Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – While press freedom in Indonesia has moved ahead in leaps and bounds in recent years, most media sources are still controlled by players who prioritize economic interests above all else, a discussion concluded Tuesday evening.
"We cannot deny the mass media is affected by capital, therefore those working in the media should develop their own philosophy and outlook to determine how they work," the founder of Kompas Gramedia Group, Jacob Oetama, told the discussion on press freedom, business interests and journalism in the era of democracy.
"Personally I think the media should be independent financially so it can remain impartial, because it cannot continue to operate without subscribers," he said. "But of course this opinion is debatable."
He said media players should aim to find a balance between economic interests and the need for the media to be impartial so it can continue shaping democracy in the country.
Ishadi S.K., the director of Trans TV, said the mass media could not escape from economic and political pressures.
"During the New Order regime, the government controlled all information received by the public," he said. "But now what is passed on to the people depends on the policies of each media source."
He said it was positive that media players competed to pass on the best information to the public. "This is why the media has become very democratic, because people choose which television station they want to watch and which newspaper they will read every day," Ishadi said.
He said it was more difficult to separate business interests from ideologies in the television industry as stations were capital intensive and faced stiff competition from both domestic and international broadcasters.
The executive director of the Science, Esthetics and Technology Foundation, Garin Nugroho, said television stations today were focused on achieving high ratings rather than delivering quality products.
"Most television programs are based on pop culture and do not offer any skills," he said. "Indonesian people are living in communicative times but they are becoming less communicative. While people continue to talk, these conversations are not productive."
He said the influence of "technology capitalists" was too heavy in the television industry. "It has become difficult to differentiate citizens from consumers," he said.