Ismira Lutfia – A decade has passed since the Indonesian press achieved freedom, yet it is still faced with incomprehensible press laws, the increasing criminalization of the press, a market-driven media and the rise of infotainment in broadcast news reports, panelists said on Tuesday.

In a seminar organized by the Press Council and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to review press freedom in Indonesia, media activists and lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said that court decisions favoring the press were the exception, often because of loopholes in the Press Law.

"The press still have to rely on the presiding judge's mercy," Todung said, adding that despite the Supreme Court in December advising district court judges to seek the Press Council's expertise when presiding over press libel cases, it did not mean that the judges were obliged to do so because the instructions were not mandatory.

"The judge's decision would still be binding even if it was not made with the Press Council's advice," Todung said, adding that the Press Law itself needed to be revised to make it as comprehensive as possible.

However, he warned that proposing revisions to the law could be like opening a Pandora's box as lawmakers, often the subject of press criticism, could take the opportunity to further emasculate press freedom.

The Press Council's deputy chairman, Leo Batubara, said that despite the passing of the 1999 Press Law, other laws had put pressure on press freedom, such as laws on electronic information, freedom of information, pornography and elections – all passed in 2008– as well as the addition of articles to the Criminal Code that can be used to jail journalists.

According to Leo, those five legal regulations made 2008 "the most deterring year" for the press.

He also said the council has seen a gradual increase in public complaints filed in recent years, something he blamed on the failure of journalists to work to professional standards and unhealthy media management.

"About 70 percent of press publications don't have good management and only a small portion of journalists are competent professionally," Leo said.

Yopie Hidayat, the editor in chief of the business daily Kontan, concurred, saying that "the brightest university graduates often choose to work on the more glamorous side of the communication business such as public relations or broadcasting."

"University graduates who have a sincere interest in becoming journalists are perhaps only those who read Tintin comics," Yopie said, referring to the young reporter character in the legendary Tintin comics created by Belgian author George Remy.

Yopie also said that other challenges faced by Indonesian media were maintaining its impartiality in the face of pressure from various interests surrounding the media and not succumbing to market forces.

"The invisible hands that control the media industry often lead the media to forget its role as one of the pillars of democracy," Yopie said.

Bowing to market trends and the tight competition be tween television stations has also led to the production of ratings-driven programs, said Indonesian Broadcasting Commission chairman Sasa Djuarsa Sendjaja.

"[Market and press] freedom also allow for the freedom to produce programs that have a negative impact and exploit poverty," Sasa said, adding that most popular media programs were those that focused on conflict, celebrities, sensation and sex.