Pay, training 'key' to ending envelope journalism

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 02/09/2006 10:44 AM

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Riyadi Suparno, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Journalists will continue to take bribes from newsmakers for favorable coverage if they were not better trained and better paid, a meeting heard Wednesday.

Speaking at a seminar on journalism hosted by the Indonesian Press Association, People's Consultative Assembly chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid noted that reporters out recently campaigning against amplop or envelop journalism -- a process where news-makers bribe reporters to get biased stories -- were on the streets wearing branded caps and T-shirts from well-known Indonesian companies.

""Just an intermezzo, they reject envelopes, but accept souvenirs,"" Hidayat quipped.

Speakers at the meeting noted that journalists' desire to report on corruption and injustice were often hampered by their low wages, which led to ""practical"" and unethical solutions.

According to a survey last year by the Independent Journalists Alliance, most reporters earn below Rp 5 million (about US$525) a month. A significant number, about 10 percent, earn below Rp 600,000, with only 1.3 percent earning more than Rp 5 million. The survey interviewed 400 journalists from 80 publications,

Unsurprisingly, the study found that only large, mainstream media paid decent salaries.

Meanwhile, the results of a 2004 Press Council survey of media ethics showed that professionalism in the media is low. Only 30 percent of the 28 newspapers surveyed -- all in Java -- were run by people who met the council's professional standards.

""This limitation means the media cannot meet public expectations,"" council chairman Ichlasul Amal said.

Amal said the low professionalism of media practitioners in Indonesia had led to a high number of public complaints sent to the council, with 361 cases since 2003.

That number did not include defamation cases that went directly to court and letters to the editor, he said.

To help improve the level of professionalism, the council, in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information, had been formulating a set of ""journalist competences,"" to help the media self-regulate, he said.

There would be no accreditation or licensing of journalists as in other professions, he said.

Ministry official Widiadnyana Merati stressed the government had no intention of curbing press freedoms because it had no right to do so.

Nevertheless, the government did have a responsibility to protect the public from the negative effects of the media. To that end, it would help to educate people about how to use information critically, and encourage them to speak out when they were not happy, he said.

Amal said the lack of professionalism among journalists and not the new press freedoms was the cause of media excesses.

PT Astra International president director Michael D. Ruslim said the new press freedoms benefited transparent, well-managed businesses.

Michael credited a robust free press for helping companies like Astra withstand the economic crisis and prosper.

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