Ismira Lutfia

Journalists attending a news conference at Bank Indonesia in Jakarta on Thursday. (Photo: Jurnasyanto Sukarno, JG)

Author Pitches Pact on Editors’ Rights

Media researcher and journalist Anett Keller said on Wednesday there should be a clear agreement between editorial boards and media owners that establishes the rights of the editors.

Keller said such an agreement could include the right to participate in the selection of the editor in chief and how far an owner could intervene in the organization’s editorial decisions.

“It would be beneficial for the owners since it would add credibility to the media’s performance,” Keller said, adding that it would also ensure that the media could account for its responsibility to the public, which in turn would trust the media as a reliable news source and not just as an extension of the owners’ interests.

“Editorial autonomy would ensure that journalists wouldn’t feel constantly pressured by the owners’ intervention, which could clash with their editorial standards and professionalism. Such autonomy would boost the professionalism and responsibility of journalists,” Keller said after the launch of her book, “Internal Challenge: Editorial Autonomy in 4 National Newspapers — Kompas, Koran Tempo, Media Indonesia and Republika.”

This was one of the findings of Keller’s research on the connection between ownership and editorial decisions and autonomy, which she conducted at the four major newspapers over four months in 2004.

Keller, a German journalist and correspondent with The Asia Pacific Times, lives in Yogyakarta. She is a former Asia desk editor for the taz newspaper in Berlin, and a recipient of the Darmasiswa scholarship from the government to study for a year at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

“It is evident that the most independent newspaper is Koran Tempo, whose owners are several foundations and none of them holds a majority ownership,” Keller said.

She said that she came to this conclusion based on her observations and statements from Koran Tempo journalists, who regarded their newspaper as independent and free from intervention by the owners.

Keller cited an incident at Koran Tempo where one of its shareholders, business tycoon Ciputra, asked the editorial board to stop an investigative report on the sea reclamation project in North Jakarta that was damaging the environment and running foul of a regional regulation. The editors refused to bow to the intervention and carried on with the investigation.

Her research findings also showed that there was clear intervention from Media Indonesia’s owner, politician and businessman Surya Paloh. He attempted to secure a spot on Golkar’s presidential ticket at the party’s convention in 2004.

“There were rules and regulation on which news that they could report and what pictures they could publish,” Keller said “It caused a conflict of interest between its responsibility to the public and to the company,” Keller said.

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