Australian media bias

Australian media bias

Could a Jakarta Post reader please tell me what the Australian
media's problem is regarding news from Indonesia? It seems they
slant stories about my country to fit their long-held biases.
This letter writer checked out the suspicions he had about
Australian media reporting during the recent Irian Jaya hostage
rescue operation.

I first heard the news about the successful Indonesian army
operation on BBC radio on May 16, 1996, in the early afternoon
Jakarta time. The British report said that nine hostages had been
rescued, eight OPM separatists were dead, and two Indonesian
captives had been killed. In light of what was known later, this
account was accurate, with no embellishment by the "Beeb".

At 6:00 p.m., I switched on CNN television news and their
Jakarta correspondent was by then able to report that all the
rescued hostages were on an Indonesian air force Hercules
transport plane shortly due to land in the capital city. CNN
basically gave the same version as the BBC. At 6:30 p.m. I tuned
in to the RCTI Seputar Indonesia (Around Indonesia) half-hour
news broadcast and heard the first interviews with Indonesian
military officials. The first pictures of the military rescue
from the field were also shown.

Curious about how the Australians would handle it, at 7:00
p.m. I viewed the ABC's television news. The successful Irian
Jaya hostage rescue mission was announced by AusTV with the
newscaster stating that "The Free Papua Movement (OPM) has
suffered a setback." The number of hostages rescued was
mentioned, then the fact that two of the Indonesian captives had
been killed. Relying only on conjecture, the news report by
Australia Television then speculated that the two hostages found
dead may have been hit by Indonesian army gunfire. Of course the
details were still vague at that point, but to me that
implication revealed a lot about the mentality and biases of the
Australian press. It was probably their wishful thinking that the
Indonesian army had, at least in part, botched the rescue
operation. At least two witnesses among the hostages, and I
believed a third, Anna McIvor, stated that they had seen their
two Indonesian colleagues hacked to death by the OPM separatists.

What would be particularly galling to Indonesian viewers was
that the accompanying picture to the AusTV news report was the
OPM flag on the screen. Here was a flag, recognized by no
government in the world, given prominence by the Australian
television newscast editors, again revealing quite a bit of an
anti-Indonesian prejudice. Would they have shown the Tamil Eelam
flag in stories about Sri Lanka? Or a Tibetan Flag? Or perhaps
the Moro liberation colors in news from the Philippines? Or that
of the Basque separatists in Europe? Perhaps -- if only for
over dramatization. CNN "Headline News" newscasts show only
national flags. The Australian press does things differently.

Unlike the Australian government or those Australians who feel
Indonesian territorial integrity is best for the region --
Balkanization of my country would have disastrous consequences,
even for Australia -- their press seems intent on roiling the
waters. Is it any wonder that Australian journalists have been
suspect in this country?

I would never rely on Australia Television alone for news
concerning Indonesia, and I hope people around Southeast Asia
realize the existence of these press prejudices.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta