Council says 3 media groups must apologize to Laksamana
Council says 3 media groups must apologize to Laksamana
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Three media outlets violated the Code of Ethics of Indonesian
Journalists (KEWI) in publishing articles about State Minister
for State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi and therefore must
apologize to him, the Press Council decided on Wednesday.
Press Council executive Sabam Leo Batubara said that the three
-- Trust Magazine, Nusa Daily and the Reporter Daily -- had
violated the presumption of innocence principle in suggesting
that Laksamana had left the country with more than US$100 million
in state money.
"Based on the Press Council's [review], the three media groups
violated the KEWI, and so, we feel it is of the utmost importance
for us to recommend that each of them publish a public apology
for Laksamana," Batubara was quoted as saying by Antara
in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Wednesday.
He explained that the article Laksamana, why should you run
away? (Laksamana, kenapa harus kabur?) and the cover headline
Uproar over Laksamana 'Running Away' written in the Sept. 27th-
Oct. 3rd edition of Trust Magazine were deemed to be
disrespectful and violated the principle of
innocent-until-proven-guilty as there was no supporting evidence
within the articles.
The article Laksamana deserves to be incarcerated (Laksamana
pantas ditangkap) published in the Sept. 28th edition of the
Reporter Daily was also considered a violation of the principle,
Batubara said.
"The Reporter Daily wrote that Laksamana was part of a "mafia"
with a headline accusing him of crime. The police -- not
journalists -- are the ones who have the right to determine
whether or not a person is a criminal," said Batubara.
As for the Nusa Daily, he said that its article Laksamana is
rumored to have fled the country (Laksamana diisukan kabur ke
luar negeri) and its lead item that accused Laksamana of fleeing
the country with US$125 million of state funds in its Sept. 24th
edition was slanderous.
"It (Nusa Daily) did not have supporting evidence in the
article. They claim their source sent the information via a short
messaging service (SMS)," he said.
"The apology shall be placed on the same page of where the
articles were published and it shall be at least the same size as
the articles," he said.
Trust Magazine chief editor Bambang Aji Setiady said that his
company had been told on Monday by the Press Council of the
recommendation.
"We received a letter inviting us to meet with Laksamana on
Friday at 9:30 a.m.," said Bambang.
He said that he would not mind making a public apology to
Laksamana so long as the arguments used by the Press Council were
acceptable.
"But we demand fairness in this case. A lot of media,
including Gatra Magazine, had a week earlier reported similarly
on Laksamana. Why are we the only ones who are to make a public
apology?" he asked.
In the Sept. 25th edition of Gatra Magazine, there were
investigative reports that drew a link between a series of
lottery-like quizzes about President Megawati Soekarnoputri's
campaign with several state enterprises.
Batubara said that the media had the option to refuse the
Press Council's recommendation.
"But they may be sued by Laksamana and have to pay Rp 100
billion (US$10.9 million) in material and non-material damages,"
he said.
Laksamana filed a complaint to the Press Council last week
against five media groups for their articles, arguing that the
articles were written based on rumors, and not facts.
The other two were Rakyat Merdeka Daily and Indo Pos Daily.
After evaluating the articles, the Press Council determined
that the articles on Laksamana written in both Rakyat Merdeka
Daily and Indo Pos Daily were in line with the KEWI.