TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A mass media researcher Eriyanto said incident threatening the freedom of press continues to take place with a tendency to increase each year. According to Eriyanto, there are averagely 70 cases per year and violence against the press ranges the highest from 2010 to 2017.
“This will have an effect towards the quality of reporting and also how society makes their aspirations heard,” said Eriyanto in a public discussion entitled ‘the threat against the freedom of the press’ at the University of Indonesia today, March 23.
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The discussion held by the political science faculty was attended by the Chairman of the Press Council Yosep Adi Prasetyo and a journalistic teacher Masmimar Mangiang.
Eriyanto said that press freedom is essential to control how any government works, other than that, it also plays the role as the voice of the people. He sees that Indonesian press is still in the middle ground between being free and confined.
Furthermore, he said that press, in government period, were most suppressed during the New Order era. However, he argues that the pressure to suppress the media in modern times comes from certain mass-organizations that think they have the power and authority to omit Indonesia’s rule of law.
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“This shows that several mass organizations do not fully understand the essence of freedom of speech, which is part of our basic human rights that are guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution,” said Eriyanto.
Ade Ridwan Yandwiputra
