AJI slams sharp rise in violence against Indonesian journalists – 84 cases

Asia Pacific Report — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 12:17:53 +0000

By Irfan Kamil in Jakarta

Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) chairperson Abdul Manan says there has been a sharp rise of cases of violence against journalists in Indonesia – a record 84 during 2020

Manan said that what were referred to as violence against journalists were actions which can be categorised as attempts to obstruct journalists from doing their job.

This, said Manan, was based on the standards on handling cases of violence against journalists as set out by the Indonesian Press Council.

“It covers various kinds of acts ranging from intimidation, seizure of equipment, deleting photographs, criminalisation, to murder,” Manan told a press conference on Monday.

“These are the categories which can be said to be violence against journalists,” said Manan.

Manan said that based on these categories, AJI had recorded at least 84 cases of violence against journalists throughout Indonesia in 2020, compared with 53 cases in 2019.

The most cases of violence which could be categorised as severe before this occurred in 2016 with 81 cases.

‘Largest number if cases’
“What is more crucial is that this is the largest number of cases of violence [against journalists] monitored by AJI since it began gathering data,” said Manan.

“I think that this is not good news for journalists and the Indonesian press because violence should tend to decline, not the reverse,” he said.

Manan said that considering the spread of cases, the largest number occurred in Jakarta with 17, followed by the East Java cities of Malang with 15 cases and Surabaya with 7 cases.

In terms of the type of cases, Manan said that the majority were intimidation against journalists.

Nevertheless, based on AJI’s records, the next most common type of violation after intimidation was physical violence, damaging equipment and the deletion of photographs and videos.

“If we summarise the incidents that made a big contribution to the quite significant increase in cases of violence against journalists, if we look at the data, then the largest contributor to cases of violence was indeed cases related to the Omnibus Law,” said Manan.

Massive demonstrations
Manan said the massive demonstrations against the recently enacted Omnibus Law on Job Creation by civil society, workers and students in early October, was the largest contributor to cases of violence against journalists.

He said that on October 5 the demonstrations were quite massive and occurred in several parts of the country, which of course journalists covered.

“And it was over this period of demonstrations that [there were many] cases of violence against journalist ranging from intimidation so they wouldn’t report, assault and also damage [to equipment] and seizure of video equipment as well as photographs resulting from reportage,” he said.

Translated by James Balowski for Indoleft News. The original title of the article was “Meningkat, AJI Sebut Terjadi 84 Kasus Kekerasan Terhadap Wartawan Sepanjang 2020”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

‘Jakarta Conclusions’: action plan for Asian media

Pacific Media Centre — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 04:22:35 +0000

AsiaPacificReport.nz

Indonesian journalists in Jakarta wore masks on World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2016, in protest of the ongoing media violations. Image: News.CN

Experts from Southeast Asian nations have identified key challenges facing media in their region. They propose three fundamental areas of action for civil society, governments and the media.

The expert 19-member group included researchers, media professionals and human rights defenders forming the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Representatives from Timor Leste and Mongolia were also present.

‘Jakarta conclusions’

DW Akademie, an organisation that supports the development of international media, reported the experts agreed on a three-step action plan called the “Jakarta Conclusions” which is aimed to enhance the situation for media in Southeast Asia.

The plan will require the collective efforts of civil society, media organisations and governments.

Jakarta Conclusions Action Plan:

Take steps to develop a special regional mechanism to improve the media environment based on existing international and regional models.
Create a process to engage the large global Internet intermediaries to address issues of access, accountability, sustainability, and the impact these companies have on media and society.
Promote programs to expand media and information literacy at a sufficient scale to have impact at the societal level

1. Develop a regional mechanism for Southeast Asia

DW Akademie’s report stated that Southeast Asia does not have a special rapporteur for freedom of expression – whereas Latin America, Africa and Europe have active and independent representatives who advocate for information, expression and media rights.

Experts expressed that the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights has not pushed for this issue.

Therefore representatives from civil society organisations suggested establishing an informal mechanism in the absence of government support.

But others advocated to continue to push for an official mechanism, pointing out that Southeast Asia could learn from the Arab world which is currently seeking to establish a freedom of expression special rapporteur.

2. Engage the large global Internet intermediaries

DW Akademie reported companies such as Google and Facebook take a large share of online advertising revenue in Southeast Asia but do little to counter the spread of online hate speech, propaganda and disinformation.

Therefore experts suggested encouraging these platforms to develop a pricing system which differentiates between general information and quality journalism.

Maria Ressa, the former CNN lead investigative reporter in Asia said members need to work collectively.

“We need to come together and confront these and other companies with the situation in our region.”

3. Promote programs to expand media and information literacy

The growing importance of media users emphasised the importance of media and information literacy.

Hugo Maria Fernades of the Press Council of Timor Leste said such programs should enable the population to “actively and consciously” use media.

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Indonesian media – Evening Report

AJI slams sharp rise in violence against Indonesian journalists – 84 cases

‘Jakarta Conclusions’: action plan for Asian media