Rabby Pramudatama, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party is attacking two national television stations for what it calls "biased and imbalanced" reporting on the alleged involvement of party members in graft scandals.
Party deputy-secretary-general Ramadhan Pohan said that Metro TV and TVOne repeatedly attacked the Democratic Party to support their owners' presidential aspirations. "There is a tendency for the media to be used to benefit their owners," Ramadhan told reporters at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Ramadhan made his statement in support of Ferry Juliantoro, who along with nine other Democratic Party members reported Metro TV and TVOne to the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) for alleged "imbalanced reporting" on Feb. 23.
"The protest is the voice of the party. I received messages from members nationwide who expressed similar concerns about the reporting," Ramadhan said.
Meanwhile, Ferry said that the stations had disproportionately aired unfavorable news about the Democratic Party. "They were biased in terms of their programs, such as those that stated that the Democratic Party was a hotbed of corruptors. That is an overgeneralization," Ferry said.
Metro TV, part of the Media Group, is owned by Surya Paloh, founder and financier of the recently established Nasdem Party, while TVOne is owned by the Bakrie Family, whose chief patron, Aburizal "Ical" Bakrie, is Golkar Party chairman and has been tipped as a potential presidential candidate in 2014.
Democratic Party members have accused the stations of intentionally undermining the party's popularity by continuously reporting on the corruption scandals implicating party members.
The party itself has been in serious trouble resulting from corruption allegation leveled at some key members, including those currently on trial for graft allegations.
The scandals began when former party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin was accused of corruption connected to Rp 191.7 billion (US$21.1 million) project to build the athletes' village for the Southeast Asian Games in Palembang, South Sumatra, last year.
Testimony and evidence given at Nazaruddin's trial has implicated lawmaker Angelina Sondakh, another party deputy-secretary-general; Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng, the party patron board chairman; and party chairman Anas Urbaningrum.
In response, Metro TV news director Suryopratomo said that the station's news coverage was based on facts and grounded upon the principles of journalism.
"The Democratic Party received the votes of almost 70 percent of Indonesians in the last election. It's the public's interest to know what happens to the party," Suryopratomo said.
"It's too much to say that our reporting has been used for the benefit of Nasdem Party. There are no parallel relations between the media and the party. Our newsroom is independent." The Democratic Party's complaints were evidence that the party was in trouble," he added.
Separately, TVOne editor in-chief Karni Ilyas said that Democratic Party members alone have damaged the party's popularity, not the media.
"I could not choose any other topic aside from the Democratic Party, because the reporting on the party has fulfilled all journalistic principles. It is the interest of the public, dramatic, important, as well as imminent," he said.
Idy Muzayyad from the KPI said that the commission would follow up on the complaint and conduct a mediation between the party and the television station. "In the complaint's material [the commission] was not informed about the details of what particular TV shows or programs that had such tendentious criteria," he said.
Separately, Anas Urbaningrum hinted over the weekend that the Democratic Party might launch its own television station to counter its bad press. "It's our weakness, we don't have a TV station."