Press Council to Supervise Breaking News, Running Texts

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Press Council will supervise the campaign ads in the mass media. Press Council Chairman, Yosep Stanley Andi Prasetyo said supervision will be conducted on all news in the media including breaking news and running text on television.

According to Stanley, sometimes `breaking news` does not display news from the general election process, but the activities of the party chairman and other content which included the ad campaign.

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Likewise, with running text, it could display the content of campaign ads or observer’s speech that contains blasphemy against the party or the opponent of election candidates.

The Press Council will also monitor live broadcast shows. According to him, it also needs to pay attention to content that potentially loads campaign ads. Stanley said that although there is a realm of political parties to conduct socialization, not all of them can be regarded as party socialization.

The press freedom should not be intervened and it is regulated in the Act that the offender may be subject to criminal penalties. However, Stanley said, the problem is to distinguish between what is news and what is not.

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Stanley said the Supervised Press Council is a news product, which meets the 11 articles of the journalistic code of ethics. According to him, many who claim to write or publish a news when it does not meet the rules of journalism and contains campaign ads and black campaigns.

Stanley said the media purpose in the context of elections is to encourage the public to be aware of the latest information. “The Press Council asked journalists to keep this noble profession,” Stanley said.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI