More press freedom makes us healthier: says VP Kalla<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The press freedom that the nation has enjoyed in the last
\nseven years, in addition to advanced information technology, has
\nhelped in the corruption eradication drive in the country, Vice
\nPresident Jusuf Kalla said on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"Without a free and fast press, surely our problems of
\ncorruption would be worse,\" Kalla said in a speech during the
\nopening ceremony of the first Indonesian Press Expo at the
\nJakarta Convention Center in Senayan.<\/p>\n
\"The government is grateful about these developments, although
\nthe press has been known to show government officials wearing
\nnothing but their underwear,\" he joked.<\/p>\n
He went on to add that government officials must now always be
\nin \"healthy\" shape, because they would always be under the press
\nmicroscope.<\/p>\n
Thus, a free press, in a way has forced everyone to live a
\n\"healthier\" life, although, of course, responsibility and ethics
\nhave to be there for the sake of national interests, he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the ceremony, the Association of Newspaper
\nPublishers (SPS) chairman Jakob Oetama said that the print media
\nindustry had the television industry as its major challenge in
\ndeveloping reading habits in the country.<\/p>\n
Jakob also stressed SPS' commitment in nurturing the freedom
\nof the press through the right to reply and consultation with the
\nPress Council before going to court.<\/p>\n
SPS celebrated its 59th anniversary this month by holding the
\nfirst Indonesian Press Expo, which started on Friday and will
\nwind up on Sunday, with 172 media brand names from 40 groups, the
\nevent chairman Christian Tooy said during the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n
Organizers expect to host up 20,000 visitors during the three-
\nday event. As of Friday afternoon, organizers had recorded up to
\n6,000 visitors, mostly representatives from media partner firms.<\/p>\n
The expo aims to become a forum for publishers to promote
\nopportunities in the print media industry, which observers say
\nhas the potential to grow by up to four times larger than its
\ncurrent size.<\/p>\n
The World Bank estimated that the sales of newspapers in the
\ncountry for the 2000-2001 period was around five million copies
\ndaily, only a quarter of the ideal circulation of around 20
\nmillion copies.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Kalla expressed concerns over the low readership in
\nthe country, although he said television should not be blamed for
\nthe discouraging development.<\/p>\n
\"People also watch television in Japan, Singapore and the
\nUnited States, but they still have high readership, but alas we
\ndo not. So, there must be something else that is to blame, other
\nthan television,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He proposed a stricter education system, in which elementary
\nand junior high school students would be encouraged to read more
\nbooks, as a way to induce reading habits from an early age.<\/p>",
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