Ethics important issue among journalists
Ethics important issue among journalists
JAKARTA (JP): The question of ethics emerged as an important issue among local journalists on the third day of the 19th Asian Advertising Congress at a Nusa Dua resort yesterday.
So far, Indonesian advertising companies have been governed by a code of conduct, the interpretation of which has been left to individual companies. As a result, consistency has been lacking in the code's implementation.
"When the time is right we will need a regulation, but the best way is for advertising companies to exercise self- regulation," said keynote speaker Prof. Subroto during a press conference for local journalists after yesterday's session.
Also present at the press conference were panelists Prof. Umar Kayam and Marzuki Darusman.
Consumers organizations should also play a part by acting as "policemen" in warning advertising companies when they have violated the regulation or code of conduct, he added.
Umar Kayam, meanwhile, looked at the issue from the point of view of democratization. In a democratic society, he said, people are always criticizing things; at the very least, they are always questioning things.
"Criticism and questions serve as control. Institutions (of regulation) mean nothing without the democratization of public opinion, and this means power-sharing," said Kayam.
Marzuki Darusman believes that the lack of an advertising regulation is an indication that the parties concerned have not yet seen the urgency of having such a regulation.
"It could also be that the advertising companies do not want to be regulated," he added.
Earlier, Marzuki said that the public has become more critical.
"There are advertisements which can be used to change public attitudes, such as those on the dangers of smoking or of AIDS, which are called public service advertisements. However, a critical public has had divergent views on a Freeport advertisement launched while that company was having problems (in Irian Jaya). There are those who saw it as pure coincidence, but there were others who saw it as a scam," said Marzuki.
He was referring to the alleged shooting of more than a dozen native Irian Jaya people by Freeport security personnel.
"Also, the advertisement by the forestry association can no longer be used in Europe because it contradicts the reality," Marzuki added.
During question time, Subroto stressed that the globalization process will make life more complicated as well as promoting pluralism.
"The fear that globalization will create a nation of traders is baseless. On the contrary, pluralism will grow because not all can be producers; there have to be buyers, or distributors, for example. Also, producers will no longer force the public to buy only their products, because people will have more to choose from. In the end, consumer satisfaction is the goal," said Subroto.
According to Subroto, the globalization process has changed public attitudes toward goods. Consumers' concerns in the future will no longer be with the question of which country produces a product, but with its quality.
"They might buy a pair of Balinese shoes made in Cibaduyut," he said.
Cibaduyut is a shoe-producing center in Bandung.
Marzuki, meanwhile, said the issue is a problem of national identity.
"During the past 25 years our identity has been defined in economic terms, while in fact national identity, in the end, is determined by politics. What we need to achieve is a balance between economics and politics," said Marzuki.
Subroto said that the trend of giant advertising companies coming to Indonesia is part of the process of globalization and unavoidable.
"The only way small Indonesian advertising companies can survive is to merge or to cooperate with them (the larger advertising companies) to improve their expertise and investment," he said.
The most important thing is how to prepare a strategy to benefit from the presence of foreign advertising companies in Indonesia, he added. (lem)