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.