TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsMedia sensationalizes LGBT issues: AJI
Fight for rights: Transsexuals stage a peaceful rally in Jakarta to urge the state to do more to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Fight for rights: Transsexuals stage a peaceful rally in Jakarta to urge the state to do more to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. (Kompas.com) (LGBT) people. (Kompas.com)
F
span class="caption">Fight for rights: Transsexuals stage a peaceful rally in Jakarta to urge the state to do more to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. (Kompas.com)
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said on Sunday that local media considered news related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual (LGBT) issues interesting, but it was mostly due to sensational and bombastic aspects of LGBT issues.
"Media cover is often merely sensational and bombastic regarding LGBT issues because of readership considerations," said AJI member Luviana at a workshop held by the alliance in Jakarta on Sunday.
Luviana said the results of the mapping of trends in media coverage on LGBT issues had shown that there were four perspectives, namely religious, informative, market (sensationalism) and critical. She said media coverage on LGBT issues was dominated by sensational and informative perspectives.
Luviana said there was no clear guidelines on covering LGBT issues, resulting in sensational and bombastic reportage. Diction-related problems had aggravated the situation, she added.
Luviana said many journalists were not familiar with LGBT-related issues and terminology. 'LGBT-related journalism ethics training could be an important solution,' she said.
Kompas.com editor Heru Margianto said journalists and editors often slanted LGBT news coverage according to their own perspectives. The problem was, he said, LGBT issues had multiple values, namely humanity, religion and gender equality.
"Editorial policy should be used as guidance when things go wrong. It may offer a correction or retraction as a solution," he said.
Similarly, the founder of One Voice, a group advocating the empowerment of LGBT, Hartoyo, said that although many media outlets considered LGBT issues sensitive, many journalists did not take them seriously and had not properly considered journalistic ethics when covering them. "Some media companies often look only at the sensational side of LGBT issues," he said.
At the workshop, AJI presented results of its research, which took place from July 15 to Aug. 20 and involved 113 news items about LGBT issues published in 20 print and online media. (ebf)
