Arjuna Web

<div align="center"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="mso-cellspacing: 1.5pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 636px;"> <tbody><tr style="height: 38.25pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">  <td style="height: 38.25pt; padding: .75pt .75pt .75pt .75pt; width: 474.15pt;" valign="top" width="632">  <h1 align="center" style="margin-top: 0cm; tab-stops: center 236.3pt left 379.35pt right 472.65pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 20.0pt;">Media   a problem in democracy?   <o:p></o:p></span></h1><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "FranklinGothic-ExtraCond","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: FranklinGothic-ExtraCond;">Ignatius Haryanto  ;</span>   <em><span style="font-size: 13pt;">A media researcher at the Institute of Press and Development   Studies (LSPP), Jakarta</span></em><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div></td> </tr></tbody></table></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">JAKARTA POST, 15 April 2014<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">                                      </span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; tab-stops: 206.35pt 268.65pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">                                                                                          <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; tab-stops: 164.95pt 187.0pt;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">                                                              <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;"> <tbody><tr>  <td style="padding: 0cm 2.8pt 0cm 0cm; width: 468.0pt;" valign="top" width="624">  <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maybe in   the next five to 10 years many local and foreign observers will look at   Indonesia’s 2014 elections as one of the most celebrated tales in the   country’s media history. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Both   conventional and social media hosted much discussion and criticism, as political   parties used the media for their campaign platforms as well as using social   media for campaigning. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Among   the contestants of the 2014 general elections, three figures are media owners   who also lead political parties: presidential candidates Surya Paloh of the   NasDem Party and Aburizal Bakrie of the Golkar Party and vice presidential   hopeful Hary Tanoesoedibjo of the Hanura Party. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The   three of them used media in their business groups to promote and produce   political advertisements since last year for their parties and personalities,   even though the official campaign season was not yet open. Since then, all   three have continued to produce many forms of media to promote themselves and   their political parties. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According   to communication and marketing theories, campaigning for products or people   can be effective when there are time limitations, which create awareness   about the people or products. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But   without time limitations, the public will regard such messages as pollution   or excessive, leading to fatigue and boredom.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Contestants   like Tanoesoedibjo, and Hanura founder Wiranto, created media gimmicks   through their media outlets to promote themselves by having much reportage on   themselves and their parties. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Examples   include Wiranto’s role on the RCTI television station’s sinetron (soap opera)   program Tukang Bubur Naik Haji (The Porridge Man Goes on the Haj), where the   former military commander played the everyman character of a becak (pedicab)   driver. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Surya   Paloh became known for giving political briefings on Metro TV for lengthy   periods of time. On TVOne and ANTV, many hours were dedicated to ARB, as   Aburizal Bakrie is known, for reporting on his nationwide political safari,   his speeches and other aspects of his public life — not including his trip to   the Maldives with several actresses, which was leaked on YouTube. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One day   before election day, we also heard how the CEO of TVOne and Viva.co.id,   Anindra Ardiansyah Bakrie, was angered by news portal Vivanews carrying   advertisements for Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, presidential candidate from the   Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Ardi Bakrie, as he is known,   reportedly threatened members of Vivanews management with losing their jobs   over the incident. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those   who use their influence as owners of media organizations hope that the more   media content is produced, the more influence and public sympathy they will   get. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They   thought that media content featuring their faces would turn into votes in the   legislative election on April 9. But reality was not the same as their hopes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thinking   that audiences are passive, stupid and will do as the media’s messages tell   them is very wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Therefore,   the more media items produced and circulated through biased media channels   will not necessarily result in more votes for these candidates. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In   reality, audiences are active and smart, with a complex structure in regards   to political participation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They   consider political candidates not only on the basis of their media performances,   but also on candidates’ track records, discussions with their peers, or   information from other media channels, before they enter polling stations and   cast their votes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many   people forget that whereas now many media channels provide alternative   information, they also create confusion because the amount of information is   enormous. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Smart   and active audiences process the information they get before they make their   decisions about who to vote for. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According   to several quick counts by survey institutions, so far the PDI-P is the most   popular party. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A quick   count from national daily Kompas, for instance, ranked the PDI-P first with   19.4 percent of votes, followed by Golkar with 14.9 percent and Gerindra in   third position with 11.7 percent. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What   happened to Hanura and NasDem? Hanura got 5.1 percent and NasDem 6.8 percent.   Parties with wide support from their media affiliations were not entirely   successful in getting votes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Regardless   of such failure, using influence in the media to support political ambitions   is undemocratic, since it creates inequality with other political parties. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we   agree to support democratic values, we need to regulate how the media is used   and abused by its owners, especially when they enter politics. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In other   countries, such practices are condemned and media owners must resign from   their media positions before they enter politics. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Media   regulators like the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) or the Press   Council must act more harshly to stop this abuse. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The KPI,   the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) and the General Elections   Commission (KPU) have issued warnings to the MNC television group and other   stations, but such letters were toothless. The legislature and government is   scheduled to finish deliberations shortly about a revision of the country’s   Broadcasting Law. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These   media owners have used the loophole in the current Broadcasting Law to   capitalize on their interests, and media regulators in the past have failed   to recognize this issue. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Consequently,   in the revised Broadcasting Law, the political activities of media owners   must be regulated. This measure would ensure that media organizations perform   their role as part of Indonesia’s democratic process, rather than being part   of the problem in our democratization.<i> </i></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">●</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

Media a problem in democracy? Ignatius Haryanto ; A media researcher at the Institute of Press and Development Studies (LS...

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