Freedom from the press

Some readers may not take The Jakarta Post too seriously, perhaps because it is a young newspaper, established in 1983. My personal grievance is that it is too thin. Perhaps your publishers can do something about that one day.

In our attempt to enlighten ourselves about the world, should we therefore read only the more established newspapers or magazines? Some papers are more than 100 years old, but does that make their editors the be all and end all of human wisdom?

I respect journalists, but believe that the most intelligent journalist in the world can still have gaps in his or her knowledge. Some members of the White House press corps during President Clinton's visit to Jakarta were surprised that our capital city had tall buildings.

During the Atlanta Olympics, the Australian announcer told the Asia-Pacific TV viewers that a Filipina's face on the screen was Cory Aquino, when it was actually Mrs. Amelita Ramos, wife of the Philippine president. The same TV anchor informed us that Chinese athletes marching by represented "the 3 billion people of China", when the actual population is about 1.3 billion.

A well-known publication bills itself as "the world's daily newspaper" and adds in its subscription blurb: "Because you need more than a local view". I will ask this question then: why does that same world newspaper believe that American football and the game of ice hockey are global sports? Also, some less pretentious "local" newspapers cover the world quite well, including in its pages many differing viewpoints, not just a Eurocentric or Atlanticist perspective.

Some leading publications say they're quite objective, but the fact is that no piece of work written by humans -- from a health manual to an adventure novel -- is entirely free of the beliefs and prejudices of the writer. What is presented as "news" often has a lot of opinion inside.

The world learns when there are riots, forest fires, or floods in different places, but do the readers realize that often -- and quite close by -- normal, daily life is going on as usual. When houses of worship were being gutted by angry mobs in East Java, international readers knew about it, but do the same newspaper readers learn that those buildings were rebuilt several months later with the help of the provincial government? Of course not, that's not newsworthy.

I am all for freedom of the press, with responsibility of course. At the same time, I have this fervent wish: Give me freedom from some sections of the press.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta