Free and independent are two words that are similar in many ways and yet very different in others. You can be free and not independent, and conversely you can be independent and not free.
As a nation, Indonesia may have freed itself from colonialism, but it has remained very much dependent on foreign assistance and investment, which both impact on the legitimacy of its sovereignty. The point is that freedom and independence are two words that do not always go together, much as one would like to assume.
This is also true when it comes to the question of press freedom, a topic celebrated internationally on Sunday, May 3, as World Press Freedom Day. Today, as bottom line pressures increasingly undermine the independence of even the freest presses in the world, we should start thinking about expanding the coverage of this important day to encompass freedom as well as the independence of the press.
In the United States, Australia and even here in Indonesia, press institutions and their sisters in broadcasting and the newer digital realms may claim to be operating in free environments, but are they truly independent of the political and business interests of media owners? Hardly.
This leads to the question of who are the true benefactors of press freedoms that nations uphold as imperative ingredients of democracy? Are the interests of society being truly served by press freedom, or is invoking freedom just a perfect cover for media owners to reap huge rewards?
This is a question that should have been asked and answered a long time ago, but today this question is even more important with the press and the broader media industry worldwide increasingly dominated by big business, including in countries that (supposedly) enjoyed press freedom.
It is easy to assume World Press Freedom Day should remind us that in many parts of the world this basic right, recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has not been fully upheld, while ignoring the fact that problems still persist in countries that supposedly enjoy press freedom.
The message of World Press Freedom Day is as important in countries that take this freedom for granted as it is in countries that live under repressive regimes, if not more so. Very often, the real enemy of the free press in countries like these, including Indonesia, comes from within and is therefore harder to recognize or identify. With Zimbabwe, at least you can easily identify Mugabe as the common enemy.
Journalists who are concerned about the important role their profession plays in a democratic society should take on the job to make sure that they can operate not only in a free environment, but also that they can operate independently of political and business interests of owners. The credibility of the press is put on the line the moment political and business interests interfere with editorial judgments.
Journalists and editors in countries that already enjoy free press should convince their bosses there are plenty of examples of where good journalism leads to good business that eventually helps the company, just as there are examples of bad journalism, stemming from political biases, leading to bad business that ultimately brings down a media concern.
On this day, we urge freedom and independence for the press all over the world.
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