Press freedom to punish?

One of the tangible achievements since the beginning of the reform movement has been freedom of the press. This is evident with the mushrooming of new tabloids, newspaper supplements etc. in a hope of garnering their share of the market. Everybody can freely express his/her opinion, and any institution may launch criticism or form an opinion. That is exactly the essence of democracy, something that was unthinkable during the New Order era, when nobody dared to express himself/herself, let alone make criticisms.

Now things have changed. The era of reform is taking place, an era of openness. You can raise any issue, such as question the actions of a regent, or a provincial secretary, for example, all in the name of democracy.

However, if we delve deeper into the problems of press freedom we will notice that this freedom has been contaminated to the extent that the press tends to take sides. Even worse, it administers punishment by declaring that someone has committed wrong deeds, while another has done the right thing. The conclusions are apparently based on superficial hypotheses and investigations and inaccurate surveys.

EFFIANO CHAN

Jakarta