Yogya declares war on bogus journalists

Yogya declares war on bogus journalists

Slamet Susanto/Tarko Sudiarno, Yogyakarta

Concerned about the rapid proliferation of bogus reporters,
dozens of Yogyakarta journalists staged a rally on Thursday in
front of the Yogyakarta provincial police headquarters,
denouncing the charlatans and declaring war on them.

The journalists represented print, radio and television media
representing as well as various journalistic institutions like
the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Indonesian
Journalists Association (PWI), the Yogyakarta Indonesian
Photographers Association (PFI) and several radio journalists'
groups.

They addressed a crowd in front of the police station and
carried hundreds of banners. Some of them read "Return
Journalists' Dignity", "Take Stern Action against Bogus
Reporters" and "Bogus Reporters are Harming Journalists' Image."

Head of the Yogyakarta AJI, Masduki, proclaimed that the
presence of bogus journalists was out of control. They extorted
news sources most of the time and often used the names of real
reporters from established media groups, he said.

"We demand that the police take stern action against the
impostors because they were extorting people, which is clearly a
crime," said Masduki.

A representative of the Yogyakarta PFI, Bagus Kurniawan, added
that the phenomenon not only occurred in Yogyakarta but
throughout the country. As a result, the image of journalists was
being further tarnished. The reputation of the media here has
become very negative and almost all are now called "envelope
journalists", he said, in reference to the envelopes full of
bribe money that is often exchanged for a positive story on a
corrupt official.

"We, Yogyakarta journalists, starting this month have agreed
to beat the drums of war against bogus journalists and hopefully,
colleagues from other cities will follow suit to make journalism
clean and free from the cash envelopes," said Bagus.

The bogus journalists often arrive at someone's office in a
group and intimidate a source, usually demanding money in
exchange for not reporting on an allegation of corruption. They
are only in pursuit of cash envelopes, which harms the image of
all members of the press.

Yogyakarta Police Chief Brig. Gen. Sudirman who was present at
the rally said that the police had actually made an effort by
issuing membership cards to genuine reporters.

"But, we've agreed to do even more. Journalists and the
government, in this case the police, are committed to changing
this situation. With the support of you, our colleagues, we will
take stern action against bogus journalists," the police chief
told the crowd of journalists.

Sudirman then proceeded to burn five envelopes (without the
money inside) to symbolically initiate the war on bogus
journalists. The protesters also officially reported a crime
committed by a bogus reporter named Bani, who claimed he worked
for Republika newspaper to extort another person.

Before dispersing, the journalists together declared and
requested that accredited journalists throughout the country not
to forge relationships with bogus reporters and appealed to
anyone approached by such phonies to ignore them.