Broadcasting Commission Warns Media Owners Against Personal Interests

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Indonesia Broadcasting Commission said media magnates in Indonesia who are using their units to defend or promote themselves in legal cases will get reprimands.Chief commissioner Dadang rahmat Hidayat said in a public discussion at the the Indonesia Broadcasting Commission's headquarters that the measure will will be in "our agenda".It will, he said, cooperate with the Press Council to summon media owners who are using the public space for their private interests, adding that the commission are keeping records of broadcasts as evidence for the claim.Television has the most extensive viewers in Indonesia compared to other forms of mass media two of the largest four are controled by political figures Aburizal Bakrie (TV One) and Surya Paloh (Metro TV), while two others Harry Tanoesoedibjo (RCTI) and Chairul Tanjung (Trans TV and Trans 7) who, despite their distant position from politics, control sizeable businesses and holdings.The most recent case involving the one of the moguls is the online registration service graft in the Law Department which implicates an older brother of Harry Tanoesoedibjo.A newly set non governmental organisation Media Regulation and Regulator Watch said "What is happening now is there are so many violation. (Those violation) should be reprimanded." Both TV One and, especially, Metro TV have in the past aired lengthy speeches by their respective owners in political occasions and, as for Metro TV case, cultural or religious events.DIANING SARI