Jimly emphasises the role of professional media in safeguarding public information veracity
Jakarta — Constitutional law expert Professor Jimly Asshiddiqie has emphasised the crucial role of professional media in safeguarding the veracity of public information amid the proliferation of hoaxes and disinformation in the digital disruption era.
According to Jimly, digital technology advancement has enabled nearly everyone to produce and disseminate information, such that the public sphere is now saturated with various narratives of questionable reliability.
“Especially nowadays, anyone can become a journalist. In this information technology disruption era, that is very dangerous,” said Jimly during the launch of the Press Media and Human Rights Civilisation Development Programme in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He explained that the current information ecosystem features two categories of developing media: social media and professional media, which operate under different mechanisms and responsibilities.
In such circumstances, the public sphere faces an inundation of information that is not entirely fact-based, making it increasingly difficult for the public to distinguish between truthful and manipulative information.
“Reality has become filled with hoaxes. Perhaps 90 per cent of information in the public sphere cannot be trusted,” said Jimly.
This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the “post-truth era,” when opinion and perception are more dominant than facts in shaping public opinion.
In such a situation, professional media becomes increasingly important because it maintains verification standards and accountability in information production processes.
“We therefore need professional media that can fill the void of factual and truthful information in the public sphere,” said Jimly.
He argued that public access to accurate information also constitutes part of the fulfilment of human rights guaranteed within Indonesia’s constitutional system.
“I believe this is also part of human rights, namely the right to obtain truthful information,” he said.
Jimly explained that the position of human rights within Indonesia’s legal system has strengthened following amendments to the 1945 Constitution during the reform era, which explicitly incorporated various human rights guarantees into the constitution.
Other rights such as freedom of expression and association were previously merely promised to be regulated through legislation without clear constitutional guarantees.
Jimly stated that constitutional amendments after the reform period subsequently adopted various international human rights principles through Articles 28A to 28J of the 1945 Constitution.
“Consequently, our Constitution now contains the most extensive human rights provisions,” he said.
He argued that these developments have given Indonesia’s constitution a strong foundation for human rights protection.
“Our Constitution has now become one of the most modern constitutions in the world,” said Jimly.
He therefore asserted that human rights protection, including the public’s right to obtain truthful information, must be realised through concrete practice in public life, including through strengthening the role of professional media.