureau of ASEAN secretariat
\noverseeing methods on drugs and related matters.<\/p>\n
The course is an ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information
\n(COCI) project.<\/p>\n
A Malaysian delegate, Information Officer Ashari Manis, said
\nthe press should not report the estimated value of drugs police
\nconfiscated.<\/p>\n
He was referring to a copy of a Manila-based newspaper a
\nPhilippine official showed participants. It had a story with a
\nprovocative headline explaining the estimated value of drugs
\npolice had seized.<\/p>\n
Manis said publishing drugs' value might not help global
\ncampaigns to reduce drug abuse in the region.<\/p>\n
On the contrary, such a report might prompt people, like the
\npoor, to enter the high-profit business whatever the risks.<\/p>\n
Sharing Manis' view, host expert Brig. Gen. (ret.) Tony
\nSidharta said such reports, including those explaining the
\n\"positive\" sides of drug consumption, could encourage youths to
\ntry dangerous drugs.<\/p>\n
The community sincerely expects the mass media to report the
\nright and exact information instrumental in reducing drug abuse,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"In this context the mass media and their reporters need to be
\nmature and this reflected in the reports,\" Tony said.<\/p>\n
Eleven senior ASEAN officials and drug experts and 33
\nreporters from the seven ASEAN countries: Brunei Darussalam,
\nIndonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
\nVietnam, attended the course.<\/p>\n
The main subjects discussed were: the steps taken by the
\nASEAN countries to control drug abuse and its impact, the role of
\njournalists in reducing drug abuse and the need for professional
\nguidelines on disseminating correct and accurate information
\nabout the danger of illegal drugs.<\/p>\n
The meeting, opened by Asep Saefudin on behalf of Dewabrata,
\nchairman of ASEAN-Coci for Indonesia's branch office, has a theme
\nof ASEAN Journalists supporting a global commitment to a drug-
\nfree ASEAN.<\/p>\n
In his speech read by Saefudin, Dewabrata quoted UNDCP figures
\nwhich show Indonesia has the region's third highest number of
\ndrug addicts.<\/p>\n
First is the Philippines with 334,500 , then Vietnam with
\n180,000 addicts, and Indonesia with 120,000 addicts, he said.<\/p>\n
Thailand has 88,593 addicts, Malaysia 24,023, Singapore 4,713
\nand Brunei 595, he said.<\/p>\n
But local experts and reporters said the actual number of
\naddicts was higher.<\/p>\n
\"Our figures show there are about a million drug addicts in
\nthe Philippines,\" said the president of Quezon City-based
\nFoundation for Drug Information and Communication.<\/p>\n
Brunei delegates said the number of drug addicts in their
\ncountry was about 3,000. (bsr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/journalists-warned-of-misreporting-drug-cases-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}