Batam journalists support gubernatorial candidates

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam

Bagong Sastranegara, a reporter cum cameraman at Batam TV, has mobilized his colleagues since February to support the campaign of Soeryo Respationo, a candidate for governor of Riau Islands province.

Bagong knows that his involvement in the campaign is not ethical because, as a journalist, he is supposed to be impartial. However, he has his own reasons for supporting Soeryo.

"The opponent of Soeryo, incumbent governor Ismeth Abdullah, will be difficult to defeat as he has a vast network and resources including the media. I joined Soeryo's campaign team in order to ensure balanced reporting on the gubernatorial candidates running for the June 30 election," said Bagong.

In support of Soeryo, Bagong has declared a Journalists Alliance Pro Soeryo consisting of three photographers from three different newspapers, three television reporters and a cameraman of a local television. The declaration, held on Feb. 3, was not made public for fear of a backlash.

Bagong admitted that his office prohibits journalists from being officially or unofficially part of a campaign team, however he is determined to support Soeryo.

"For the time being, Soeryo pays us very little. But, we hope that we could get much more money if he is elected Riau Islands governor," said Bagong.

He said that the journalists had not officially joined Soeryo and running mate Nyat Kadir's campaign team, and they only communicated privately with Soeryo. "We are assigned to communicate Soeryo's programs to the public," said Bagong.

Soeryo and Nyat Kadir are running against Rizal Zein and Firman Bisowarno and Ismeth Abdullah and Muhammad Sani in the Batam elections.

Unlike the journalists who support Soeryo and Nyat Kadir, journalists who supported Ismeth and Muhammad Sani did so in a much more subtle way.

A journalist with a weekly magazine in Jakarta, Doni (not his real name) distributed pins bearing the pictures and Ismeth and Muhammad Sani. "Ismeth is a realistic choice," he told fellow journalists with a smile.

Doni has recruited some Batam and Jakarta-based journalists.

One of Doni colleagues, Anton (not his real name) explained that their role was to provide input for Ismeth on press releases slated to be released to the media.

"We are not officially on the campaign team of Ismeth, but we do provide him with input on how to influence the media," said Anton, a journalist with an Internet portal.

The group of journalists that support Ismeth often attend press conferences held by Ismeth and they quietly organize the questions so that these will enhance Ismeth's image. The group has no official secretariat but they often gather at Planet Holiday Hotel in Batam.

The journalists who support Ismeth and Soeryo were not willing to make public how much they earn by supporting the candidates.

Ismeth himself admitted that he had cooperated with journalists in order to share information on his program. "Of course, I cannot recruit them as a success team as it would violate the journalists' code of ethics," he said.

Responding to the participation of journalists on the campaign team of gubernatorial candidates, senior journalist Socrates has called on those journalists to stop the activities and stay neutral.

"We have held a plenary meeting, and the meeting decided that journalists grouped under Riau Islands Journalists Association (PWI) are prohibited from officially or unofficially supporting gubernatorial candidates," said Socrates, the chief of PWI, which has a membership of 120 journalists.