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espite their growing influence in shaping the opinions of the capital’s citizens, most Indonesian online media frequently overlook basic journalistic principles when covering the Jakarta gubernatorial elections, according to a survey released by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

The survey, which assessed the news content of four online media outlets (kompas.com, vivanews.com, okezone.com and detik.com), eight print media (Kompas, Koran Tempo, Warta Kota, Republika, Suara Pembaruan, Pos Kota, Indo Pos and Koran Jakarta) and three broadcast media (Metro TV, TVOne and RCTI) from June 16-30, shows that online media accounted for the largest share of news that breached basic journalistic principles.

The survey revealed that 60 percent of the one-sided news items – meaning those covering one specific candidate only without putting other candidates into perspective – was published by online media. Kompas.com, an online media site that is affiliated with the well-respected Kompas daily, led the pack with 287 one-sided items, followed by detik.com (216 items), okezone.com (202) and vivanews.com (89).

“One-sided news has been endemic in election reporting,” the Institute for Press Development and Studies (LSPP) director Ignatius Haryanto said during the survey’s release on Tuesday.

“This issue is important, since the media that is considered influential [in shaping public opinion] in this year’s gubernatorial election is the online and local media, not the national media,” he added.

Meanwhile, the survey deemed online media outlet detik.com as doing the worst job in verifying sources in its news items. According to the survey, detik.com published 193 news items that contained no verification of the related sources, while okezone.com, kompas.com and vivanews.com published 38, 35 and 24 items classified as such, respectively.

Detik.com managing editor Yophiandi Kurniawan, who attended the survey’s release, argued that detik.com had to publish items with no verification so that his company would be able to compete in the world of cyber media.

 “In the online business, what’s most important is speed. Controversy, to some extent, can be tolerated, how fast the news is delivered to our readers must be our main priority,” he said on Tuesday.

Press council member Bekti Nugroho slammed Yophiandi’s statement, arguing that news items had to adhere to journalistic principles, including verification or confirmation of the related sources whatever the cost.

“You can not argue that just because you are merely [an online media outlet] your news can contain no verification,” Bekti told Yophiandi in front of the gathered reporters.

“In fact, this is an ‘easy’ era to be a journalist since there are handphones, text messages, email as means to help you verify news with your sources. When I became journalist in the 1990s, we didn’t have those things,” he added. (sat)