BETWEEN EXTREMES:

In fits and starts, free press rises: Journalist Sirikit Syah set up Indonesia's first media-watch organization. By Susan llewelyn Leach, 5/26/04, CS Monitor)

In the five years since, [journalist Sirikit] Syah has watched the freewheeling Indonesian press and broadcast media run through some wild swings before settling down to relearn its trade. It was "chaotic," she says. "It was like another extreme" - the media thought they could write anything, broadcast anything. After decades of repression, Indonesia's newspapers and magazines often published stories that were provocative, misleading, and biased, she says. But her media-watch organization also realized that the press wasn't just putting out misinformation; it was inflaming conflicts around the country. In response, LKM Media Consumers Board stepped in and starting running workshops on "peace journalism" and conferring awards for good reporting.

In the past two years, Indonesia's media have largely found their equilibrium, she says. They recognize that being free means being responsible and accurate.

The biggest challenge now is educating the audience, she says. In the past, if an individual or organization wasn't happy with a news story, the media outlet would learn about it when its computers were vandalized or its journalists attacked. Now disapproval comes in a slew of lawsuits, many unjustified. Everyone is suing, Syah says - conglomerates, politicians, celebrities - and the amount of money awarded is threatening the existence of some publications. She calls it a "war" between the press and the public.

But it's a healthier war than that under General Suharto. Syah remembers, as a journalist, getting calls from the military about a clash between religious or ethnic groups and being told not to report on it. "They were very direct, very clear about what could not be published. We just followed to survive."

Despite major strides, the Indonesian media still have "noticeable problems," according to Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that lobbies for press freedom.

Surely this kind of liberalization be happening in a Muslim country--we all know how they hate Western freedoms...

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 26, 2004 7:47 AM