•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Television infotainment programs have come under fire over the past few weeks for their coverage of the leaked sex videos of singer Nazril “Ariel” Irham and celebrities Luna Maya and Cut Tari. The media circus surrounding the “Peterporn” sex tapes has sparked a high-level debate over whether infotainment programs have gone too far in airing celebrities’ dirty laundry.

Earlier this month, House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees communication and information, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) and the Press Council agreed to categorize infotainment shows as “non-factual” programs.

According to the KPI, non-factual programs do not follow religious norms, moral and social values or the journalistic code of ethics, and as such, cannot be considered journalism.

Last week, the Jakarta Globe spoke with veteran journalist Ilham Bintang, secretary of the honor council of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) and the founder and owner of “Cek & Ricek” (“Check & Recheck”), a local celebrity gossip show and tabloid.

On the air since 1997, “Cek & Ricek” quickly gained a following and went from being shown once a week to three times a week. A year later, Ilham began putting out a tabloid of the same name under the Bintang Group.

The success of “Cek & Ricek,” a self-proclaimed “pioneer of infotainment journalism,” opened doors for the industry in Indonesia.

During its heyday, the Bintang Group produced more than 10 gossip shows for television stations. Some of these shows were short-lived, while others have remained on the air despite lingering concerns about the quality of their reporting.

How did the idea for ‘Cek & Ricek’ come about?

First, we have to remember that our local film festivals and our film industry died in 1992. Strangely enough, the film industry collapsed, but TV began to expand.

Festival Sinetron Indonesia — which used to just be a complementary event to the Indonesian Film Festival — became huge. Harmoko [who was information minister at the time], asked me to help out with the festival arrangements and in 1994, I became its head of public relations.

In the same year, I created an entertainment show, “Buletin Sinetron,” which was about sinetrons and the festival. I did not have money back then. I created the show to get some money. It ran for 10 years before it stopped airing in 2004. “Cek & Ricek” was born out of that.

How was ‘Cek & Ricek’ created?

It was RCTI’s former director of operations, Alex Kumara, who asked me to create a gossip show about celebrities. I agreed because I thought that the program could be a good medium for information and clarification.

Usually, people only hear rumors [about celebrities]. Even deaths were sometimes reported without clarification of what happened.

Did that happen a lot?

PWI received a lot of complaints from the community, especially celebrities, about inaccurate reports in the mainstream media and about them being misquoted.

In almost all newsrooms, entertainment journalists are the lowest in the journalism caste system. They usually assign entry-level journalists to cover entertainment and this explains why errors and complaints abound.

There is an opinion that when you write good or bad news about celebrities, it’s a good thing for them because it means publicity.

Because it’s not politics or education, some people even think that it’s OK for celebrity news to be inaccurate. This makes me furious.

How did the situation affect the way that ‘Cek & Ricek’ was created?

Alex wanted “Cek & Ricek” to be a gossip show. I didn’t like the idea. I told him that I was a journalist, I worked for some of the most serious newspapers in the world.

In PWI, I also handled complaints about malpractice by journalists. [I told Alex] he was crazy to ask me to create a gossip show.

It was not easy to create the concept for an infotainment show. I got sick and was hospitalized for three days [during the process], that’s when I got the inspiration to name the show “Cek & Ricek.”

Alex disliked that name. He thought the name sounded too serious and a bit “too governmental” for an entertainment show.

I told him again that I couldn’t do a gossip show. I could give him a show about celebrities sharing stories and giving tips to the public, but that we had to have values to hold on to.

In six months, I sent 11 suggestions for the program name to Alex, but I insisted on “Cek & Ricek.” He must have thought I was being stubborn. It took a long time [for us] to get on the same page about this.

I insisted on the name “Cek & Ricek” for a number of reasons. The program is about people, so it has to be accurate. I wanted to challenge people who accused journalists of twisting facts.

Also, it was during the New Order era and no station except TVRI was allowed to have its own news program.

Around that time, the newly appointed information minister, Hartono, released a statement that journalists were required to check and recheck [facts]. I recorded that statement and told Alex to listen to it. That’s when he agreed on the name.

Why do you call ‘Cek & Ricek’ infotainment?

Infotainment is a generic term from overseas. In foreign countries, it does not refer to any specific kind of show or content. There’s a study that says that infotainment is a marketing strategy.

My disclaimer for “Cek & Ricek” is that it’s a medium to air information about celebrities’ careers and personalities and a platform for them to clarify rumors.

Is producing infotainment a profitable business?

Yes. It is very easy to sell advertising slots for an infotainment show.

What are the ups and downs of the infotainment business?

When the monetary crisis hit Indonesia in 1998, I thought, “What did I get myself into?” I was a journalist for print media, and suddenly I was making TV shows that required big investments.

In 1998, I created the “Cek & Ricek” tabloid as a safety net. But I think we are doing well. It’s been 15 years and “Cek & Ricek” is still on the air.

With the money it was making, other players started to get interested. They didn’t understand that the show was produced by people with a background in journalism, with skills and competency.

The competition was increasing and TV stations started to create their own infotainment shows. Infotainment journalists started coming to celebrities’ homes and demanding comments. This gave other journalists a bad name.

Do you feel responsible for that?

We can’t tell people not to create infotainment shows. I’m sad, it’s like seeing a kid turning bad. I was even more worried because I knew that if something happened, it would get back to me.

In 2005, PWI declared that infotainment was journalism. The problem is, this doesn’t mean that all infotainment workers automatically become members of the PWI or that all infotainment shows are doing journalistic work. I think this is the root of the problem.

They don’t understand what is news, the philosophy behind it and the process of obtaining information.

Infotainment became a [money-making] industry when TV stations started to produce their own shows. It became a tool to obtain high ratings.

They don’t follow the same standards as the PWI because they have their own broadcasting law for all shows other than news. Soon, the PWI will only recognize infotainment programs that operate in accordance with its code of ethics.

Many people say that infotainment programs have no educational value. What do you think?

In our content, I forbid anything that involves psychics. It doesn’t educate people and it violates the PWI’s code of ethics. It is not measurable.

The first time “Cek & Ricek” did a story about Mama Lauren [a famous psychic] was when she died. My staff thought that there had been a change in policy, but I told them that her death is a fact and her prophecies were not real.

Once, we ran a story listing 11 celebrities who reported their lovers to the police and how the media attention that their cases received was one of the factors that contributed to their subsequent divorces.

I think that’s educational. It’s all about the angle and the packaging. Some people are bored with mainstream news because it always talks about the government and corruption.

I always say it takes skill to educate through news. That’s why it is important for production houses to put people with a background in journalism in managerial positions.

Infotainment shows are perceived as intruding into the lives of celebrities. What do you think?

If there’s a complaint about a violation of privacy, we need to check up on that.

In the infotainment world, they call me Hitler. I have fired staff members who fabricated interviews.

For example, I knew about Bambang Harjojudanto [son of former President Suharto] and the Halimah divorce case six months before they went to court, but I kept the file in my drawer.

Once they went public, that’s when we published the story.