Time to remember journalists

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.