Television business, something rotten in the air

Ong Hock Chuan, Jakarta

TVRI and RCTI are celebrating their anniversaries today. Congratulations! These are glorious times to be on TV.

Indonesia now has one of the least politically regulated and controlled environments for the media -- particularly television -- to thrive in. On top of that, the economy, in spite of everything, has been managing to grow at a healthy clip. Since much of that growth has been consumer driven, this translates into lots of advertisements at premium rates.

And since TV is so ubiquitous, stations also wield huge influence in their decisions on what to air, and what not to.

So there you have it. The TV barons are rolling in money and influence. What more could one want?

Well, respect for a start.

In an underdeveloped country, such as Indonesia, where there is much to be done in the area of nation building and easing the population toward full democracy, television stations have an obligation to air programs that inform and educate, apart from those that entertain.

The trouble with Indonesian stations is that they have sold out their roles to inform and educate in favor of entertainment, and usually very low-brow programs at that.

There is nothing wrong with airing programs designed purely for entertainment -- even mindless ones -- provided that they are not harmful. However, there is something wrong if they insult the intelligence and pander to bad taste.

Take, for example, the various "mystery TV" programs that stations delight in airing. Once -- out of sheer boredom and curiosity to see how the program would pan out -- I sat through an entire program, in which "nothing" happened. No mystery, no ghosts, no charisma, no nothing. It would have been more interesting watching the grass grow.

Then there are criminal reports. One on Sunday showed the bloated corpse of a drowned victim for close to a minute. Other programs show petty thieves as they are cowed into subservience by the police.

Why don't the stations -- for a change -- cover the real story: the incompetence and level of corruption in the police, the miserable conditions in which the police officers themselves work, and the crimes that matter, such as white-collar crime?

Television stations are also guilty of failing to provide their viewers with the information they need to make rational decisions for a better business, political and social community.

Where business or corporate news is concerned, much of the coverage comprises of blatantly bought airtime. It is common knowledge that for several million rupiah upward you can buy yourself some airtime on any channel. The result is advertorials thinly disguised as news. No one, however, is really fooled by the value of these "reports", except perhaps the CEO who loves to see himself/herself on television.

This is why most businesses do not take television news seriously and rely on newspapers as their primary source of information.

News on politics and the government is of a similarly poor quality, because, when TV stations are not taking sides, their coverage is event-specific. There is no sense that they are "tackling issues", and when they are, their efforts are not sustained. An issue that seemed crucial is forgotten as another one becomes topical, or "newsworthy".

Some stations host an abundance of talk shows and interviews, but again the profit imperative is transparent. For a few million rupiah one can get on such a show and, together with the ill- groomed and verbose talk show host, bore their audience to tears. Socially, much education is necessary if Indonesia is to move forward. From iodine deficiency that causes cretinism, to coral reefs that need protection, to illegal logging and an unending list of social ills, stations can make such a difference if they use the facilities they have to educate.

The common excuse of TV stations is that they have to make ends meet, and entertainment is what sells. True, to a point, but no one is suggesting that they give up producing entertainment programs. All that is being asked, is that they exercise some judgment in what is being shown, and try to balance entertainment shows with ones that inform and educate.

The latter type of program may not be as lucrative in the short term, but would provide huge returns in the long term. It does not take a visionary to surmise that unless Indonesia pulls itself up by its bootstraps it will be forever -- as described in Adam Schwartz's book on the country -- a nation in waiting.

It need not be confined to the waiting room for eternity if people with the means to implement change in society do their part. The TV moguls, who already have a surfeit of money and influence, only have to do the right thing. Respect, which they do miss now, will then follow.

The nation is waiting.

The writer is a partner of PT Maverick Solusi Komunikasi, a PR company specializing in crisis/issues management, as well as brand communications.