Media bias feared in local election

Media bias feared in local election

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

The scene in the Jawa Pos newsroom on Monday evening was no
different from most evenings. Dozens of journalists sat in front
of computers typing out stories ahead of the deadline.

Editors moved around the room, checking on stories and once in
a while looking at the layout monitor.

"Frankly speaking, we are somewhat confused about will become
of the paper if Mas Arif runs in the regional elections," a
reporter told The Jakarta Post.

Arif Affandi, editor in chief of the Jawa Pos daily, could run
as deputy mayor of Surabaya alongside mayoral candidate Bambang
Dwi Hartono, who would be seeking reelection.

Like other candidates contesting the election in June this
year, Bambang and Arif have been screened by their party, in this
case the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), in the
Surabaya municipal council.

However, Henry Subiyakto, a member of the Media Consumers
Association and a communications expert at Surabaya's Airlangga
University, said there was a larger issue at stake in Arif's
proposed candidacy.

"Arif Affandi's position as editor in chief of the Jawa Pos
would be jeopardized. How could he maintain a fair press if he
was elected as deputy mayor of Surabaya?" asked Henry.

Regional elections are scheduled to take place in nearly every
province this year, and experts believe these elections will test
the freedom and fairness of the press, especially local media.

In East Java, 16 of 38 regions will hold elections in 2005.
And like it or not, candidates will make approaches to the media
to improve their images and get their names out among the
public.

The issue is more complicated if there are journalists
involved on the campaign team of a candidate, or if a member of
the press is a candidate him or herself, like Arif Affandi. Henry
is concerned the Jawa Pos, which has the largest circulation in
East Java, will be biased in its news coverage during the
election.

"The public will ridicule a paper that covers a candidate who
is also its editor in chief," he said. One solution proposed by
Henry was for Arif Affandi to take a temporary leave of absence
from the paper.

However, Arif laughed when the Post asked him for confirmation
of his candidacy as deputy mayor of Surabaya.

"Ha, ha, why is there such a brouhaha over my candidacy.
Surabaya is a big city like Singapore. I only wish to exercise my
political rights.

"Whatever the outcome, I couldn't care less. I just want
Surabaya to flourish and the candidacy is a means to achieve
that," he said.

Regarding his position at the Jawa Pos, Arif said he believed
the paper could position itself during the election.

"But I would probably step down temporarily as editor in chief
when the race starts. Thus, the paper would not be affected by my
candidacy," he said.

Arif's case is certainly not the only one of politicians and
the media becoming tangled together.

Other candidates in Surabaya have already begun to woo the
press using all possible means. A TV reporter in East Java said
one candidate had offered him the chance to become a member of an
image building team at the TV station he works at.

"The offer came two weeks ago, but I haven't replied yet," he
said, adding that many journalists had became informal members of
one candidate's election team.

The head of the Surabaya branch of the Alliance of Independent
Journalists, Sunudyantoro, expressed concern that some members of
the media in Surabaya were already biased in their coverage of
candidates of the upcoming elections.

"There are already covert campaigns for certain candidates in
some media coverage," said Sunu.

"It is natural for candidates to approach the media and it is
up to the media itself to decide whether it will remain
impartial in its news coverage during the election. In the end,
the public will judge which media outlets were impartial in their
coverage," he said.

Sunu supports journalists who want to contest elections. "But
for the sake of impartiality, the journalists, including Arif
Affandi, must first take a leave of absence."