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Spinning infotainment
It’s likely the hardest time for rating-stealing, money-making infotainment shows within their years of popularity
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t’s likely the hardest time for rating-stealing, money-making infotainment shows within their years of popularity. While they have always put glamorous faces under the limelight, it’s now their turn to go under.
Sharp as a razor: Host Fenny Rose presents Silet, a top infotainment show aired on the RCTI television station. The shows, which enter the private lives of celebrities, have drawn strong criticism. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama
The heat is still on with the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) redefining infotainment as non-news shows and formulating a tighter regulation on them. Recently, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) slapped a haram (forbidden) edict for gossip shows alike.
At first, when the saga with the KPI started to roll, those in the infotainment scene responded with defensiveness. But now, especially after the issue reached the religious domain, they’re melting.
“We’re currently formulating a guideline of ethics for infotainment shows and journalists as part of our commitment to carry out self-censorship,” media mogul Ilham Bintang, known as the King of Infotainment, told The Jakarta Post recently. “We want to underline that we don’t have such freedom to report anything we like. We, infotainment, will obey the law and journalism ethics.”
Senior infotainment journalist Hans Miller expressed a similar view, saying the holy Ramadan month in August will mark the commitment of infotainment journalists to make changes.
“We already met up to discuss this matter and thanked the MUI [for opening our eyes],” said Hans, who’s also the deputy head of the infotainment division at the Indonesian Press Association (PWI). “We, infotainment journalists, have promised: We’ll change starting from this Ramadhan month — we’ll change our attitudes that don’t fit the journalism code of ethics.”
“One infotainment show has even already changed its name, removing the word ‘gossip’,” he added.
The MUI recently ruled any news that humilates, or contains lies and gossip about someone’s private life was haram, making it also forbidden for Muslims to watch it or provide the public with such news.
The council, however, underlined it is allowed if the purposes of the news is to uphold the law, fight infidelity, warn people or report and ask for help. Prior to this, the country’s biggest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama issued a similar edict last year.
Meanwhile, the KPI just slapped several infotainment programs with official warnings for showing singer Krisdayanti and boyfriend Raul Lemos French-kissing on their slots.
This came not so long after it decided to include infotainment as non-factual shows, meaning they’re not journalistic products and need to be censored.
“Actually, our main concern is not about whether infotainment are factual or non-factual shows,” said KPI chairman Dadang Rahmat Hidayat, adding the censorship plan on infotainment was still being discussed. “Our concerns are more on the content of infotainment and their broadcast hours.”
The case of Krisdayanti, known as KD, and Raul’s kiss broadcasting, for example, he went on, had illustrated how infotainment is not suitable for children.
Not only that, Dadang said that such a report had the tendency to worsen the conflict between troubling parties, in this case KD and Raul’s wife Shechah Salem Sagran and their children.
“We received many complaints from the public regarding this case. One parent even said he was shocked to find out his child thought that [French] kissing was tolerable for non-married couples,” Dadang told the Post.
Thus, he said, it was necessary to regulate the broadcast hours of infotainment shows in order to make sure children were not exposed to such shows, which now are being aired from early in the morning until night.
In order to settle the infotain-ment issue, the KPI has carried out several meetings with the House of Representatives in the past few weeks.
“We received many complaints from the public regarding this case. One parent even said he was shocked to find out his child thought that [French] kissing was tolerable for non-married couples.”
So far, the House’s Commission I, which oversees information, defense and foreign affairs, has shared similar concerns with the KPI on infotainment issue, agreeing that infotainment isn’t a journalistic product.
“Journalism is based on facts, not some kind of gossips and hearsays,” said legislator Ramadhan Pohan of the Democratic Party during a hearing with several TV stations’ leaders. “Infotainment has clearly violated the 2002 Broadcasting Law. I don’t see it’s appropriate for them to broadcast things like family conflicts.”
“We’re one voice in fighting against infotainment. [It] must be aired after 10 p.m. No more family conflicts; no more pitting the mother against the father and so on,” he added, referring to the Krisdayanti’s and Raul’s case.
Democratic Party’s deputy chairman, Max Sopacua, who also sits in Commission I of the House of Representatives, warned that if infotainment fails to make positive transformation, his party would consider set up a special body to monitor infotainment.
He also reminded TV stations not to use infotainment merely to rake money.
Ilham Bintang once revealed to SWA business magazine that he sold one episode of his infotainment show to TV stations at Rp 50 million (US$5,500). Meanwhile, RCTI station’s news editor-in-chief Arif Suditomo admitted infotainment had contributed quite high income to the station.
“The market is a significant element for our company’s sustainability,” said Arif during the same hearing. “But we will make improvements — just give us chances to do so,” he added.
Also responding to the criticisms was SCTV’s news editor-in-chief Don Bosco Selamun, who highlighted that infotainment was actually falls under the soft-news category.
“The problem here is actually about ethics. And the problem of ethics means the problem of monitoring.” Don Bosco, former KPI member, said. “So, it’s actually about how [the KPI] monitors infotainment. I personally think that if the KPI has the courage to ban just one infotainment show, it will create a deterrent effect [on other shows],” he added.
Both SCTV and RCTI are the stations with the largest number of infotainment shows. From the total of 19 infotainment shows on 10 stations, almost 50 percent belong to RCTI and SCTV — Silet, Cek & Ricek, Halo Selebriti, Kabar Kabari, Hot Shot, Was Was, Status Selebriti and Go Spot.
Silet (RCTI) topped the list of the most-watched infotainment show, according to AGB Nielsen in June, with around 1 million viewers. The second place belongs to Trans TV’s Insert Investigasi (an 853,000 audience), while Kabar Kabari (RCTI), Hot Shot (SCTV) and Cek & Ricek (RCTI) took the third, fourth and fifth place, with around 700,000 viewers each.
AGB Nielsen’s research in June also revealed the heavy coverage of the celebrity sex video scandal implicating Ariel “Peterpan”, Luna Maya and Cut Tari boosted the number of infotainment viewers. While the number of female viewers was increased by 15 percent to 313,000, the male viewers also climbed by 20 percent — from 165,000 to 198,000.
Not only that, the company also claimed the scandal boosted the amount of time spent watching infotainment.
In early June, when the scandal was first revealed, the adult female viewers spent 23 minutes longer in watching infotainment, making them enjoy the shows for as long as two hours and nine minutes per week. The male viewers, on the other hand, spent 13 minutes longer watching — a total of one hour and 20 minutes viewing per week.
Amid the popularity of infotainment, which first soared in 1996 following Ilham Bintang’s Cek & Ricek, this genre has received the highest complaints compared to other programs. From January to July this year alone, the KPI revealed that complaints on infotainment amounted to 31.98 percent of the total complaints they had received, compared to the 11.5 percent on talk shows and 9.98 percent on reality shows.
The infotainment community, however, has agreed not to react negatively against the complaints and criticism.
“We don’t see [criticism and complaints] as attacks, but signs that [people] still care about us,” said Hans.
Whether these events will change infotainment culture, we should wait and see — as he said, “We’re working on improvements in the nearing future”.
