Government warns 15 publications

Government warns 15 publications

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Information recently reprimanded
15 publications for either administrative violations or contents
which broke certain norms, but vowed there would be no press ban.

The ministry's Director General of Press and Graphics
Development Dailami said yesterday the government had found that
some publications ran stories and gathered news in an "improper
manner" and in ways prohibited by the journalists' code of
ethics.

Other publications have been reprimanded because they have
failed to circulate in six months, he said.

But he refused to disclose the names of the publications.

"The reprimand is an educative measure, far from any intention
to revoke their licenses. We have learned that press banning in
the past only discouraged our press industry," Dailami said after
an award presentation ceremony held by the Indonesian
Journalist's Association (PWI).

He said the government was just trying to persuade the errant
publications to make amends for their wrongdoing.

Weekly magazines Tempo, Editor and tabloid DeTik were closed
down in 1994, making them the last publications to fall victim to
a 1984 ministerial decree which allows the government to revoke a
publication's license.

Dailami refused to link the fresh reprimand given to the 15
publications with their stories on the alleged misuse of state
social security firm PT Jamsostek's funds by the Minister of
Manpower Abdul Latief last month.

The case made headlines in several dailies and magazines,
before Latief revealed that President Soeharto had ordered the
use of Jamsostek funds to finance the deliberation of the
manpower bill in the House of Representatives.

"The stories are okay, meaning that the warning does not have
anything to do with publication of the case," said Dailami.

During the ceremony, PWI awarded a former chief from Lebak, a
West Java village, Jaro Karis, for promoting nationalism and
national development among his community.

The story on Karis, run by the leading daily Kompas last
March, earned its writers Maruli Tobing and Irwan Gunawan an
award in the features category.

Other award winners included political observer Muhammad A.S.
Hikam whose essay appeared in Media Indonesia in January,
Caturhadi of Surabaya Post whose story in May was named the best
report and the Kompas daily for its best editorial printed on
April 26. (amd)