Australian TV news
Australian TV news
I have noticed that Australia TV News coverage (via satellite)
on Indonesia has been tainted with misleading and stubbornly
biased journalistic reporting.
For example, the hostage rescue in Irian Jaya was opened with:
"A setback for the Irian Independence Movement...", the recent
capture of PRD's leader Budiman Sudjatmiko was headlined on the
screen with "Jakarta Unrest". And for the past few weeks,
coverage on Indonesia has been accompanied with shots of past
rioting, protests, and police beatings, giving a misleading
impression of the real present situation here. I am not saying
that all this did not happen. It certainly did, unfortunately,
but this is not my point and that is another story.
Other foreign news services I follow via satellite, CNN, ABN
and NBC at least update their news with more recent shots. And
our own Indonesian self-censored reporting also provides more
recent images.
What these reporters see and hear is what we get.
But with ATV News, what we get is ATV News editors' anti-
Indonesian propaganda. This puts ATV News on the line for
deliberately lying to the public by deliberately misleading the
viewers' sub-conscience with outdated, provocative and
antagonistic footage to distract from the real story behind the
news.
Could the editors, or perhaps ATV's Jakarta correspondent Mr.
Michael Maher, respond to this? Is it because Mr. Maher is unable
to effectively get new and updated shots of the real current
situation, or is it that Mr. Maher did get the shots but the
editors back in Australia decided to go with the 'bleed for the
lead' footage, or was it just because of the same old anti-
Indonesian sentiment among Australian journalists which is just
so strong that they do not even try to report in an objective and
fair manner anymore. Forgetting that they are shirking their
responsibility to uphold the journalistic ethos and
professionalism of the free world.
This is unfortunate for ATV News (ABC News) because in future,
people, including myself, will not refer to ATV News as a
reliable alternative foreign news source, which is a highly
needed and sought after thing in times such as these.
BAHARIAWAN K.T.
Jakarta