RI press in the midst of on identity crisis

RI press in the midst of on identity crisis

JAKARTA (JP): After years of tight government control, the
Indonesian press is unsure of its identity.

The Jakarta Post asked three people to comment on the state of
the press and the role of reporters.

Ashadi Siregar, novelist and lecturer at Yogyakarta's Gadjah
Mada University:

"The press is the medium of the public. It is the press' task
to inform the public about empirical facts without adding their
own perspectives, and without attempting to influence the public
with their reports. The press still has to analyze the
information beforehand, so what the public receives are social
facts, but not engineered facts. As such, the press should give
all parties a chance to speak through the medium," he said.

Isn't the western press also hamstrung in reporting the truth,
because it has to serve the interests of the media owners? It is,
Ashadi says:

"But they still do better because they can play between the
interests of the public and those of the government. Here the
press has no space to play, since it has to bow down either to
the government or to the media owners, who are just government
cronies. There are many examples of that.

"The barriers faced by the western press in doing their work
are nothing compared to those faced here. The obstacles are such
that the press already stumbles (in getting information) at the
level of Kodim (district military command)."

Ashadi said that in Western countries reporters could work
professionally and were provided with technical training at
journalism schools.

"In Indonesia most of the press people come from various
disciplines, without having any journalistic skills at starting
the profession."

But in the current situation in Indonesia, the varied academic
backgrounds of journalists enriches the press and benefits the
public, Ashadi said.

Rosihan Anwar, senior journalist:

Indonesia has never had a tradition of press freedom, Rosihan
said.

"We have no training in how to live in a democratic society;
the (political) 'openness' of the past few years was merely
cosmetic, so the banning of the three publications (Tempo, DeTik,
Editor) did not surprise me. Many reporters actually believed
that 'openness' was real. They should understand what they have
inherited."

What can be said about today's journalists?

"Compared to our days (between two world wars) many
contemporary reporters don't have a sense of mission, in spite of
their larger salaries and much better education. They don't have
many good senior journalists to lead them; they just do their job
as an assignment. But even then they are sloppy, they don't stick
to basic journalistic requirements like searching for new sources
and honoring the presumption of innocence. It's crusading
reporting. mix facts with opinions through the use of many
adjectives."

What causes this sloppiness?

"Maybe under the pressure of competition, of wanting to show
they have a big news organization, editors assign teams of six
reporters or more for one piece of news. This is conducive to
sloppiness. I'm not convinced that having several reporters
working as a team makes for better news. I could shoot a lot of
holes in those collective reports. The reporter hands in a few
facts but does not do his best. Who takes responsibility for the
article? The writer who sums it all up can't do that; he isn't
the one who gathers the data."

According to Rosihan, this situation does not encourage
individual reporting, which is very important for good
publications. People come to look for reporter's byline, he says,
in which that journalist offers his insight. Because individual
reporting is not cultivated, feature writing lacks substance,
Rosihan says:

"It is easy to train the `common garden' journalist. It is
training the `thinker journalist' that is more difficult; a task
which editors must undertake. This ('thinker journalist') is the
reporter who has passed basic news writing, trained in features
and then specializes so that he has authority to write.

"That's why I don't read all those feature pieces by academics
-- because it is reporters who should write them; reporters who
have the sensitivity of an artist to see what makes a story, and
then to throw away what's not necessary, to make a brief, strong
piece."

Rosihan thinks today's journalists suffer from another basic
deficiency:

"I don't see that they have any kind of ideology; our
commitment was to the freedom of Indonesia, to uplifting the
little people, promoting human dignity. We used to despair at
displays of wealth."

"Editors are very careful because, unlike in the old days, it
costs billions to set up a newspaper now. Previously, if our
publications were banned by the chief prosecutor, we would just
go on and print another one."

"Editorials are as flim-flam as they are because the press
must be very cautious -- but I exercise my right not to read
them. They are a waste of time."

Does all this have an impact on readers?

"Hardly. Even in communist countries people need their basic
information on where to queue for supplies, and nowadays people
want to know where to get discounts, as well as satisfying their
basic curiosity about who got killed and mugged today. That's why
Pos Kota is pretty much the only newspaper with real stories
nowadays, in contrast to the make-believe world of other
newspapers: people don't care what Megawati said, for example."

In this country, Rosihan says, a lot of things go unreported,
for the simple reason that reporters don't see them. Or, perhaps,
don't want to see them.

Another reality among reporters now is the `envelope culture'.

"I tell reporters: 'It is alright so long as it doesn't affect
your reporting, but I cannot tolerate blackmail'. It's this
philosophy of `keeping up with the Joneses' that's destroying
us."

Readers adapt to sloppy, roundabout reporting by reading
between the lines, he says. Nevertheless, he often wonders where
present journalists are heading.

"Are they happy? If I were in their shoes I would be extremely
unhappy. I would rather be true to myself and live in poverty
like most people."

Herawati Diah, one of the country's pioneer women's
journalists

As a person who has been involved in the development of the
local press for more than 50 years, she has mixed feelings. She
feels excitement but also disappointment.

Herawati said she was proud to see the rapid development of
the Indonesian press, which is growing as a strong and profitable
industry. But she is very concerned about what she perceives to
be a radical shift in the values of our press. The press, which
used to give voice to the people's aspirations, has now become
the 'source of money' for certain people, she says.

"The period of idealist press or idealist journalists will
never return," she laments.

"We can't avoid change, though. Most news publications are
competing to publish as many 'exclusive' news stories as
possible, in order to increase their circulations. This is the
real trend of the local press today."

Herawati said she put the words 'exclusive news' in quotation
marks because most of these articles are really just hot and
sensational stories which, unfortunately, seem to be marketable
items.

In the past journalists focused their attention on news
concerning the nation's efforts to gain independence and, later,
on the struggle to make development programs work.

"There was hardly room for scandals in the old newspapers and
magazines."

She says many journalists interpret freedom of press in the
wrong way, although she concedes that today's journalists are
clever and aggressive about finding as many sources as possible.
But often they also violate the right of privacy, something which
is very important for any person in any place, she says.

Examples of this, she says, are the cases of Ria Irawan, a
famous film star who was allegedly involved in the murder of
Rifardi Sukarno; and the recent story about the death of Gina, a
young woman who was found dead in Los Angeles.

"It seems to me that both Ria and her family, and Gina's
family, as well as Oki (the alleged murderer), have already been
tried by the press," says Herawati.

"The press has revealed every aspect of the lives of those
involved, who seem to have no right to defend themselves. I don't
really think it's fair game."

Herawati points out that running a newspaper today is a very
risky and costly business because of the rapid development of
information technology.

"We cannot rely anymore on the number of subscribers or
advertisements. We have to up-grade our office equipment and
improve other facilities in order to survive in or to enter the
competitive market. And, of course, that requires a lot of
capital."

This situation has more or less invited large-scale business
groups or individuals to plunge into the media business. The
involvement of businessmen in the media is inevitable, she says,
and will have negative as well as positive effects on the local
press.

"The most important point is that, as the press, we should not
forget our mission to give expression to the truth and to
people's aspirations. We can be rich and clever, but we have to
be wise as well." (anr/jsk/raw)