Sarwono wants better environmental reporting<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Environment Sarwono
\nKusumaatmadja yesterday called on Southeast Asian journalists to
\nstrengthen their reporting about the environment by going beyond
\nsimply looking at cases.<\/p>\n
Journalists should have sufficient knowledge on the subject to
\nmake in-depth new reports that will provoke people's action on
\nenvironmental problems, he told a workshop on environmental
\nreporting for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
\njournalists.<\/p>\n
\"Do not cover only the cases of environment, but include also
\nconceptual and strategic matters,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Twenty journalists from ASEAN countries are taking part in the
\n10-day workshop which was organized by ASEAN News Exchange.
\nHosted by Antara News Agency, it is sponsored by the ASEAN
\nCommittee on Culture and Information. Speakers include experts
\nfrom UNESCO, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, and the ASEAN
\nSecretariat.<\/p>\n
In his opening speech, Sarwono stressed the importance of the
\nquality of environmental news writing, which, when combined with
\nlegal action, would have the power to make people act decisively
\nwhen dealing with environmental problems.<\/p>\n
\"The press should not be satisfied with the amount of
\nreporting. They should give attention to quality, because the
\nenvironment is a very complex issue,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He noted that journalists often leave out important
\ninformation, hiding the complexity of issues and the various
\nefforts that need to be undertaken by non-governmental
\norganizations, the community and private sectors in repairing
\nenvironmental damage.<\/p>\n
Imbalanced news without further analysis would only make
\npeople pessimistic and loose faith in the future, he said, citing
\nas an example the way the press reported the forest fires in
\nIndonesia. \"It is therefore important for the press to give more
\nspace to positive news\".<\/p>\n
He noted that foreign reports about Indonesia had not been
\nentirely fair.<\/p>\n
The outside world only stopped attacking Indonesian about the
\nway it manages its tropical rain forests after the government
\nlaunched an offensive abroad to explain its position and invited
\nexperts and the foreign media over to see for themselves, the
\nminister said.<\/p>\n
Sarwono said that in-depth reports would help the government
\nprioritize which actions to take, because \"journalism can give an
\natmosphere of compliance, a strong message to everybody.\"<\/p>\n
People's understanding of the environment should be built up
\nby knowledge written in media, since the common people could not
\nbe expected to join conferences or special studies about these
\nissues, he said. (03)<\/p>",
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