TV reporter Ira Koesno escapes political fire

TV reporter Ira Koesno escapes political fire

JAKARTA (JP): Several days before former president Soeharto
stepped down, he still tried to hold onto power by announcing he
would reshuffle the cabinet -- an effort which proved futile. And
just two days before he announced he would reshuffle the cabinet,
TV reporter Ira Koesno asked one of this year's most
controversial questions live on a local news program watched
nationwide.

Former state minister of environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja
answered a question in such a way that it cost the general
manager of SCTV's Liputan 6 Siang news program Sumita Tobing her
job and made the program's producer, Don Bosco, tender his
resignation.

The question?

Do you think a reshuffle of the cabinet is the answer to
overcoming the multiple crises this nation is facing?

The answer?

"It's like a bad tooth ... By just filling a hole ... the
problem won't go away. It has to be yanked out," Sarwono answered
in last Sunday's interview with Ira.

Don's resignation was not accepted and Sumita has been
"reassigned" to reorganize "other sectors of SCTV".

Ira, however, got lucky.

She not only escaped the possibility of being "reassigned",
she is still the host of the interview segment, which suffered a
few days suspension following Sunday's televised discussion with
Sarwono.

To the dismay of viewers, during the days the interview
segment was off the air, Ira did not present the news for SCTV's
Liputan 6 Siang.

"Why should I? I present the news because the challenge lies
in questioning the political or economic figure during the
interview segment. Sorry to say this, but garbage can be
presented by anybody," the 28-years-old Ira said.

"I felt it was time for me to be out on the streets again.
However good a news broadcaster (one may be), a journalist must
see things with her own eyes ... I wanted to do field reporting
during that time (the interview segment was off the air). I did."

When asked about her idealism as a journalist being "edited
out" by censorship, she said it was much better for print.

"Editing in print allows for suggestions of the unsaid truth
whereas on TV, nothing that is said can be unsaid," Ira said.

"One has to understand that freedom of the media in developing
countries is still very restricted."

She said that TV interviews were a bit different from
interviews for print.

"A TV journalist should be able to package the question with
words that do not invite chaos and bring forth, if nothing else,
a suggestion of the truth," said Ira, who has been working at
SCTV for two years.

She feels that Sarwono answered the way he did and pursued the
topic -- he said that he was optimistic of the people's progress
in opening up but not of their leader -- because there was "no
better way" to do so.

"I guess he knew that whichever way he answered, it would come
down to the same thing. He felt that retaining all of the same
people on the Cabinet would be disastrous for the political and
economic progress of the nation."

She said that an ideal journalist should go deep into matters
they wanted expressed, whether for TV or print.

"However, all journalism comes down to words being sold.
Money. Money meaning many viewers, ratings, more advertisements.
Idealism is linked to so many other factors. They need to be
considered."

When asked about the ideal situation for media in this nation,
she said: "Hands in the media should have no direct link to hands
in the government." (ylt)