Thursday, July 28, 2011
Freedom of opinion, expression and the press are human rights protected by Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Press freedom is a means for people to obtain information and communicate, in order to fulfill their essential needs and improve the quality of human life. In realizing press freedom, Indonesian journalists also realize the interests of the nation, social responsibility, the diversity of society, and religious norms.
In carrying out its functions, rights, obligations and roles, the press respects the human rights of every person, therefore the press is required to be professional and open to control by the public.
To guarantee press freedom and fulfill the public's right to correct information, Indonesian journalists need a moral foundation and professional ethics as operational guidelines in maintaining public trust and upholding integrity and professionalism. On that basis, Indonesian journalists establish and abide by the Journalistic Code of Ethics:
Article 1
Indonesian journalists are independent, produce news that is accurate, balanced, and not in bad faith.
Interpretation
Independent means reporting events or facts in accordance with the voice of conscience without interference, coercion, and intervention from other parties including the owner of the press company.Accurate means believed to be true according to the objective circumstances when the event occurred.Balanced means all parties get an equal opportunity.Not in bad faith means there is no intention intentionally and solely to cause harm to other parties.
Article 2
Indonesian journalists adopt professional methods in carrying out their journalistic duties.
Interpretation
The professional ways are:
showing identity to sources; respecting privacy rights; not bribing; producing news that is factual and clear about its sources; engineering the taking and posting or broadcasting of images, photos, sounds accompanied by information about the source and displayed in a balanced manner; respecting the traumatic experiences of sources in the presentation of images, photos, sounds; not plagiarizing, including declaring the results of other journalists' coverage as their own work; the use of certain methods can be considered for investigative news coverage for the public interest.
Article 3
Indonesian journalists always test information, report in a balanced manner, do not mix facts and judgmental opinions, and apply the presumption of innocence.
Interpretation
To test information is to check and recheck the veracity of that information.Balanced is to give each party proportional space or time in the news.Judgmental opinion is a journalist's personal opinion. This is different from interpretive opinion, which is the journalist's interpretation of the facts.Presumption of innocence is the principle of not judging someone.
Article 4
Indonesian journalists do not make false, slanderous, sadistic and obscene news.
Interpretation
Lie means something that the journalist knows in advance is not true.Slander means a baseless accusation made deliberately with ill intent.Sadistic means cruel and merciless.Obscene means the depiction of erotic behavior with photographs, pictures, sounds, graphics or writing solely to arouse lust.In broadcasting pictures and sounds from the archive, journalists include the time when the pictures and sounds were taken.
Article 5
Indonesian journalists do not mention and broadcast the identity of victims of moral crimes and do not mention the identity of children who are perpetrators of crimes.
Interpretation
Identity is all data and information concerning a person that makes it easy for others to trace.Child is a person who is less than 16 years old and not married.
Article 6
Indonesian journalists do not abuse their profession and do not accept bribes.
Interpretation
Abuse of profession is any action that takes personal advantage of information obtained while on duty before the information becomes public knowledge.Bribery is any gift in the form of money, objects or facilities from other parties that affect independence.
Article 7
Indonesian journalists have the right to refuse to protect sources who are not willing to know their identity or whereabouts, respect embargo provisions, background information, and off the record in accordance with the agreement.
Interpretation
The right of refusal is the right not to reveal the identity and whereabouts of the source for the sake of the security of the source and his family.Embargo is a delay in loading or broadcasting news in accordance with the request of the source.Background information is all information or data from sources that are broadcast or reported without mentioning the source.Off the record is all information or data from sources that cannot be broadcast or reported.
Article 8
Indonesian journalists do not write or broadcast news based on prejudice or discrimination against a person on the basis of differences in ethnicity, race, skin color, religion, gender and language and do not dehumanize the weak, poor, sick, mentally disabled or physically disabled.
Interpretation
Prejudice is an unfavorable assumption about something before knowing it clearly.Discrimination is differential treatment.
Article 9
Indonesian journalists respect the rights of sources about their private lives, except for the public interest.
Interpretation
Respecting the rights of sources is an attitude of restraint and caution.Private life is all aspects of the life of a person and their family other than those related to the public interest.
Article 10
Indonesian journalists immediately retract, rectify, and correct erroneous and inaccurate news accompanied by an apology to readers, listeners, and or viewers.
Interpretation
Immediate means taking action as soon as possible, whether or not there is a reprimand from an external party.Apologies are made when the error is related to the subject matter.
Article 11
Indonesian journalists serve the right of reply and the right of correction proportionally.
Interpretation
The right of reply is the right of a person or group of people to provide a response or rebuttal to news in the form of facts that are detrimental to his or her good name.The right of correction is the right of every person to correct misinformation reported by the press, both about himself or about others.Proportional means equal to the part of the news that needs to be corrected.
The final assessment of violations of the journalistic code of ethics is carried out by the Press Council. Sanctions for violations of the journalistic code of ethics are carried out by journalist organizations and / or press companies.
Jakarta, Tuesday, March 14, 2006
(The Journalistic Code of Ethics was established by the Press Council through Press Council Regulation Number: 6/Peraturan-DP/V/2008 concerning the Ratification of the Press Council Decree Number 03/SK-DP/III/2006 concerning the Journalistic Code of Ethics as a Press Council Regulation).
