House Commission VII Agrees to Strengthen ANTARA's PSO with Regulatory Framework

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) has agreed to strengthen the public service obligation (PSO) assignment for the National News Agency ANTARA by encouraging the formulation of a regulatory basis to ensure its sustainability. Deputy Chairperson of Commission VII Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo stated in Jakarta on Thursday that ANTARA, as a state-owned news agency, must become one of the references for all national news. She added that ANTARA’s text-based reporting must also serve as a fact-checker because it can be read and shared. “I think this strengthening of the PSO must be ensured in the conclusions,” Saraswati said during a meeting with several broadcasting institutions at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta. Nevertheless, she also urged broadcasting institutions to evolve their news delivery styles to keep pace with the times, especially since the majority of social media users and news recipients are now from the younger generation. This means, according to Saraswati, that the ways audiences receive news are no longer the same as in the past. On the other hand, she also praised ANTARA for successfully turning the company’s financial condition around to a much more positive state from the previous year’s deficit. “It would be one thing if the deficit was small, but it was up to Rp28 billion. Then it managed to turn around to a positive Rp58 billion. So, that is not something small and not something easy,” she said. In the meeting’s conclusions, Commission VII of the Indonesian House of Representatives agreed in one of its points to encourage the formulation of a stronger and more sustainable regulatory basis for the PSO assignment so that it does not depend on annual policy renewals that could potentially hamper budget disbursement.