If  you are a journalist in Indonesia, there is really little to celebrate but plenty to be worried about on National Press Day today. The future of our profession is in doubt because journalism, which has thrived on bad news, is now being bombarded by bad news about itself.

Journalism is coming under attack from left and right, inside and out. Newspapers, which gave journalists their first platform, are no longer the main drivers of news. That role has now been fully taken over by television, the Internet and radio, all of which give news literally as it happens and in audio-visual format. Abroad, newspapers are closing down. In Indonesia, newspaper readership stagnates at best.

Broadcast journalists do not fare all that much better. News programs have been squeezed out of the peak hours by the more profitable entertainment programs. Relegated to unsocial hours, news has been reduced to one-sentence tickers at the bottom of your TV screen, or a-few-second sound bytes.

The Internet may have democratized the news industry and allowed more players, but almost anything goes on the web today, so much so that it undermines the one thing that has made journalism in the past a public service profession: credibility.

The increasing corporatization of the media industry meanwhile is forcing editors to compromise on principles to meet the bottom-line targets.

On this day to mark National Press Day, those in journalism should ask themselves whether this profession still does what it once professed to do, that is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. What about the role it has assigned itself as the fourth estate in a democracy? Can journalists still seriously claim to be serving the public when the media they work for today is driven more by technology and business interests, and less and less by idealism?

The biggest threat to journalism is actually coming from within.  Professionalism is so sorely lacking today that, unless they get their act together, journalists will be the ones who are killing their own profession.

Indonesia makes an interesting study with regard to the declining role of journalism. The explosion of media outlets – from newspapers to television stations, and now online sites – that comes from the greater media freedom in the last decade or so, has not been accompanied by an improvement in quality. If anything, the quality of journalism has so deteriorated that the media is now characterized more by sensationalism as well as recklessness.

Not surprisingly, many politicians and bureaucrats are clamoring for the reimposition of control over the media, and more members of the public agree with them in that the media has gone overboard and abused its freedom. What society gives, society takes away. The press freedom guaranteed under the amended constitution in 2002 is not something we can take for granted.

Here is a question that one should be asking as we mark the national press day today: Is anyone investing in the training of journalists? Besides new reporters, mid-career journalists also need retraining to adapt to the new business, political and technological environment governing the profession. How many schools of journalism have been set up in Indonesia in the past decade or so?

We may not have the answers to all the questions about the future of journalism, but providing training and improving the skills and professionalism of journalists would be a good start.  Anyone care to invest in journalism?

Popular

Govt urged police to investigate alleged exploitation, assault of circus performers

Journalist groups urge stronger protections after mass layoffs

Malaysia seeks trade legal harmonization in ASEAN