Police told not to blame media for failure in terror raid

Jakarta, NU Online
The police must have a filtering system for information that can be released to the public before blaming the media for its failure to capture suspected terrorists, experts say.

The coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Usman Hamid, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday the police had got it wrong when they had blamed the press for failing to capture the targets in what was supposed to be a part of a string of raids.<>

"The police must be careful in managing information."

Usman added the public needed to know what the police were doing and what they had accomplished.

"*The police* have to provide that information. Now they have to think which information can be disclosed and which can't."

National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri had previously said that a raid in Surakarta, Central Java, on August 8, had been a flop due to "aggressive media coverage".

The other two raids in Temanggung, Central Java and Jati Asih, Bekasi, on the other hand, were considered a success, with three terror suspects arrested and three others shot to death.

Antara state news agency also reported President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had criticized media that had disclosed information the police treated as confidential.

Usman, however, argued the media was not to blame because "it was the National Police's call to disclose the information; the media were just reporting it to the public".

Jaleswari Pramodhawardani from the Indonesian Institute agreed with the statement, saying in today's era of openness, it was impossible to ban the media from reporting certain news.

However, she said the media must also have a strategy in their reporting to avoid benefiting the terrorists.

"The media must apply a selection system; ideally they must have self control in reporting news that is related to national safety."

She, however, urged the government to not hurry and turn the aggressiveness of the press as a tool to deliberate the secrecy bill at the House of Representatives (DPR).

"The bill has the potential to be a setback for Indonesia and bring it back to how it was in the New Order regime when the press was being controlled by the government."

Usman said the bill was threatening human rights and the press freedom.

"The public information law will not apply when the secrecy bill is passed."

Jaleswari acknowledged the media were responding to what the market needed.

"But people will eventually choose between the media that are just vehement in being the first and the most comprehensive in reporting news and those that have a sense of responsibility when it comes to a matter of the safety of the nation."

Communication expert Bachtiar Aly of the University of Indonesia said that the media were not supposed to consider ratings in their reporting of news.

"The media has game rules; they can't report news only for ratings.

"Most importantly, they have code of ethics, which says that the press is not to report news that brings panic to the public."

Bachtiar also said media today often "overdosed" in perceiving the press freedom.

"If the secrecy bill goes through, the media can't blame the DPR or the government because they too have a share in it." (jp/dar)