Fair play

The current economic situation has forced a rise in production costs, and those affected include The Jakarta Post. Since this newspaper's announcement on March 15 that it would downsize to eight pages, I feared the worst, expecting eight pagers every day. But advertising support has enabled the Post to actually do better than that so far.

Perhaps, I should state why this newspaper will have my continued backing. The reason is simple: it has been due to the editorial board's praiseworthy sense of fair play. The Jakarta Post is an independent publication. It is not simply an extension of the Ministry of Information, nor is its mission primarily to take an adversarial approach, which some media members are often quite proud of.

An adversarial position assumes that those in authority should constantly be upbraided, and stories play up the defects of government officials. Controversy is highlighted, perhaps because controversy sells. The Post takes a middle road, and doesn't engage in vendettas. I believe that despite sniping by critics, some governments can still get policies right.

Regarding global affairs, the Post is again fair, being neither pro-U.S., pro-Britain, pro-Japan, pro-Iran or any other nation you can think of. Conversely, neither does it consistently censure any country on earth. As for Indonesia itself, the Post's editors regularly publish criticism of this country or its government from both foreign and domestic sources.

The letters column is truly reader-friendly. Letters have included: political commentary, consumer complaints, touristic travails, gripes about Indonesia by foreigners, the economic recession, poetry contributions, complaints about other letter writers, readers' debates, anecdotes, and words of wisdom. Whether ambassador or amateur scribbler, readers get equal treatment by the editors -- they get their say.

Cynics will remark, "But The Jakarta Post prints every single letter!" I know for a fact that this is untrue. I once wrote about Prince Charles, but my letter was left unpublished. Perhaps the editors thought it might unduly offend admires of the prince, or even the British embassy itself.

Through my work, I have access to many publications -- both foreign and local. One well-known global newspaper seems to tout its viewpoint as if it were the ultimate authority about every country on earth. Little space is given over for readers to respond. When letters do get printed, they seem selected only to reinforce that newspaper's editorial opinions.

The editorial approach of Time and Newsweek, to name two rivals, is much better. They will, being good sports, publish letters from readers debating their magazines' conclusions. Letters beginning with "Shame on you, Time!" or a simple reply stating "Newsweek stands corrected" have appeared in the past. Now that is real fairness.

To its great credit, The Jakarta Post has printed such admissions of errors. This newspaper also knows what fair play is all about.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta