Election Commission Calls on Media to be Neutral, Independent

Jakarta (Antara) - The General Election Commission (KPU) has called on the media to be independent and neutral in reporting presidential race campaigns. Electronic media in particular should promote political education for the public, KPU Chairman Husni Kamil Manik said in a statement here on Tuesday. Previously, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) said the commission was still evaluating contains of television programs and news reporting concerning campaign activities ahead of the presidential elections. KPU Commissioner Fajar Arifianto Isnugroho said KPI had reprimanded managers of TV One and Metro TV on June 9. KPI was currently evaluating the two television stations' programs, he said. He hoped that the communication and informatics ministry would give them sanction if they did not change their reporting format. He quoted data from KPI that during May 19-25, 2014, Metro TV broadcast 184 news on presidential candidate Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his running mate Jusuf M Kalla, and 110 news on their rivals, Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa. The broadcasting duration on Jokowi-JK was 37,577 seconds, while only 14,561 seconds on Prabowo-Hatta. TV One broadcast 77 news on Jokowi-JK with total duration of 18,731` seconds, and 153 news and 36,561 seconds on Prabowo-Hatta. "Other television stations broadcast quite proportional news. SCTV is quite balanced, Kompas TV is considered proportional although alignment is obvious," Fajar said. (*)