Readers become more selective, market tests media's survival
Readers become more selective, market tests media's survival
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesians had become more selective in choosing printed
media to read, therefore restrictive criteria were not necessary
for whomever planned on starting such a business, a press figure
said.
Chairman of the Press Council Atmakusumah Astraatmaja told a
seminar on Thursday that the situation was reflected in the fact
that many of some 700 dailies and magazines which could not
survive the tight competition resulting from a media boom over
the past few years were those deemed as "abusive and not
professional".
There were around 1,300 registered printed media in the
country following the fall of the New Order authoritarian regime.
"We, the Press Council, have been told by many parties,
including the government, to set criteria for professional media
companies and journalists. But we think such a yardstick will
hurt people's basic and constitutional rights to be engaged in
the press industry.
"The rest is up to the invisible hands of market forces,"
Atmakusumah said on the sidelines of a discussion entitled
Professional Press as the Reflection of Democracy organized by
the National Information Agency (LIN) here.
He said there was no reason to kick out broke idealists from
the press industry.
Many believe that the national press has stepped beyond its
code of ethics and professionalism after it regained its freedom
curtailed for three decades during the past regime.
Like her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid, President Megawati
Soekarnoputri has several times expressed her disappointment with
the more liberal press.
During Thursday's discussion, media people repudiated the
critics and rejected the idea of revising Law No. 40/1999 on
national press for fears that the amendment would allow the
government to curtail press freedoms.
Communication expert Bachtiar Aly pointed out that
sensationalized tabloids were a common phenomenon in the press
business, even in developed countries, but still they had to
comply with the unwritten rules of avoiding stories which could
spark communal conflicts.
Atmakusumah said professionalism should lead to a press which
supports clean government and good governance and serves as a
home to an open and honest public dialog.