Gossip TV, magazines banned, MUI rules

Jakarta, NU Online
If you’re a devout Muslim it seems you are now expected to switch channels whenever a gossip show comes on TV and cancel your tabloid subscriptions.

The country’s highest Islamic authority has just declared infotainment forbidden.&l<>t;br />
“Infotainment is haram,” Ma’ruf Amin, the head of the fatwa body at the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), said on Tuesday. “Gossip involves exposing embarrassing details of someone’s private life to the public, and this is haram.”

Also forbidden, Ma’ruf explained, is profiting from it. “Profiting from broadcasting that news to the public is haram,” he said.

Ma’ruf said this did not mean all news about celebrities was forbidden. “When it is published in order to uphold the law, fight infidelity, warn people, report or ask for help, it is mubah [allowed but not recommended],” he said.

Infotainment was not originally scheduled for discussion at the ongoing MUI congress in Jakarta, but the fatwa body decided at the last minute to drop the issue of social security and take up the controversial topic.

The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) has recently classified infotainment shows as “non-factual,” which means they are not journalistic work and can therefore be censored.

Veteran journalist Ilham Bintang, a pioneer of the country’s infotainment industry, said he was not too worried. “I’m convinced that what the MUI meant by haram applies only to infotainment programs that contain ghibah [slander],” he said. (jg/dar)