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Independent media still around: Council
Press the flesh: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono greets chair of the Press Council Bagir Manan, and members of the National Press Day organizing committee
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span class="inline inline-none">Press the flesh: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono greets chair of the Press Council Bagir Manan, and members of the National Press Day organizing committee. National Press Day falls on Feb. 9, but this year’s commemoration has been pushed back until Yudhoyono’s return from a state visit to Egypt on Feb. 11. (Courtesy of Presidential Office/Abror Rizki)
The Press Council said on Tuesday it could not do much to prevent media owner-cum-politicians from abusing their media outlets in support of their 2014 election campaigns.
The council reiterated that the public could still access information from other independent media outlets.
“Our laws do not prohibit individuals or companies from having more than one media outlet. Multiple-ownership by an individual, be the person a politician or not, can be controlled by an antitrust mechanism,” Press Council chairman Bagir Manan told reporters the State Palace.
Bagir along with other council members met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Palace before meeting the press. The delegation conveyed the detailed plan for the commemoration of the 2013 National Press Day to be held in Manado, North Sulawesi, on Feb. 11.
The council said the best thing it could do would be to ensure the mass media did not breach journalistic ethics code when reporting on the elections.
Bagir did not deny numerous media companies, owned by politicians, could be exploited — with programs and advertisements in favor of political groups affiliated with the owners. However, the public still has the option to get information from independent media.
“Let’s say one media outlet is exploited for political purposes, we still have 500 others that are not,” Bagir, a former Supreme Court chief justice, said. “Besides, election organizing bodies, such as Bawaslu [Elections Supervisory Body] will monitor campaigning,” he added.
Indonesia’s three top media magnates are politicians. They are Golkar Party chairman and presidential candidate for 2014 Aburizal Bakrie, NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh and former chairman of NasDem Party’s council of experts, Hary Tanoesoedibjo.
The Bakrie family runs the Viva Media Group that consists of the all-news television channel TVOne, ANTV and the Vivanews online service.
Surya, a former Golkar patron chief, owns the Media Group that consists of news-based Metro TV and Media Indonesia daily.
Hary, who just left NasDem after a reported rift with Surya, runs a much broader media network. Hary is the CEO of PT Media Nusantara Citra (MNC), which runs MNC TV, RCTI, and Global TV; print media including Seputar Indonesia daily and SINDO weekly magazine; as well as radio stations such as SINDO Radio.
After affiliations with NasDem ended earlier this month, Hary is yet to decide on the route his future political path will take. He has vowed to either form a new political party or join other established parties.
Many parties have expressed interest in recruiting Hary but observers say that Golkar is likely to be Hary’s next stop.
Executives of Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, meanwhile, do not control any media outlets but it has been widely known that the Jurnal Nasional daily is affiliated with Yudhoyono and his party.
Bagir said the public could also play an important role in curbing the potential abuse by political media outlet owners.
“If you file a report on an alleged violation to us, we will definitely investigate it. No report is not followed up,” he added.
Press Council chairman Margiono said that Yudhoyono had voiced concerns about the matter but welcomed the upcoming series of events in Manado to commemorate National Press Day.
