Hard time for journalists
From Jayakarta
Reading newspapers these days easily leads one to the impression that journalists are in for hard times because they are so readily blamed by officials.
When an official's statement reads harsh or controversial, the next day there will be a denial saying that the journalist responsible for the news misinterpreted or misquoted him.
A magazine interviewed East Timor Bishop Belo in Dili on a recent sensitive issue touching on ethnic groups, religion, race and intergroup tensions. Very soon former minister Frans Seda said the interview was not right because the interviewer heard the bishop incorrectly.
Minister State Secretary Moerdiono denied his statement on civil servants corps members on whether they could join political groups other than Golkar. The journalist had misquoted him, he said. The report should have said: "Civil servants who do not belong to the corps are allowed to become members of the political parties or Golkar." The blame went to the journalist.
Interior Minister Yogie S. Memet's statement regarding United Development Party chief Ismail Hasan Metareum created an uproar. Yogie said Metareum was not feeling well, when Yogie was asked about the chief's statement on the alleged political isolation of the United Development Party by the government. It is true that the minister did not issue an outright denial, but eventually the case was played down by a ministry official, thus creating the impression that Yogie was not entirely wrong.
Culture and Education Minister Wardiman Djojonegoro lashed out against journalists because according to him he had never spoken of the withdrawal of teachers with civil servant status from private schools, which was on the news.
If such cases go on unabated, readers will be left in confusion. Are the journalists wrong or are the officials self- righteous?
Well, the people are not so stupid to be constantly kept in the dark. They can judge for themselves what makes sense and what does not.
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