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EDITORIAL: Our hard-earned freedom
Apparently after nearly 20 years of democracy, we still have not managed to contribute significantly to critical thinking among the public.
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Workers prepare the venue of the Press Freedom Day (WPFD) opening ceremony on May 2 in Jakarta. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho)
T
his week we welcome hundreds of media delegates arriving to celebrate World Press Freedom Day, which falls Wednesday. As Indonesia hosts the event for the first time, it signals to the world how far we have come from the days of authoritarianism. However, we are also acutely aware of the challenges to our very survival.
One main focus of the commemoration, held in cooperation with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is the safety of journalists, to remind us of ever present life-threatening risks to those in the profession.
Among the 48 journalists killed last year alone, 14 lost their lives in Syria, six in Iraq and six in Yemen, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Outside war zones, many have been killed in relation to their reports on politics and corruption — while the perpetrators mostly got away.
Indonesia is fairly safe in comparison, yet threats to press freedom happen on a daily basis from a far more subtle source — business competition — as we struggle to adjust to audiences that no longer necessarily turn to their preferred TV stations or newspapers, revealing that we need to change our work habits and reach out to them.
Apart from direct threats, the struggle to maintain viable businesses is a global threat to the media.
Yet another threat, and also an opportunity for the media, lies in the theme of this year’s press freedom celebrations: “Critical minds for critical times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies.”
In Indonesia and in many other countries we have seen the proliferation of “fake news,” dumbfounding journalists as “news” with unclear sources and twisted facts that manage to go viral, making newsrooms busy in trying to verify them — particularly ahead of elections.
