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INDONESIA:
Protest over journalist licensing plan
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Title -- 1574 INDONESIA: Protest over journalist licensing plan
Date -- 23 July 1998
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media
Watch
Source -- IFEX, 22/7/98
Status -- Unabridged
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IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT - INDONESIA
22 July 1998
WPFC letter on licensing of journalists
SOURCE: World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), Reston
(WPFC/IFEX) - The following is the full text of a letter sent by WPFC to the "Jakarta Post" in response to an article in that newspaper reporting proposals for licensing journalists in Indonesia:
22 July 1998
Editor
Jakarta Post
Jakarta, Indonesia
To the Editor:
The government of President B. J. Habibie, according to news reports, seeks to ensure positive news coverage of his administration by offering subsidies on newsprint to financially strapped publications. The price: submission by journalists to a system of licensing. But Indonesia's leaders and citizens should know -- especially in light of the painful economic crisis they are experiencing -- that coloration or suppression of the news is no insurance for either the longevity or stability of a regime. In fact, as Mr. Suharto learned so painfully, it was the shrouding of facts relating to nepotism and corruption within his closed circle of cronies that ultimately led to his downfall.
Licensing of journalists leads to censorship or self-censorship. It benefits neither the public nor journalists, and both of these constituencies in Indonesia should reject it soundly.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights -- the highest human rights tribunal in the Western Hemisphere -- confirmed this more than a decade ago, in a landmark ruling that compulsory licensing of journalists violates the universal human right of freedom of expression. "It is not enough," the unanimous opinion said, "to guarantee the right to establish and manage organs of mass media, it is also necessary that journalists, and in general, all those who dedicate themselves professionally to the mass media can work with sufficient protection for the freedom and independence that the occupation requires."
To arguments that licensing is necessary for journalists as it is for doctors and lawyers, the Court replied: " Unlike journalism, the practice of law and medicine is not an activity specifically guaranteed by the (American) Convention (on Human Rights)."
Further, the prestigious MacBride Commission's 1980 report to UNESCO on communications issues said that "licensing schemes might well lead to restrictive regulations governing the conduct of journalists; in effect, protection would be granted only to those journalists who had earned official approval."
The World Press Freedom Committee was among 13 international human rights and free-press groups that had urged the Inter-American Court to rule against licensing. At WPFC's call, journalists from 34 countries -- including Indonesia -- met in London in 1987 and approved a Charter for a Free Press, which sets forth basic press freedom principles. "A free press means a free people", the Charter says. And this means, among other things, that "restrictions on the free entry to the field of journalism or over its practice, through licensing or other certification procedures, must be eliminated."
A free press is good for a country's development. Steps to inhibit the free flow of information only impede this development. For those seeking economic advance and other benefits, actions to limit journalists and news are counter-productive. In its own interests, Indonesia should avoid any such measures -- including any licensing of journalists.
Sincerely,
Marilyn J. Greene
Executive Director
World Press Freedom Committee
The World Press Freedom Committee, with headquarters in Reston,Va. (United States of America), is an organization including as affiliates 44 news organizations on six continents. It is dedicated to news media free of government interference and a full and free flow of news and information.
For further information, contact Marilyn J. Greene at the WPFC, 11690-C Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia 20191 U.S.A. tel: +1 703 715 9811, fax: +1 703 620 6790, e-mail: freepress@wpfc.org.
The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of WPFC.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit WPFC.
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