Nurfika Osman – The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission's letters to all television stations warning them to censor offensive material during court broadcasts has been criticized as unconstitutional by media organizations.

The commission, also known as the KPI, sent official warning letters to the stations on Oct. 18 after a number broadcast the sexually explicit testimony of Rani Juliani during the daytime murder trial of former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Antasari Azhar.

The KPI also took exception to the live broadcast of a Constitutional Court hearing in which a number of wiretapped phone conversations were played, allegedly indicating a high-level government conspiracy to bring down the KPK, with KPI vice chairwoman Fetty Fajriati arguing the broadcasts "only intensified public opinion."

Nezar Patria, chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said banning live reporting was a direct threat to press freedom. He said press freedom was guaranteed as the rights of citizens as stated in Law on Press No. 40/1999.

He said the law stated no censorship, termination and prohibition could be implemented, while another provision stated, "to guarantee press freedom, national press has a right to seek, obtain and spread information."

"If the KPI forces us to implement limitations to the live reporting, they will be breaking the law," Patria said, adding that attempting to ban live court reporting also breached the Law No. 14/2008 on Freedom of Information.

He said that in order to avoid vulgar words being broadcast, the KPI should be collaborating with the Press Council to create appropriate regulations.

Separately, Bambang Harymurti, a member of the Press Council, said if the problem was the broadcast of sexually explicit material, the editors and reporters at the court should have known how to best approach the matter.

"The content of the charges had been handed out to the reporters before [the broadcast]. Thus, they should have known what to do," he said.