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rior to the verdict on pro-Islamic State cleric Aman Abdurrahman’s trial, expected to be delivered on June 22, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) has issued a circular restricting the live reporting of terrorism trials by broadcasting institutions.

In the circular letter, dated June 8, released to heads of national television and radio stations, Yuliandre Darwis, the head of the KPI, said that when airing hearings related to terror suspects, news organizations should always be wary of the potential for spreading radical ideas as well as the unintended consequences of putting terror convicts on a pedestal.

Arya Sinulingga, broadcasting director of MNC TV, told the The Jakarta Post that he supported the restriction.

“We still can take footage of the trial and air it with our own narration later,” he said on Tuesday.

He added, “I think it is wise to delay the airing so that we can filter out any points of the trial that could have a bad impact on the audience.”

Arya said his TV station supported the delayed broadcasting of hearings as in the blasphemy trial of former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama in 2017, to avoid stirring tensions nationally among Ahok’s supporters and adversaries. Ahok was sentenced to two years in prison.

On the other hand, Yadi Hendriana, the head of Association of Indonesian Television Journalism (ITJI) told the Post that such restrictions should be made by the trials’ presiding judges, not the KPI.

“I think it is the [presiding] judge who should decide whether the trial can be broadcast live or not,” he said.

According to Yadi, the KPI previously initiated a focus group discussion involving the Press Council, as well as representatives of the National Police, the Attorney General and the Supreme Court. The discussion, which focused on the live broadcasting of terrorism trials, was held amid the ongoing trial of Aman, arguably one of the most influential pro-IS ideologues and who faces the death penalty for allegedly inspiring a series of terror attacks across the country, and right after the recent church bombings in Surabaya, East Java.

Yadi, who is also the chief editor of MNC TV, acknowledged, however, that he did not expect the outcome would be a call for a total restriction on live coverage of terrorism trials.

He said that he agreed that media coverage of trials should be regulated, especially with regard to material hearings, meaning the sessions that involve witnesses.

He reasoned that besides spreading details of terror ideology, broadcasting terrorism trials, especially sessions involving witnesses, could also influence witness testimonies as they were not supposed to be exposed to others’ accounts before delivering their own.

“However, I think the judges’ verdicts should be safe to be relayed live,” he said.

Yadi also called on members of the press to better manage their own reporting and to rely on their respective news judgements. “[The press] should not need government regulations anymore,” he said.

He also suggested that the KPI and the Press Council discuss the matter with the Supreme Court, rather than issuing such restrictions.

Televised trials, particularly those of high-profile or highly publicized cases, have long been deemed normal practice in Indonesia. Televised trials remain under-regulated and have been the subject of debate among observers and practitioners in the past few years.