Press Council and Home Affairs Ministry Draft MoU to Restructure Media Cooperation in Regions
The Press Council and the Ministry of Home Affairs have agreed to restructure the pattern of relations and cooperation between the press and regional governments, which has been deemed frequently deviant. This agreement was reached during an audience between the Press Council leadership and Vice Minister of Home Affairs Bima Arya in Jakarta on Wednesday (24/6).
One of the main issues discussed was the practice of regional governments utilising journalists for public relations functions. Press Council Chairman Komarudin Hidayat stated that this practice erodes the independence of the press as the fourth pillar of democracy. He emphasised the importance of enhancing the capacity and education of journalists and proposed that regional governments could support this effort through official budget facilitation to restore the press’s independent function.
As a concrete step to address the proliferation of unverified media and uncertified journalists, the Press Council proposed drafting a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Home Affairs. This MoU is designed to serve as a legal umbrella regulating the mechanisms, requirements, and criteria for cooperation between the media and regional governments. This initiative continues the cooperation pattern already established by the Press Council with other state institutions such as the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office, the Indonesian National Armed Forces, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology.
Vice Minister Bima Arya welcomed all points raised by the Press Council and affirmed the Ministry’s commitment to being more selective in forging partnerships with mass media. He instructed the Ministry’s public relations department and all regional governments to only partner with media outlets that meet legality requirements and are officially verified by the Press Council. Bima Arya also urged the Press Council to take firm legal action against extortion practices carried out by unprofessional journalists or media outlets.
Following the Vice Minister’s directives, the Head of the Ministry’s Information Centre confirmed that media and journalists lacking clear legality and professionalism will not be granted access to regional government publication budgets sourced from the Regional Budget. The official fully supports the drafting of the MoU, noting the need for a precise mapping of authority between the Ministry of Home Affairs, regional governments, the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, and regional Communication and Informatics Offices.
The Press Council also highlighted the tendency of regional officials to unilaterally request news takedowns from hosting providers when reporting is deemed unfavourable, a practice considered a violation of the dispute resolution mechanism regulated by law. As a follow-up, the Press Council and the Ministry of Home Affairs will immediately conduct more in-depth technical discussions, focusing on formulating the scope of cooperation, partnership criteria, journalist capacity-building programmes, and the facilitation of a periodic Press Freedom Index survey.