Media told to be cautious about ads

Media told to be cautious about ads

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Press Council has called on the media not to succumb to
demands from business entities by publishing advertorials that
may or may not be factual and often could be misleading to the
public.

Press Council Chairman Ichlasul Amal said the media had to
draw the line between genuine journalistic work and presumed
facts presented by certain companies trying to promote
themselves.

"The media groups have to call a spade a spade. If the facts
published by the media are aimed at advertorials and it was paid
for by a company for its publication, the newspaper must say so
in order not to mislead its readers," Ichlasul told The Jakarta
Post on Sunday.

Ichlasul was commenting on the recent media campaign, in
newspapers and on television, initiated by PT Newmont Minahasa
Raya in a bid to improve its image, which was tarnished by
allegations that the U.S.-based mining company polluted Buyat Bay
in Minahasa, North Sulawesi.

In successive ads run in several national newspapers -- mostly
without using the word "advertorial", Newmont published
statements from local leaders saying that the mining company had
not contaminated Buyat bay.

The media campaign culminated in the publication of an open
letter to National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, demanding the
release of five executives from the company -- three Indonesians,
an American and an Australian -- who have been in jail without
charges since Sept. 22.

Police released on Saturday the suspects and put them under
city arrest.

Ichlasul said the media could be accused of breaching the
Journalism Code of Ethics if it ran an advertorial without
notifying its readers.

"It is the same as receiving payment for publishing a story
about someone who wants to get publicity," he said.

However, Ichlasul said the Council could not regulate which
ads the media could publish as that was the authority of
individual editors.

"The Press Law concerns the journalists and their work and it
does not regulate the publication of ads, as it has to do with
the financial arrangements of the media itself," he said.

He said that given the media's powerful role to influence the
public, it should be more selective in deciding which advertorial
to run.

Separately, deputy chief editor of Sinar Harapan Kristanto
Hartadi said the news department could not decide whether or not
ads could appear on the newspaper as it was determined separately
by the paper's business department.

"However, we will not publish an ad if it is considered
provocative, libelous or could incite unrest," he told the Post,
while adding that the Newmont advertorials did not violate any of
those principles.

Sinar Harapan evening daily and The Jakarta Post are among
national newspapers that have published Newmont ads in the past
week.

Kristanto said his newspaper decided to run the ads as the
pollution allegation leveled at Newmont was still being handled
by the police and had not reached the court.