Who decides on how far journalists can go?

By Imanuddin

JAKARTA (JP): Who's to decide on how far journalists can go before their work becomes an intrusion into the private lives of people? Where do you draw the line when their work is considered a violation of individuals' rights to privacy?

These are some of the questions being asked by legal experts and senior editors as the police prepare dossiers against two reporters of the Sinar magazine who were caught trespassing on the property of Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, a daughter of former president Sukarno, in Jakarta last week.

Rachmawati, who is involved in a marital dispute with her husband, is pressing charges against the two reporters for "snooping" around her home when she had a guest.

Sinar's editors have defended their reporters, saying they were doing their journalistic work and they had the approval of Rachmawati's estranged husband, part-owner of the house.

Some experts agree that the line between journalists' rights to inform and individuals' rights to privacy is difficult to determine.

Interviewed separately, Loebby Loqman, a professor of criminal law at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta; Andi Muis, a professor of communication law at the Hasanuddin University in Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi; and Mochtar Lubis, former chief editor of the defunct Indonesia Raya daily, all agreed that the case should be brought to court for a legal solution.

"The journalists' rights to conduct investigative reporting should be evaluated and disclosed in court," Loebby said.

Although they have certain privileges in their work, journalists still have to observe some norms, he said. "There are certain individual rights of the sources of information that journalists have to respect."

Loebby said the Indonesian Journalists' Association should hold its own investigation to verify the circumstances and take action against the journalists if it is found they had violated the journalists' code of ethics.

Andi Muis, who is also a visiting professor on communication law at the post-graduate study of the University of Indonesia, shared Loebby's view about the importance of the case being settled in court.

"The court's decision will clarify the journalists' rights to conduct investigations in relation to the information sources' privileges," he said.

Andi said articles 2 and 3 of the Law No. 21/1982 on press regulation recognize journalists' rights to exercise social control, to criticize and to provide constructive correction.

"In terms of the journalists' code of ethics and press law, the journalists' actions were not wrong," he said.

He pointed out, however, that the criminal code also recognizes an individual's right to accept or reject requests for interviews or to be photographed by journalists.

Andi believed that the press law should take precedent over the criminal law. "Press freedom must not be disturbed by the inflexible implementation of the criminal law," he said.

Mochtar Lubis said that if the case went to court, the decision could become a landmark in determining the extent of journalists' freedom in conducting investigations. "The court ruling can become a jurisprudence in the Indonesian law history."

Mochtar agreed that the criminal law should not deny journalists their freedom to carry out investigations.

"It is a common thing for a journalist to approach an information source for an interview," said the senior journalist.

"The source has every right to accept or reject requests for an interview," he said, adding that journalists are obliged to respect the source's response, whatever that is.

Minister of Information Harmoko, himself a former journalist, said on Tuesday that the Sinar case has further exposed the weak legal protection Indonesian journalists have.

He implored the Indonesian Journalists' Association to make a draft on ways of ensuring greater protection for journalists.

He cited several other cases in which journalists were even beaten and tortured while on the job.

Harmoko agreed that the association should conduct an investigation into the affair and punish the reporters if it is proven that they acted unethically.