'TVRI' will not broadcast House debates live

'TVRI' will not broadcast House debates live

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned television station TVRI said
yesterday it would not broadcast live the House of
Representatives' hearing with Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad
today, citing "security and technical reasons".

TVRI's director, Azis Husein, told a hearing with the House
Commission I for security, defense and information affairs
yesterday that the station would record the Commission VIII for
finance and state budget session and broadcast it at 9.30 p.m.
after editing.

The hearing on the country's current economic situation is
scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Such sessions are usually open to
the public.

Azis told the House legislators that all the five private TV
stations would relay the program, but did not explain the reason
for the delayed broadcast. He later told reporters that technical
and security reasons were behind the decision not to air Mar'ie's
session live.

He said today's House hearing with Mar'ie is considered
critical in terms of security and needed editing to ensure that
the public would receive only the right information.

"Perhaps the public will misunderstand (the information) and
we have to avoid this from happening," he said.

Top representatives of the private TV stations who attended
the hearing said their stations were prepared to relay the
delayed broadcast of the hearing.

"We are under the supervision of the Ministry of Information,
so we have to comply with its call," said Agus Mulianto, director
of the Surabaya-based SCTV.

Azis said a TVRI live broadcast in the morning was technically
impossible because all of its transmitters would be used by
private station TPI at the time.

The state-owned TV station starts its daily programs at 2.00
p.m. TPI, which is owned by President's Soeharto eldest daughter
Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, leases TVRI transmitters nationwide from
5.30 a.m.

In the past, TVRI has always broadcast state ceremonies, such
as Independence Day, which took place in the morning.

The government banned SCTV and ANteve from broadcasting live
Mar'ie's explanation about the national economic reform package
before a plenary House meeting on Nov. 10. Minister of
Information R. Hartono said only TVRI could broadcast the session
live upon his order.

Debate on the controversial ban was the focus of yesterday's
House session presided over by Aminullah Ibrahim of the Armed
Forces faction.

In a gesture of support for the ban, Golkar legislator Amir
Sirait said that the House should obtain all information from
Mar'ie before the public does.

ANTeve's editor-in-chief, Azkarmin Zaini, urged the government
to set up regulations on live broadcasting.

"We cannot say whether the procedures (cited by the minister
about the live coverage) were correct or wrong. The Broadcasting
Law itself doesn't have a clear stipulation (on live
broadcasting). The government should clarify it in a decree or
other forms of regulations," he said.

United Development Party legislator, Ghazali Abbas Adan,
lamented TVRI's decision, saying that the delayed broadcast would
prevent the public from knowing how the House members carry out
their duties.

"We are said to be an institution which is irresponsive toward
the public's aspirations because they don't know how dynamic our
dialog actually is with the government during a hearing," he
said.

Mass communications expert Eduard Depari, also RCTI's
spokesman, said TVRI's decision restricted the public's right to
know.

"It reveals a setback in the government's promotion of
transparency. How can we compete with other countries if we lack
transparency?" he said. (09/amd)