Time to remember journalists

By Ignatius Haryanto

JAKARTA (JP): This year The New York Times won three Pulitzer prizes for stories on corruption in Mexico, special coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court and for critical commentary on police brutality in New York (Kompas, April 16).

It is a sort of rite for journalists the world over to devote special attention to the months of April and May. The Pulitzer winners are announced in April by Columbia University in New York while in May, World Press Freedom Day is observed.

April is the month for celebrating exclusive reports by journalists of high quality while May is the month of concern as on May 3 the Committee to Protect Journalists announces the fate of journalists the world over, be they incarcerated, murdered or unemployed because the media they work for have been closed down.

While on the one hand achievement wins appreciation, on the other hand concern deserves our attention. These are the two faces of the world media as the manifestation of solidarity shown by members of the media community in more advanced countries.

The Pulitzers consist of 14 categories: public service, spot news reporting, investigative reporting, explanatory journalism, beat reporting, national reporting, international reporting, feature writing, commentary, criticism, editorial writing, editorial cartooning, spot news photography and feature photography.

How does a publisher react on learning that one of its journalists has been awarded a prize?

The Times placed an advertisement in the April 12, 1998 issue of Editor & Publishers, congratulating its three staffers on the international reporting, commentary and spot news photography categories.

The following was written under the ad: "The Newspaper Group of the New York Times Company comprises The New York Times, The Boston Globe and 21 regional newspapers. What all our papers have in common is the guiding mission of journalistic excellence. We salute the dedicated men and women who embrace that mission every day, three of whom have been honored with 1997 Pulitzer Prizes."

Another ad from the Associated Press news agency in the same magazine reads: "Celebration! The AP won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography, the cooperative's 43rd and 25th for photos, the most Pulitzers for photography of any news organization. It's also the AP's sixth Pulitzer for photography in seven years."

In 1997 Alexander Zemlianichenko, an AP photographer, won the Pulitzer Prize for the feature photography category for his picture of Russian President Boris Yeltsin merrily dancing at a concert held in connection with his nomination for a second term as Russian president.

These two advertisements illustrate the pride the two world news organizations took in the prizes. To a publisher, a journalistic achievement recognized by a world-class institute is an invaluable asset to confirm itself as a reliable media organization. Achievement is not something to hide because it is something that must be accorded with appreciation.

What about the appreciation for journalistic achievement in Indonesia? Do our publishers take pride in journalistic prizes awarded to them, such as the Adinegoro Prize or other citations accorded in conjunction with national days?

Or perhaps we may ask whether or not there are journalistic works in Indonesia that deserve appreciation from other journalists?

And then, do publishers take pride in the prizes awarded them and their journalists and photographers? Do they consider the award an asset to spur their achievement and bolster their day-to-day activities?

Since the Adinegoro Prize was first awarded in 1974, this prize has not commanded respect among journalists themselves and prize recipients themselves may not think that they have attained one of the peaks of performance in their journalistic career.

Why does such a pride seem to be absent in Indonesia? Does the reason lie, perhaps, in the fact that journalists themselves do not fully appreciate the work ethos of a journalist?

The absence of such a pride may represent the self-reflection of journalists who suffer an inferiority complex within their own profession so that they will feel "nothing out of the ordinary" when receiving a prize which should otherwise fill them with pride.

The Pulitzers are 82 years old. The first one was introduced in 1916 when a journalism prize was named after one of the great figures in U.S. press history, Joseph Pulitzer.

Pulitzer, however, is not the only institute devoting attention to the development of quality journalism in the United States. There are other factors supporting this prize-awarding tradition in journalism, such as the emergence of many journalistic schools, the growth of the media (print and electronic) industries and the birth of a number of journals or publications specifically dwelling on journalism.

Journalism Quarterly, Journalism Monographs, Columbia Journalism Review, Nieman Reports and a magazine like Editor & Publishers could be cited as examples in this final category.

One may be astonished on reading "Every Saturday since 1884" on the heading of Editor. It means that it is now entering its 114th year.

The issue of promoting quality journalistic reporting has been treated very seriously since then. Interaction takes place continuously between practitioners and academicians on the one hand and moralists on the other in the establishment of a culture of the nation's journalism.

The code of conduct, which defines what may and may not be done in pursuing the journalistic profession is also the result of a tug-of-war involving the three elements above.

In Indonesia, there have been several special publications devoted to journalism in the past. Wartawan: Madjallah Persatoean Wartawan (Journalist: Magazine of the Association of Journalists) was first published in April 1946. Pers Indonesia (the Indonesian Press) which was first published in 1970 and continued into the 1980s. Up to the mid 1990s the Dr Soetomo Press Institute, published Reporter. After three years, the magazine disappeared. In 1996 the Press Council published the first Journal Pers Indonesia (the Indonesian Press Journal).

The question, however, is whether or not there is interaction involving practitioners, academicians and moralists in Indonesia with respect to journalistic reporting. A deeper study is needed to answer this question. The Adinegoro Prize itself is not popular among our community members.

Have winners of Adinegoro Prize really produced masterpieces in their journalistic reporting in Indonesia? Do the categories contested in the Adinegoro Prize every year show progress in Indonesia's standard of journalism? When can we have investigative reporting or monumental photography which can also be appreciated within the media community?

Or, is it a reflection of our indifference to the production of quality reporting and a demonstration that some reporters regard their job as merely a routine to make ends meet?

Or, perhaps, the present situation shows that a pride- inspiring journalistic tradition has yet to be established in Indonesia because journalism is always under external pressure, exerted by the power of the state, and the power of capital, which invisibly curtails journalists' freedom to work.

Or, perhaps still, this thesis is wrong and, unknowingly, much pride-inspiring journalistic work has been created and has stealthily made its way into our journalistic annals.

The writer is chairman of the Institute for Press and Development Studies in Jakarta.