Public still grappling with free press

JAKARTA (JP): While well-established media have generally practiced restraint in using press freedom, the public often shows it is not ready for the relatively new openness, media observers and journalists said.

And with the government no longer formally supervising the press, media bodies, in their infancy, are striving to take over the government's role in protecting readers' interests.

Sirikit Syah, director of Surabaya-based media watchdog Consumer Press Institute, said, "Press freedom has good prospects here, but it is not happening in synchrony with the public's preparedness."

Citing a number of incidents since the end of the New Order regime, she said, "If a person feels victimized by media coverage, he or she tends to use anarchy to solve the problem instead of using the right of reply."

Sirikit said her organization periodically discussed the issue of press freedom on a radio program.

"Audience participation is high. They respond by calling in to the show to give their comments or complaints," Sirikit said, adding that among the most common complaints were "pornographic" tabloids, misleading headlines and libel.

While the press is now free, "people are also free to protest against the media", Didik Supriyanto, secretary-general of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, said.

Of 42 cases of harassment and violence against journalists between Jan. 1 and April 30 of this year, 20 cases involved members of the public, he said.

Sirikit and Didik were speaking on Tuesday and Wednesday in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, which falls on May 3.

Muhammad Budyatna, who lectures at the School of Social and Political Studies at the University of Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post the public often took matters into its own hands because of weak law enforcement leading to distrust of the judicial system, the "trial and error" of new media watchdogs and scant attention given to the right of reply.

"Even I would be hesitant to write (to the media) because it wouldn't respond," he said.

In a talk show broadcast on Tuesday by Radio 68H and featuring several guests, the leader of the Islamic Defenders Front, Al Habib Muhammad Rizieq Syihab, said demonstrations at press offices involving thousands of followers were more effective "than a few lines in the corner of a newspaper".

Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, executive director of the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute, said rather than taking cases to courts, a quicker way to settle disputes with the media was through the National Press Council. He said the council was expected to be independent and effective in exerting "moral punishment" even though it was established by the government.

However, Budyatna said, "It's impossible to tell the media not to do this or that through moral pressure only. In this country, even law enforcement is often ignored."

He also expressed concern the mushrooming media watchdogs "was just a trend".

Haris Jauhari from the Association of Indonesian Television Journalists said media watchdogs had yet to play a role given their lack of competency in media law and ethics.

"Some media watchdogs are even affiliated with political parties, and have been used excessively to watch the media which have been critical of the parties," Haris said.

Didik said he suggested a televised mediawatch program to inform the public about its rights in relation to the media, "but no television station has shown any interest".

Despite much criticism of the press, Sirikit said a free press should be maintained because it was a blessing.

"We have been telling people not to hate press freedom, and not to urge the government to constrain the press. We are also educating people to be more selective and critical" in absorbing media content, she said.

Atmakusumah said because of press freedom, many things hidden from the public in the past could now be revealed. He cited, as an example, the atrocities in Aceh.

"These days reporting can be far more blunt," the former journalist at the banned Indonesia Raya said.

Masdar F. Mas'udi of the new National Ombudsman Commission, which watches over law enforcement, said press freedom was everyone's responsibility.

"Press freedom is too precious to be gotten rid of despite its shortcomings," he said.(08)