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Media must protect sexual abuse victims, NGO says
Some press coverage on an alleged sexual violence case against a student in an international school in Jakarta has not provided adequate protection to the victims and has even violated he journalistic code of ethics, an NGO has said
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ome press coverage on an alleged sexual violence case against a student in an international school in Jakarta has not provided adequate protection to the victims and has even violated he journalistic code of ethics, an NGO has said.
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said there were a number of media, especially television, which covered and conducted interviews with the victim's family members without shielding the identity of the victim.
'AJI considers that such coverage potentially violates Article 5 of the Journalistic Code of Ethics (KEJ) saying that Indonesian journalists should not mention and spread the identity of victims of sexual violence,' it said in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The alliance said the coverage also potentially violated the Broadcasting Behavior Guideline (P3) and the Broadcasting Program Standard (SPS).
During the last few days, media coverage on the sexual assault case of a student at Jakarta International School (JIS) has been excessive.
Based on information provided by the media, the public was made aware of the case and expressed their deep concerns over the disgraceful incident.
AJI said the coverage was simply two sides of the same knife. On one side, the media coverage provided information that led to the arrest of the perpetrators and increased security precautions at the school. On the other side, exploiting the case would potentially harm the victim even more.
AJI further said that the media must protect the privacy of the victim and his family.
'AJI warns that journalists and the media must be able to differentiate between public and private spheres. A professional press would not explore private matters, let alone exploit an incident that has involved the sexual abuse,' it said, adding that both the identity and private life of the victim must be protected just as the media were required to protect their news sources.
AJI said the media should not use provocative, sadistic or obscene language in covering the incident.
'Sexual violence experienced by the victim should not be published in details and sensationally which will eventually blur crime fact and fiction,' it said.
'Media must be aware that unethical press coverage will not help the victim and instead will bring new problems for the victim. Children, violence victims, weak people, and disabled persons are among society groups that need to be given ethics' strengthening and priority in the media coverage.' (ebf)
