Journalists face violence, intimidation
JAKARTA (JP): In the reform era where journalists have more freedom to write, they apparently face violence and intimidation, mostly from the public, government officials and the police.
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) reported on Wednesday that during the past year, there were 106 cases of oppression against journalists and the media, with almost half of them, 47 cases, perpetrated by the public.
"The most prominent case occurred on May 6 (last year) or three days after the World Free Press Day. That was when Jawa Pos was occupied by a large number of people," AJI secretary-general Didik Supriyanto told a discussion here marking World Free Press Day.
Didik referred to an incident when Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) civilian guards in Surabaya rallied and occupied the Surabaya- based daily's office because it had reported allegedly corrupt practices by executives of the country's largest Muslim organization.
The occupation caused the daily to cancel its Sunday edition, resulting in a total loss of Rp 1 billion.
Didik also pointed to the case in Pekanbaru, Riau, when a group of people ran amok at the Pekanbaru Pos' office. A similar incident also occurred in Padang, West Sumatra when the office of Bijak tabloid was attacked and damaged by a group of college students and their professors.
Didik said that there is nothing wrong in staging a rally to express one's objections to a media report.
"But the problem is, it is followed by terror and violence," he said.
Mass violence, Didik said, is often worsened by security bodies like the police.
AJI recorded that police and government officials came second in cases of violence against journalists with 18.
The violence ranged from hitting and death threats toward the journalists to threatening to shut down the paper.
The latest incident occurred in March when North Maluku Governor Abdul Muhyi Effendie threatened to shut down three local media: Ternate Pos, Fokus and Mimbar Kieraha for printing "disturbing" news.
Abdul also threatened to ban private TV stations RCTI and TPI from reporting in the area.
"Therefore, in commemorating World Press Day, we urge everyone to stop any form of oppression and violence against journalists and the media," Didik said.
Didik admitted that journalists are not always innocent and many have ulterior motives in their reporting, but violence is not the solution.
"People can do three things: clarify the news, go to the National Press Council or file a lawsuit in court," he said.
AJI also called on media to be more accurate and honest when reporting.
Ezki Suyanto from AJI's campaign division said that many media are still using "talking journalism" or "spit journalism".
"The report is nothing other than people's comments, mostly government officials' or bureaucrats'. Journalists have become the spokesperson of the (government) spokesperson," she asserted.
Women
In a separate discussion on Wednesday, AJI also pointed to the low percentage of women journalists in Indonesia who only make up 12.8 percent of the total in this country.
A survey conducted by the Yogyakarta-based Publishing Education Research Institution in 1997 also shows that the higher the positions are within a media organization, the fewer the women who hold them.
"That's because there is still sexist stereotyping in our culture about the job," said the editor of Media Indonesia Tatik Hafidz.
There are also cynical comments around, saying that women journalists have made it because they use their femininity.
Zuherna Bahari from Aceh-based Serambi Indonesia said that women journalists are being used by their media bosses to get information from sources.
"But when we make a good report, they say that we've manipulated people with our femininity. Women journalists are also an object of intimidation in conflict areas," she said.
Zuherna said that the police often intimidated her to give information about the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) base camps.
She added that GAM had tried to manipulate her too. (hdn)