Press Council Blasts Media for Imbalanced Electoral News Reports
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16 January 2019 21:53 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Press Council found many news agencies publishing imbalanced news coverage related to the 2019 presidential and legislative elections.
“Throughout the past six months, we received reports on 16 news agencies for their imbalanced news coverage,” said Press Council Chairman Yosep Stanley Adi Prasetyo in Surabaya on Tuesday, January 15.
Stanley revealed this fact after appearing as a key speaker in a public dialogue on courteous democracy and the media held in Airlangga University in Surabaya. He said that the council has also issued 28 written warnings for imbalanced news coverage.
Currently, Stanley is pushing for the General Elections Commission, Election Supervisory Board, and the Press Council to sit together and judge news media’s integrity.
“Try hard to clean newsrooms from elements that may affect the independence of journalists,” he said.
Read: Press Council Admits Cannot Execute Media Displaying Campaign Ad
Stanley questions a journalist’s independence if they are involved in the campaign of a certain candidate during the presidential or legislative election campaign. He urged news agencies to focus on voicing vulnerable groups such as first-time voters, women voters, and the impoverished.
ANTARA
