Observers warn against increase in 'bad journalism'
Observers warn against increase in 'bad journalism'
JAKARTA (JP): Observers and veteran journalists warned here on
Tuesday against an increase in "bad journalism", and called on
the media to regulate itself in upholding professionalism and its
code of ethics.
Speaking at a seminar on the media, Southeast Asia Press
Alliance deputy chairman Lukas Suwarso said unprofessional
journalism was a result of an "excess" of the country's newfound
freedom and openness.
"The fledgling democracy in the country has brought about a
number of mediocre and partial media, and they don't care about
the code of ethics," Lukas, who was formerly the chairman of the
Alliance of Independent Journalists, said.
He said these media were merely published to serve and to
voice the interests of certain political groups, and sometimes
used to undermine their political foes.
He said it was therefore the duty of well-established media
"to direct and widen (the views of) its readers" in order to keep
the public from reading bad journalism.
But the chief editor of Tempo weekly magazine, Bambang
Harymurti, who also spoke at Tuesday's seminar, said earlier that
bad journalism would not survive the competition because the
public would eventually tire of sensationalism.
"You can lie one time, but you can't lie all the time,"
Bambang said when discussing a number of the newly founded
"yellow" newspapers and tabloids.
He said, however, that "free press tyranny is better than
military or civilian tyranny", as the former could not "kill or
send people away to jail".
President Abdurrahman Wahid has repeatedly pledged his full
commitment to a free press, but rebuked some media earlier this
month for abusing the country's new freedom.
The President said "freedom should go hand in hand with the
ability to use it wisely".
He said that "in the past months, we, Indonesia, have
developed a trend of investigating everything and spending our
energy on so many activities unnecessarily, while forgetting the
essential things (that need) to be monitored".
Abdurrahman also said developing professionalism and ethics
was the responsibility of the press itself.
But the President also failed to condemn, and seemed to
tacitly accept, a recent incident of intimidation involving
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) civilian guards at the Jawa Pos office in
Surabaya, East Java, after the daily published false allegations
of corruption and nepotism involving NU officials. (byg)