Camelia Pasandaran – The Indonesian media's over-reporting of terrorism may aid extremists in generating fear in society, observers said on Thursday.

"With saturation coverage of terrorism, the media itself might have created terror," said Muhammad Izzul Muslimin, a member of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI).

"This way, the terrorist's plans to create fear in society have gained more support from the media. They should inform the public about terrorism, but should deliver proper coverage."

Two private television stations have been summoned by the KPI for screening the police raid on a house in Temanggung, Central Java, earlier this month. Television stations inititally reported that the man inside the house was wanted terrorist Noordin M Top, however it was later discovered that this was not correct. Izzul said that the KPI had issued a warning to the media to follow industry ethics when covering terrorism raids.

"We have warned not to overly cover terrorism," Izzul said. "The media should not show the victims in close up. We also warned them that they should not jump to conclusions when investigations are still underway. They should not lead the public with their own opinion."

Ade Armando, a communications expert at the University of Indonesia, said that the media tended to cover any news about terrorism. "It makes the media a garbage bin for any news about terrorism and the significance of the news is neglected," Ade said.

Ade, a former KPI member, said the media tends to give an incomplete picture of events by providing news that is not comprehensive and that lacks understanding of the issues. "They often accept any information from the police without questioning it and tend to be provocative with their coverage," he said.

The current behavior of some media outlets opens the possibility for them to be misled by the terrorists themselves, Ade said. "The KPI should be strong against media that violate ethics," he said. "It should be clearly stated what media can and cannot cover. There should be sanctions, not only warning after warning."

Izzul said that the KPI gives different sanctions depending on the severity of violations. "If they ignore warnings, we apply a stronger sanction," he said.