Chief Justice backs Press Council in dispute settlement

Sari P. Setiogi and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Chief Justice Bagir Manan has thrown his backing behind the Press Council serving as a legally recognized mediation center for disputes involving media.

"I support the idea because it will mean that not all cases (involving the media) are brought to court," Bagir said in his office on Wednesday.

Under the Press Law No. 40/1999 the council, whose members consist of journalists, media managers, public figures and media and communications experts, is tasked with safeguarding press freedom from external intervention, drafting and supervising the implementation of a Journalistic Code of Ethics and offering consideration and seeking resolutions of public complaints to news reports.

Bagir, who supports out-of-court settlement efforts, told the council to apply for accreditation from the Supreme Court to allow it to serve as a mediation center for disputes involving the media.

The Supreme Court has approved the formation of a National Mediation Center (PMN) to settle commercial disputes in the country.

While the council has succeeded in mediating press disputes, some aggrieved businessmen, including high-profile property magnate Tomy Winarta, have chosen to bring defamation cases against the media to court.

Separately, Press Council member Hinca Panjaitan said the growing number of criminal cases against the press made it all the more important for the council to serve as a mediation center.

"The press law actually says that the Press Council is the mediation center for disputes involving the media. But, we need legal recognition," he told The Jakarta Post.

Hinca said mediation was more effective and efficient in settling press disputes than court proceedings.

He exemplified the latest case involving PT Toba Pulp Lestari and Tempo media, which only took one month to settle. Court proceedings could take months or years when appeals were put into the equation, he said.

If the council was named a mediation center for press disputes, community members, police or prosecutors concerned about a particular case could first go to the council for its advice.

"We will examine whether the case is about journalism or not. If it is, we will take care of it. Otherwise, we will say that it is not the authority of the Press Council and let the police or other institutions handle it," he said.

Meanwhile, Tempo chief editor Bambang Harymurti and journalist Ahmad Taufik filed appeals to the Jakarta High Court on Wednesday over court rulings that declared them guilty of defamation.

Bambang was sentenced to one year's jail for publishing articles deemed to have hurt the reputation of Tomy in March 2003. Taufik and fellow journalist T. Iskandar Ali were also declared guilty but were spared prison.

"I was not imprisoned, but I was declared guilty of spreading lies in my article -- which was not true. Therefore I am filing an appeal today," Taufik said.

"Taufik is very sure about the article he wrote, that's why he has appealed (to the higher court) as well," Bambang said.

Their appeals were accepted and registered by the court's secretary, Budiman L. Sijabat.