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Press Council says journalists violated ethics in IPO fiasco
The Press Council has announced that it has found three out of four journalists accused of violating the Journalists’ Code of Ethics guilty of using their position to obtain shares of state-owned steel firm PT Krakatau Steel during its initial public offering (IPO)
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he Press Council has announced that it has found three out of four journalists accused of violating the Journalists’ Code of Ethics guilty of using their position to obtain shares of state-owned steel firm PT Krakatau Steel during its initial public offering (IPO).
Journalists from Indonesia’s biggest daily newspaper Kompas, Seputar Indonesia daily and detik.com were deemed guilty of using their profession and journalist’s network to obtain shares in Krakatau’s IPO, Press Council chairman Bagir Manan said Wednesday at a press conference to announce the organization’s findings on the issue.
“Their actions could create conflicts of interest because, as journalists covering the Indonesian Stock Exchange, they attempted to engage in stock trading for their own personal benefit, which is against Article 6 of the Journalists’ Code of Ethics,” Bagir said.
The article says, “Indonesian journalists may not misuse their profession or accept bribes.”
Bagir added that the Press Council had not found any evidence of extortion regarding reports on the journalists in connection to the state steel firm’s IPO.
Detik.com and Seputar Indonesia, he said, had conducted internal investigations into their two journalists’ cases and concluded that their journalists did indeed violate the Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
The two journalists have resigned from their respective media houses.
The Press Council decided, based on its own investigation, that the Kompas reporter indeed used his position and network as a journalist to buy IPO shares of PT Krakatau Steel, although it is not clear whether he actually bought shares.
“The Press Council is giving the management of Kompas the opportunity to impose a proper sanction on the person,” Bagir said.
The managing editor of Kompas daily, Budiman Tanuredja, said the company respected the Council’s decision and had therefore fired the journalist concerned.
Bagir said the Press Council could not yet decide the status of a journalist from Metro TV, the fourth suspect in the case.
“The Press Council has not yet come to any conclusion regarding the Metro TV reporter’s involvement and needs stronger evidence to form a conclusion. The Press Council will continue the investigation and calls on Metro TV to conduct one of its own.”
Didik Supriyanto, deputy chief editor for online news portal detik.com, said the company’s editorial board had settled the matter before the Press Council made its announcement.
Didik said the company immediately conducted an internal investigation upon hearing the news of possible extortion by one of its journalists.
“We discovered that one of our reporters was engaged in the buying and selling of shares, but not extortion,” he said on Wednesday. The reporter has since quit the company, Didik said.
Sururi Alfarouq, Seputar Indonesia’s chief editor, said its accused journalist quit the company days before Krakatau Steel went public. “[He] moved to another [company],” Sururi said.
He added that Seputar Indonesia approached the Press Council merely to clarify the matter.
