Indonesian media should help empower civil society

Indonesian media should help empower civil society

By Djafar H. Assegaff

JAKARTA (JP); The Indonesian mass media is in the throes of a
press freedom honeymoon. It is an understandable condition after
30 years of the suppression of that freedom and the curtailment
of people's civil rights. A similar press freedom euphoria came
about shortly after president Sukarno's downfall in the mid 1960s
and the advent of the New Order. At the time, the regained press
freedom lasted only briefly.

It reminds one of a pendulum: moving from the extreme right,
down and up to the extreme left. The Indonesian press is
currently enjoying extreme freedom to the extent where it seems
that no government agency can hold it back. That freedom is being
exercised in a way which, many observers fear, may elicit
reactions detrimental to the newly gained freedom. If this
happens, it would be really be a sad case of history repeating
itself.

The public at large is concerned about this and so are many in
the press itself. They want press freedom regained by the
student-led reform movement to stay. They are worried that
excessive indulgence will prompt the government to again resort
to authoritarian ways.

A study on paradigm of the role of the press in a developing
nation in the 1970s shows that it was indeed able to help the
nation to attain a high level of development measured in economic
growth rate figures. But it went too far and resulted in the
destruction of the fabrics of society's civil power. At the same
time, because of the deep involvement of the bureaucracy in
development, the latter obtained quite excessive liberties and
authority in the name of development.

Daniel Lerner shows the correlation between literacy and media
consumption in The Passing of the Traditional Society
which would promote society's participation in a developing
country's economy and politics.

But during the New Order, we neglected the need for society's
participation in politics because of the trauma of our
experiences during the Sukarno era.

As a result, the economy developed enormously but with the
participation of the small elite. Society's participation in
politics, which is actually the essence of empowerment of civil
society, was neglected.

Foreign mass media heaped praise on Indonesia's and other
Asia-Pacific countries' economic successes. Indonesian
technocrats and economists even won various international
citations. Economic terms and jargon became popular and were
imbibed in rhetoric.

Government officials and the middle class were proud of the
mushrooming skyscrapers, often being deceptively cited as
tangible proof of their achievements.

No wonder that when the economy started to collapse many
decisionmakers in government kept trying to allay the public's
worries by asserting that the country's "economic fundamentals"
were still viable.

This is a costly experience to appreciate the importance of
new efforts to develop civic education which aims to teach the
meaning of being a citizen and political subject in a democratic
society.

The supreme power in a state is vested in the people and state
policies must be made with the people's approval. Empowerment of
civil society is a must in developing societies which includes
the capability to criticize and supervise. Where in these efforts
should the press play a role?

The press, which bears the additional task of mass education,
should feel obliged to carry out this task so as to breed
civilian citizens who are capable of participating in a
democratic system as political subjects.

The press must abide by democracy's supreme principle that
government is responsible to the people. It must be able to
empower all democratic institutions and promote the separation of
the powers of the executive, legislative and judicial organs of
the state.

The press must also be able to play a role in maintaining the
check-and-balance system in a state. All of this smacks of
American-style democracy. But every nation can apply it in ways
adjusted to its particular conditions as long as the principle of
the people's sovereignty is upheld.

And the press must play a role in empowering civil society so
that it becomes the arbiter of the truth and boost the growth of
the freedom of the press and of creativeness which are badly
needed to enable the nation to maintain itself in the
globalization era in the forthcoming third millennium.

During the past 30 years, the press has also learned from a
bitter reality that its past growth and advances also led it to
compromise with those in power.

The big capital interests in the mass media industry, for the
sake of their own survival, were compelled to come to a
compromise with the power holders and business tycoons to
suppress the growth of a critical civil society.

Certain established print and broadcast media as well as a
handful of journalists have shown their concern about their role
in helping to curb the growth of a civil society.

Indeed, an author has said that "an established press tends to
become a conservative press bent on maintaining the status quo".

In which ways, more specifically, could the mass media play a
role in civic education? The answer perhaps is by stepping up
coverage that stimulates the public's political awareness.

The public should be taught to be always aware that it is
within its power to determine in whichever way the government
should act.

The press and mass media should have the courage to let
pluralism develop within itself, promote the freedom to discuss
state affairs, to differ in thinking and avoid becoming too
partisan. Pluralism in the press should be maintained to reflect
the same quality of Indonesian society.

Is civic journalism already sufficiently known? The answer is
in the negative.

Some think that civic journalism is a concept that evolved in
conjunction with new ideas about Asia's failures in the economic
field. Failures that resulted from failures to give economic
development political significance and to let the masses
participate.

To attain good results in implementing the civic education
concept, there must be comprehensive activities and involvement
of all relevant parties. Civic education is actually a process of
democracy itself, a process that continues to grow commensurate
with the development of a society. It is not something that can
be accelerated at will as it constitutes a long educational
process.

When applied by the press and media in developing countries,
it must be preceded by introducing the concept of mass media-
society interaction. Society as the consumer of mass media should
have sufficient critical sense to understand how the media
functions in a democratic system. The public must also be made to
understand that powerful mass media should also be subject to
supervision, namely supervision by the public itself.

The creed that must be developed among journalists is not only
that of getting scoops, or among publishers that of making the
biggest possible profit.

Journalists and publishers should also make sure that they
offer information that stimulates the public's further thinking
about their own well-being and welfare. The information must be
able to provoke thinking and to arrive at the truth about matters
being debated with a cool head.

The following might be considered in designing programs to
enhance the role of the mass media in civic education for a civil
society:

1. Establishment of a body or institute to develop and promote
civic journalism.

2. Providing opportunities to journalism educators at university
level to understand civic journalism and, if possible, to
integrate as a course subject and sponsor the compilation of
textbooks on civic journalism.

3. Increasing coverage capable of empowering the civil society
actively involved in the nation's political life.

4. The mass media should also assume a role in promoting
society's ability to abide by democratic decisions taken by
democratic institutions.

5. Promoting bodies and institutes that supervise the functioning
of democratic mechanisms, from general elections to daily
democratic processes, through legislative reporting.

6. The press as the "fourth estate" should also be supervised by
the public. To this end, bodies or institutions such as "press
ombudsmen", "media watchers" or a "press complaint committee",
should be set up or promoted.

7. Providing training to journalists about matters relating to
the "pyramid of competence" concept developed by the Poynter
Institute.

The writer is the chief editor of Media Indonesia daily and
dean of the faculty of mass communications at Mercu Buana
University, Jakarta.