Journalistic Works to Be Recognised Under Copyright, Government Prepares Royalty Scheme

The government is beginning to pave the way for recognising journalistic works as part of copyright in national regulations. This step is deemed crucial amid the onslaught of technological disruptions that are changing the media industry landscape and threatening the sustainability of the press economy.

Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas revealed that the government has received various inputs from journalists to include journalistic works in the norms of the Copyright Law currently under discussion.

“I have received inputs and even proposals regarding how journalistic works should be protected in our Copyright Law,” he explained, at the Press Council Building, Thursday 23 April 2026.

He emphasised that the Ministry of Law will soon invite stakeholders to formulate more concrete norms.

“And earlier I stated that we will formally invite them to dialogue and formulate a norm so that journalistic works can be included in the Copyright Law norms,” he said.

This effort does not stand alone. The government is also bringing the issue of protecting journalistic works to the global level through international intellectual property forums, including pushing for compensation schemes for copyright owners.

“This is actually in line with what we have proposed to the world intellectual property organisation. The Ministry of Law together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is fighting for this in the international intellectual property organisation about Indonesia’s proposal related to royalties,” he explained.

Debate over the scheme, between royalties or licensing, is still ongoing. However, for the government, the main essence is to ensure that journalistic works have fair economic value.

“Although there was debate between royalties and licensing, whatever it’s called, but the most important thing is that the Ministry of Law’s task is to protect intellectual property rights, right,” Supratman stated.

Supratman highlighted the major challenges from digital technology developments that accelerate information distribution, but on the other hand, have the potential to erode media industry revenues.

“We are facing extraordinary technological disruptions that we cannot avoid. On one side, it is very helpful, speeding up the information process to the public, but on the other side, we hope their presence can provide economic benefits to our media industry, it should not kill the media,” he said.