Journalists complain about incomplete press center
Journalists complain about incomplete press center
JAKARTA (JP): Journalists covering the SEA Games complained
yesterday that many services in the Main Press Center were still
incomplete.
Reporters from both participating countries and news agencies
said center officials were not well prepared and the information
on event schedules and results was often late and unsatisfactory.
"It seems like the officials at the press center are not ready
to serve the journalists. They often cannot give the information
we need," Preechachan Wiriyanupappong, a reporter from The Nation
daily in Bangkok, Thailand, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
The center should have prepared all the information regarding
the Games, venues and participants in advance, Wiriyanupappong
said.
However the deputy head of the center, Zuchri Husein, told The
Post yesterday that the center provided all the necessary
information on the Games's schedules and results in detail.
"We are providing all the information through 20 on-line
computers. The information is always being upgraded. We are also
keeping old results for documentation," he said.
Reporters from the Associated Press news agency said they
could not get details of the latest information, especially the
most recent results.
"The center does not provide, for instance, the standings in
the soccer results, which we need to make a thorough story on the
game. The center also does not provide previous results," Eric
Talmadge said.
Located 10 minutes walk from Senayan Stadium and 25 minutes
from the athletes village in Istora Senayan, the center's
facilities include 86 computers, 75 electric typewriters, 21
printers, two photocopiers, four fax machines and a photo
developing studio.
Wiriyanupappong questioned why there were so few on-line
computers. "On-line computers are important to monitor new
information on the events," he said.
Database
Zuchri said only 20 of the 86 computers had access to the on-
line database.
State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom has provided
50 lines equipped with International Direct Dial services.
The center, organized jointly by the Games organizing
committee and several local newspapers, is open 24 hours a day.
Zuchri said organizers had also laid on three couches in a
relaxation room in the center.
"The couches are not meant for sleeping on, but if you come at
night, you will probably see many journalists stretched out with
their eyes closed, sleeping. Well, that's human," he said.
According to center figures 3,277 journalists are covering
the Games. The number of foreign reporters has exceeded 1,500,
with most coming from the participating countries.
A few newspapers and agencies, includicng Bernama from
Malaysia, AP and Reuter news agencies, the Post and Sinar Pagi
dailies, have set up privately equipped booths in the center.
Other print media are sharing the communal facilities.
Bernama's sports desk editor, Amin Husaini Harun, told the
Post that the only problem was that the center lacked the latest
information on events schedules.
Some journalists said they had not experienced too many
problems regarding the center's services but added the real test
would begin tomorrow when the Games begin in earnest. (09/04/cst)