Four publications breached code of ethics: Council

Four publications breached code of ethics: Council

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Press Council declared on Friday four print media guilty of
breaching the Indonesian Journalist's Code of Ethics and ordered
them to publish an apology to State Minister for State
Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi.

The council, however, rejected Laksamana's demand for the four
media to pay a total of Rp 200 billion (US$22 million) in
financial compensation.

The council said that the four publications, Trust magazine,
Nusa daily, the Reporter daily and Indopos 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.

"The four media have confounded facts and opinion, their
reports were unbalanced and they did not fact-check the
information they gathered, all of which led to the violation of a
presumption of innocence," Council chairman Ichlasul Amal said.

The Council cleared Rakyat Merdeka daily of breaching the code
of ethics, because in its report on Laksamana they did attempt to
substantiate it by interviewing those who were close to the
minister, and even visited his private residence.

The council rejected Laksamana's demand that they each run a
public apology in numerous national print and electronic media
and ruled that the apology would only be made in their respective
publications on a given date.

A demand for the four media to pay a total of Rp 200 billion
in material and non-material damages was also turned down by the
Press Council. "It is beyond our authority to decide on the
payment of damages," Amal said.

The apologies must be published simultaneously with an
unedited interview with Laksamana.

Amal said that should the media outlets decline to post their
apologies in their publication, a Rp 500 million fine would be
imposed on them. "However, the fine must be decided by the
court," Amal said.

Laksamana, accompanied by his defense team, filed a complaint
to the Press Council last week against the five publications for
their allegedly slanderous articles, arguing that they were based
on rumors.

The move to resort to the Council was, however, lauded as the
most appropriate measure to deal with media-related cases, rather
than the use of the Criminal Code.

Earlier last month, the Central Jakarta District Court
sentenced Tempo weekly chief editor Bambang Harymurti to one year
in jail for publishing an article deemed libelous to well-
connected businessman Tomy Winata.

Press Law No. 40/1999 dictates that all media-related cases
must be resolved through a mechanism in the Press Council.

Commenting on the Council ruling, a member of Laksamana's
defense team, Juniver Girsang, said that he was content with the
decision.

"We honor the Council's recommendation as it would mean the
allegation that Laksamana fled the country is not true," he said.

Juniver said that the defense team would consult Laksamana to
decide whether they would file a lawsuit for defamation.

Chief editor of Nusa daily Bambang Hariawan regretted the
Council's decision, saying it could set a bad precedent for press
freedom in the future.

"It is easy now to kill the press by using the Press Council.
If the trend continues, I am afraid that we will go back to the
dark ages of New Order regime when we often had to make apologies
to state officials," he said.