Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission on Thursday issued a stern reminder for all television stations to be more conscientious in broadcasting disaster footage in light of this week's tsunami and volcanic eruption.
Nina Armando, a member of the commission also known as KPI, said broadcasters needed to take into account the grief that the victims' families and survivors were going through.
"They should remember to blur footage of corpses and body parts," she said. "We will continue monitoring the broadcasts and if they still fail to comply with the guidelines, we will issue a reprimand to the stations," she said.
The warning was issued after private broadcaster TVOne was criticized both by viewers and its own management for its inappropriate handling of the disaster coverage and then later criticizing viewers who complained.
Ardi Bakrie, the chief executive of TVOne and son of politician Aburizal Bakrie, used his Twitter account to say that it was inappropriate that @tvOneNews tweeted viewers to suggest they switch channels to a comedy or entertainment show if they did not want to see bodies.
"Dear tweeps, on behalf of TVOne management," Ardi wrote, "I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the tweet. WHATEVER the reason was, it was VERY INAPPROPRIATE for an official social media representing a company to write such a thing. Therefore, we will give A HARSH WARNING to those who are responsible. Once more, please forgive us. Wassalam,"
Ardi was responding to criticism directed against the channel for offensive coverage of the disaster and the posting from @tvOneNews.
It read: "We are focusing on covering the disaster. We apologize to the audience who keep throwing tantrums at us. Please just switch channels to entertainment or comedy."
The tweet prompted criticism from TVOne followers. "Hahaha, TVOne is mad! I wonder why," posted @dmyLy, while @thr3no wrote, "TVOne is thin-skinned. I didn't know that a TV station could be annoyed."
"I'm not interested in the moods of the operator of the @TVOne account. The audience was angry because TVOne showed footage of dead bodies without blurring it. And now [TVOne] is mad?" @treespotter chimed in.
Alois Agus Nugroho, a communications lecturer at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, said TVOne's defensive tweet was "inappropriate." He said it was the same as applying the caveat emptor principle, whereby a buyer is responsible for checking the quality of goods before making a purchase.
Dian Noeh Abubakar, the vice president of Weber Shandwick Indonesia, a public relations firm, said the official Twitter account of a media outlet could serve two functions: to disseminate news and to convey the outlet's vision as an organization.
The latter, Dian said, was part of a public relations role with a company. "Being defensive, however, is inadvisable for any company in any industry when it comes to public relations," she said.