Ban on foreign broadcasts
Ban on foreign broadcasts
Early every Thursday morning, starting at 5:30 a.m., I am used
to listening to the Voice of America (VOA) talk show on TV
channel Indosiar. The show is very interesting and highly
informative. On Thursday Aug. 29, the show featured an interview
with an Indonesian scholar studying for her PhD at the University
of Maryland on a topic titled: What are the factors impeding (the
progress of) the women's emancipation movement in Indonesia?
Most interesting were the questions put forward by Indonesian
listeners, while the eloquent answers from the scholar proved to
be very informative. Alas, these educational VOA talk shows that
feature interesting topics face the danger of being banned by a
bill, which, if enacted, will eliminate the transmission of
foreign broadcasts on domestic TV channels.
The article by Abdullah Alamudi titled New broadcast bill
kills press freedom (The Jakarta Post, Sept.2) came as a
tremendous shock. According to the report, while the reception of
foreign broadcasts on satellite will be permitted, publicly
airing the shows on domestic TV stations will be prohibited. This
kind of discrimination being predicated on just the distinction
of media facility is preposterous, because this means people who
can afford to have a satellite dish in the city are able to watch
foreign broadcasts, but those living in remote areas of the
country without any access to a satellite dish will be denied the
privilege.
In defense of the usefulness of foreign broadcasts, in terms
of how they disseminate general knowledge and information, it is
necessary to keep in mind, at least, some pertinent precepts as
follows. In Law No. 39/1999 on basic human rights, everyone is
entitled to have access to information on the benefits of
science, technology, art and culture consistent with human
dignity, and to be able to communicate and have access to
information necessary to advancing their personal intellect and
developing their social environment (Articles 13 and 14).
It can be argued that the anticipated ban on airing foreign
broadcasts on local TV is utterly unfounded from both aspects of
national law and international law.
SRI HARTATI, Jakarta