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)