Media ethics for new technology

Harry Bhaskara ,  Nusa Dua, Bali   |  Thu, 05/15/2008 12:20 PM  |  Opinion

Does technology make us quicker to learn? If anything, it has made us shorter in temper as the 2006 Danish cartoon fiasco showed. More than 130 people were killed in the ensuing protests worldwide.

Had the cartoons that depicted Prophet Mohammad been contained in Denmark, nothing would have happened. But news crosses country borders encompassing legal, religious and cultural differences.

Like a bullet, the Internet penetrates all corners of the globe and Muslim communities were enraged, as Islam does not allow depiction of its prophet.

Are we not ready for the latest technology or has it come too early, catching us unprepared? News traverses the globe in seconds and there is no turning back.

The recent anti-Islam film Fitna has cost no life, thanks to cool-headedness prevailing among Muslim leaders. The 15-minute film was condemned; fatwa were issued against filmmaker Geert Wilders.

Indonesia banned the right-wing parliamentarian from entering the country and websites featuring the films were temporarily closed down, but there was nothing more.

This gives us hopes that we can live peacefully with the latest technology.

Sources at the recent Global Inter-Media Dialogue (GIMD) here said Wilders had never been taken seriously as a politician. He had a reputation for creating sensations. The Dutch public was, at the beginning, intrigued once or twice by his sensationalism, but that's all.

This episode poses a challenge to journalists. How to report Wilders' controversial film with his reputation and local sentiment intact? The social context will help overseas audiences to better understand the circumstances and hopefully control their anger.

Had the knowledge of the Dutch public about Wilders been transferred to the Muslim world, widespread protests might not have been necessary.

The film, a crude cut-and-paste collage of scenes, barely made a stir in the Netherlands as the public was aware of Wilders' reputation.

It may be too much to ask the Muslim communities to ignore the offensive film. To pretend not to know about what is happening in other countries is not realistic either. But that is the kind of reaction worth considering in dealing with a sensationalist.

Technology has made it possible for an individual to enrage thousands or millions of others in an instant. It only needs a sensationalist to do so.

In the cyber world, one hacker can destroy a popular website to the detriment of a million other users. The question is how to police an erring individual among millions of Internet users.

Wilders must be laughing in the dark, savoring his victory. The widespread reaction to his film, the boycott of Dutch products notwithstanding, has put him on the spotlight. That is exactly what he wanted.

Less elegant is to ask the Dutch government to punish him as freedom of expression is guaranteed by its constitution. In addition, the controversy is nongovernmental in nature, hence, Western governments, including the Dutch government, are quick to distance themselves. A new code of conduct of the United Nations will not work either.

In the Danish cartoon case, ridiculing religion might be part of the Christian tradition but not Islam's. The Danish audience may ignore publications of the cartoons but not the Muslim world.

How the should media deal with these layers of differences, the legal, religious and cultural divides? And what about political control and market forces?

There is no easy answer, and "problematic" media coverage of the West on Islam is bound to happen again.

This has forced us to communicate with one another and solve the problem. There is no other way.

For media outlets, an initiative launched by journalists this year might lend a hand.

The Ethical Journalism Initiative promotes ethical values for journalism that include "respect the truth", remain "independent and impartial" and seek "to do no harm". They are the fruit of numerous meetings in Europe, the Middle East and Indonesia in 2006 and 2007, including in the first and second GIMD.

The values addresses a number of issues including challenges of the current political environment, media responses, global media and online journalism.

It is a good beginning but a Russian proverb, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", serves as a caveat.

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.

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