'RCTI' editorial staff cancels planned strike

JAKARTA (JP): About 41 journalists from the editorial department of private television station RCTI canceled a planned strike on Wednesday after reaching an agreement with the station's management to set up a board of editors.

The employees' spokesman, Ray Wijaya, said the editorial board would take over the duties of current chief editor Chrys Kelana and his two deputies, Desi Anwar and Adolf Posuma.

"Members of the editorial board have not yet been decided. They will be elected by all employees," Ray said after meeting with the management.

He said the fate of the three current editors -- Chrys, Desi and Adolf -- on the new editorial board would also be totally dependent upon the wishes of employees.

Ray said the elected members would serve on the board for only about three months, until a new editorial department structure was formed based on the recommendations of an independent consultant.

However, several of the protesting journalists appeared dissatisfied with the agreement.

They were worried that the three editors would be reelected in the vote.

They also questioned the independence of the consultants, U.S- affiliated consultancy Daya Dimensi Indonesia, as it was appointed by the management.

The dispute started when employees submitted to the management on June 7 a no-confidence petition against the three editors.

Receiving no reply, the employees repeated their demands on July 20, threatening to go on strike if they were not answered.

The employees demanded that Chrys, Adolf and Desi quit, saying the three were incapable of doing their jobs.

"We urge the management to audit the editors since we view them to be incapable of creating a conducive working environment. The editors are thought to be incapable of leading an independent and ethical editorial department," the employees said.

RCTI's acting president, Harry Kuntoro, said on Wednesday that the work of all the 267 employees of the editorial department, including the editors and the protesting journalists, would be audited by consultants from Daya Dimensi Indonesia.

"We will decide whether to reduce the number of employees or to add employees depending on the assessment of the consultants," Harry said.

He said the dispute was due to an accumulation of problems that were not previously settled, causing dissatisfaction among the employees.

Saying he was not taking any side in the dispute, Harry said the performance of the editorial department was still good based on the ratings its news programs gained.

"And independence has been our commitment since I was installed," he added.

Separately, Desi acknowledged that the editorial department could not be fully independent, especially in the New Order era.

"We could not be 100 percent independent. We should consider who owns the station ... who owns the shares," Desi said on Wednesday, referring to the relatives of former president Soeharto.

She said she resigned as deputy chief editor one day after the first petition was submitted by journalists.

"I'm now just doing my functional duties as a presenter and a producer."

RCTI is a subsidiary of PT Bimantara Citra, a holding company formerly controlled by Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo.

In May, the station shocked many by replacing its entire board of directors.

Harry, an executive at Bimantara and Nenny Soemawinata, former general manager of private television station ANteve, were then installed as RCTI's president and director respectively. (jun)