'Violence on TV erodes people's sensitivity'

Bambang Nurbianto and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Criminals with nasty scars and tattoos have been regularly entering the living rooms of millions of Indonesians in the last year.

The popularity of the crime/reality TV broadcasts -- mainly showing police arresting, manhandling and sometimes shooting various street criminals -- are now aired on almost every TV station.

A sociologist from University of Indonesia (UI), Paulus Wirutomo, warned that such excessive broadcasting of violence on TV would have a negative impact on society as the shows would erode the nation's natural sense of repulsion to violence.

He explained that when people were continually exposed to violence, they began to accept it as a common occurrence, and thus are themselves not opposed to using violence if the opportunity presents itself.

"Slowly but surely, people become desensitized to perverse brutality. Violent acts then become such a big part of their knowledge base it naturally affects their behavior," Paulus told The Jakarta Post recently.

Airing reports of police capturing known criminals itself is important, he said, as it educates people about the existing crimes. The reports that show police getting tough in cracking down on criminals, as long as procedures are being followed, are also important so that people know that the police are ridding the streets of criminals.

Paulus, however, emphasized the need for TV stations not to focus on so much violence. He also advised them to refrain from showing dead people who had suffered lethal wounds, because such vulgarity should not be shown to the general public.

The Press Council must also create guideline for TV stations on how to broadcast criminal reports. The council must also issue warnings against TV stations which violate the guidelines, he added.

"As members of the council are selected by media representatives in the country, the media company must respect their decisions. I think it is important for the media to make self corrections," Paulus said.

National Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis also lamented the media which have failed to abide by general ethics in airing such violence, regardless of market demand, which the stations often refer to in justifying the shows.

"The airing of wanton violence will not bring any good for public education," he explained.

Zainuri also said that the police, as an institution, should never allow the press to film their operations.

"Any raids are supposed to be carried out undercover. The presence of journalists carrying a camera will be too obvious and the raids can be leaked to the targeted criminals which could allow them to escape," he said.

However, the police are unable to ban the press as it is the right of the media.

Last year, the police issued a circular prohibiting the press from interviewing suspects. But now, tens of millions of viewers can clearly hear the suspects during interrogation on their TV screens.