Cybermedia
News Coverage Guidelines
Freedom
of speech, freedom of expression and press freedom are rights protected by
Pancasila state ideology, the 1945 Constitution and the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. The existence of cyber media in Indonesia is part of freedom
of speech, freedom of expression and press freedom.
Cybermedia
has special characteristics that require guidelines to ensure their
professionalism and that they fulfil their function, obligations and rights in
compliance with both Law No. 40/1999 on the press and the Journalists’ Code of
Ethics.
For
that reason, the Press Council and a number of press organizations, cyber media
editorial board members and certain members of the public formulated the Cyber
Media News Coverage Guidelines as follows:
1.
Scope
- Cyber media are any
form of media that use the internet and conduct journalistic activities, in
accordance with the Press Law and the Standards for Press Companies established
by the Press Council.
- User-generated
content is any content created or published by users of cyber media, such as
articles, pictures, comments, audio and video files and other files uploaded
and attached to the cyber media, such as blogs, forums, readers’ or viewers’
comments and other material.
2.
Verification and Fairness
- In principle, each story has to
be verified.
- News that may harm
a particular party should provide verification within the same news item to
ensure accuracy and fairness.
- The provision in
the clause above may be waived, on condition that:
a. The news contains information of
public urgency;
b. The original source of news is
clearly identified, credible and competent;
c. The source of verification cannot
be reached for comment;
d. The media outlet explains to
readers that the news needs further verification, and verification will be made
as soon as possible. The explanation should be included at the end of the same
story, in parentheses and italicized.
- Upon the publication of the news
item in accordance with clause (c), the media must continue efforts to verify
the news, and once verification is obtained, it should be listed as a news
update with a link to the previous unverified news item.
3.
User-generated Content
- Cybermedia outlets
must announce the terms and conditions of user-generated content, which should
not violate Law No. 40/1999 on the press and the Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
The terms and conditions should be easy to read and understand.
- Cybermedia outlets
are obliged to require each user to register and go through a log-in process to
be able to publish all forms of user-generated content. Provisions on the
log-in procedure shall be formulated further.
- During
registration, cyber media outlets must require all users to give written
affirmation that the user-generated content:
a.
Does
not contain lies or libel and is not sadistic or inappropriate;
b.
Does
not contain prejudice or hatred toward certain ethnicity, religion, race or
societal group and does not encourage acts of violence;
c.
Does
not discriminate on the basis of gender or language and does not disrespect the
dignity of the weak, the poor or the mentally or physically disabled.
- Cybermedia outlets
must exercise their right to edit or delete user-generated content that
violates point (c).
- Cybermedia outlets
shall provide a complaint mechanism for user-generated content deemed to
violate the provisions in point (c). Such a mechanism must be placed in a
visible place so that it is easily accessible for users.
- Cybermedia outlets
must edit, delete and make any necessary corrections to user-generated content
that is reported to have violated the provisions in point (c) immediately and
proportionally within 48 hours after a report is received.
- A cyber media
outlet that has complied with the provisions in points (a), (b), (c) and (f) is
not responsible for liabilities resulting from the publishing of the content
that violates the provisions in point (c).
- A cyber media
outlet shall be responsible for user-generated content that has been reported
if it does not carry out the necessary actions within the required period as
stipulated in point (f).
4.
Clarification, Corrections and the Right of Reply
- Clarification and
corrections must be done when necessary and the right of reply honoured in
compliance with the Press Law, the Journalists’ Code of Ethics and the
Guidelines to the Right of Reply established by the Press Council.
- Clarification,
corrections and/or the right of reply message should be linked to the news to
which the clarification, correction or the right of reply is related.
- The media outlet
should post the time of the publication of each clarification, correction or
the right of the reply message.
-
If the corrected article is also published by other cyber media outlets, then:
a. The responsibility of the cyber
media outlet that produced the article is limited to the article published by
its outlet or other media outlets under its authority;
b. Correction to the article carried
out by the original cyber media outlet should also be made by other outlets
that republish the article;
c. If the media outlets that republish
the article from another cyber media do not make the necessary corrections to
the article after the original cyber media outlet has, the republishing media
will bear all the legal consequences arising from the article on which
corrections are not made.
- In accordance with
the Press Law, cyber media outlets that do not honour the right of reply will
be subject to a maximum fine of Rp 500,000,000 (five hundred million rupiahs).
5.
Retraction of News
- A news article that
has been published cannot be retracted on reasons of censorship by any parties
other than the editorial board, unless it is related to prejudice and hatred
toward ethnicity, religion, race or societal group, on grounds of indecency,
the future of a child, traumatic experience of a victim or other considerations
that shall be determined by the Press Council.
- Other cyber media
outlets are obliged to follow the retraction of the same news item that the
original media outlet retracted.
- The retraction of
news should be accompanied by a public announcement on the reason for the
retraction.
6.
Advertisements
- Cybermedia outlets
must clearly distinguish between news and advertisement.
- Any news/article/content
that is an advertisement or paid content should carry the description
"advertorial", "advertisement", "ad",
"sponsored" or other words explaining that the news/article/content
is an advertisement.
7.
Copyright
Cybermedia outlets
must respect copyrights as governed by other laws and regulations.
8.
Inclusion of the Guidelines
A cyber media outlet should include
these Cyber Media News Coverage Guidelines in a visible place on its website.
9.
Disputes
Any
dispute arising from the implementation of these Cyber Media News Coverage
Guidelines shall be resolved by the Press Council.
Jakarta,
Feb. 3, 2012,
These
guidelines are signed by the Press Council and the press community in Jakarta
Source:
The Press Council
