Indonesia now needs insightful journalism, says Jakob Oetama
Indonesia now needs insightful journalism, says Jakob Oetama
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The fast pace of the globalized world has challenged the
Indonesian media to adopt a style of journalism that provides
more insights for its audience than simply the presentation of
factual news, a senior journalist has said.
"The media are obliged not only to discover the facts, but
also to provide background, process and interrelationships, in a
bid to give an insight to the audience about the meaning of
events," said Jakob Oetama, the founder of the most influential
newspaper in the country, Kompas, on Thursday.
He made his speech during a ceremony at Yogyakarta-based
Gadjah Mada University, which granted him an honorary doctorate
in communications on Thursday.
Such journalism, carried out seriously, with trust and
honesty, is called "objective journalism that is subjective."
"Objective" means information, the facts and the various
sources of news.
"Subjective" refers to the media's primary task of selecting
from an abundance of facts, news and other information, made
possible by the development of communications technology.
"Selecting news is no easy task. It must be done with common
sense, sensitivity and commitment, as a reflection of
responsibility," Jakob said.
In a bid to support such journalism, Jakob suggested local
journalists ought to have "social sensitivity and
intellectuality", apart from obeying the journalists' code of
conduct and ethics.
He cautioned journalists to avoid expressing themselves
without proper knowledge and in appropriate ways.
With meaning-based journalism, he believed local media, which
was willing to learn about local cultures, might support the
country in its struggle to free itself from the prolonged crisis.
Jakob said that meaning-based journalism had to provide
solutions to various issues for the audience and a medium of
discourse to help Indonesia deal with its various problems.
"It's the ability to interpret the meaning of an event that
gives the media the ability either to be, or not, the conscience
of the nation," Jakob said.
In his speech, Jakob explained that recent tensions between
the media and the public were related to the fact that the media
were bonded to "the politics of values", while the public or
power holders were wedded to the "politics of power".
He specifically mentioned the recent attack on the office and
personnel of Tempo magazine, and the legal battle between stock
market analyst Lin Che Wei and a commissioner of Bank Lippo, as
well as criticism by President Megawati Soekarnoputri of the
media, as examples of conflicts between the media and the public.
Such conflicts, he said, could be resolved through mediation
or legal measures, but not direct action.
Jakob admitted that the local media were currently in the
stage of "freedom from": that is, the media were still struggling
with press freedom following the collapse of the repressive New
Order regime, which had suppressed the Indonesian media for over
30 years.
However, Jakob suggested the Indonesian media respond to the
challenge of finding out what press freedom was for; what Jakob
termed "freedom for".
"In reinventing Indonesia, it may be the most essential (thing
to do) nowadays," he said, referring to what "freedom for" meant.