Indonesia seems safer on television news
Indonesia seems safer on television news
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia looked a lot safer yesterday.
That was the general impression received yesterday when
monitoring news on the five private TV stations, the public's chief
sources of information on the protests and riots that have rocked
the country these past few weeks.
But it may have been deceiving.
Life in Jakarta may have been slowly returning to normal
yesterday, but riots continued in various towns in Indonesia.
These were not reported, or were barely mentioned in news
programs screened by the five commercial networks yesterday, a
sharp contrast to the barrage of reports on riots seen on previous
days.
The networks -- RCTI, SCTV, TPI, Indosiar, ANteve -- won
accolades from the public for their bold and up-to-date coverage of
the past week's riots in Jakarta, and the aftermath of the shooting
of students at Trisakti University.
The stations ran constant updates on the hour almost at every
hour. With more time allocated, they were often ahead of CNN and
they gave the Indonesian perspective on these events.
When contacted about the sudden change, news executives of
most private stations declined to comment.
Yesterday also marked the beginning of a "TV Pool" news
involving the five private stations and state-run TVRI.
It was not immediately clear whether this was a coincidence,
but starting yesterday, commercial networks are obliged to air TVRI
news at the state-run station's time slots.
The networks yesterday broadcast the "TV Pool" news, at 6 a.m.
to 6.30 a.m. and at 2 p.m. to and 2.30 p.m. This is in addition to
the 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. daily TVRI news.
The networks continued with their news programs yesterday, but
the tone had changed from that widely seen on previous days.
Dedy Pristiwanto, editor in chief of Indosiar's Focus news
program, declined to explain the sudden change.
Dedy acknowledged that all private stations had agreed to
relay news produced jointly by the "TV Pool" under TVRI's
coordination.
He added that this was a temporary arrangement until the
political situation settled.
"Each private network has contributed three staff members to
work in the pool. News produced is controlled by TVRI," he said.
Indosiar will continue producing Focus, he said.
"I think our coverage of the riots on Thursday and Friday were
objective and not excessive," he said.
Chris Kelana, director of RCTI's news program Seputar
Indonesia, also refused to answer questions about the change.
"Seputar Indonesia goes on and will cover political events,
including student rallies, looting and riots," he said.
Besides Indosiar and RCTI, other private TV stations ANteve,
TPI and SCTV also have their own news programs. (rms)