Code of Ethics

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Freedom of opinion, expression and press are human rights protected by Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Freedom of the press is a means for the public to obtain information and communicate, in order to fulfill essential needs and improve the quality of human life. In realizing the freedom of the press, Indonesian journalists are also aware of the interests of the nation, social responsibility, community diversity, and religious norms. open to control by the public. To ensure press freedom and fulfill the public’s right to obtain correct information, Indonesian journalists need a moral and professional ethical foundation as operational guidelines in maintaining public trust and upholding integrity and professionalism. On that basis, Indonesian journalists establish and adhere to the Journalistic Code of Ethics:

Article 1

Indonesian journalists are independent, produce news that is accurate, balanced, and does not have bad intentions.

Interpretation

1. Independent means reporting events or facts in accordance with the voice of conscience without interference, coercion, and intervention from other parties, including the owner of the press company.
2. Accurate means that it is believed to be true according to the objective circumstances when the event occurred.
3. Balanced means that all parties have equal opportunities.
4. Not having bad intentions means that there is no intention to intentionally and solely cause harm to other parties.

Article 2

Indonesian journalists take professional ways in carrying out their journalistic duties.

Interpretation

Professional ways are:

1. Show your identity to the source;
2. Respect the right to privacy;
3. Don’t bribe;
4. Produce factual news and clear sources;
5. Engineering for taking and loading or broadcasting of images, photos, sounds equipped with information about the source and displayed in a balanced manner;
6. Respect the traumatic experience of the resource person in presenting images, photos, sounds;
7. Do not plagiarize, including declaring other journalists’ reports as their own work;
8. The use of certain methods can be considered for investigative news coverage for the public interest.

Article 3

Indonesian journalists always test information, report in a balanced manner, do not mix judgmental facts and opinions, and apply the principle of presumption of innocence.

Interpretation

1. Testing information means checking and rechecking the truth of the information.
2. Balanced is to provide space or time for reporting to each party proportionally.
3. Opinion judge is the personal opinion of a journalist. This is different from interpretive opinion, which is an opinion in the form of a journalist’s interpretation of the facts.
4. The presumption of innocence is the principle of not judging someone.

Article 4

Indonesian journalists do not make false, slanderous, sadistic, and obscene news.

Interpretation

1. A lie means something that a journalist has previously known as something that is not in accordance with the facts that happened.
2. Slander means a baseless accusation made intentionally with bad intentions.
3. Sadistic means the cruel and relentless.
4. Obscenity means the erotic depiction of behavior with photos, images, sounds, graphics or writing solely to arouse lust.
5. In broadcasting images and sound from archives, journalists include the time of shooting and sound.

Article 5

Indonesian journalists do not mention and broadcast the identity of victims of sexual crimes and do not mention the identity of the child who is the perpetrator of the crime.

Interpretation

1. Identity is all data and information concerning a person that makes it easy for others to track.
2. Child is a person who is less than 16 years old and unmarried.

Article 6

Indonesian journalists do not abuse their profession and do not accept bribes.

Interpretation

1. Misuse of the profession is any action that takes personal advantage of information obtained while on duty before the information becomes public knowledge.
2. Bribes are all gifts in the form of money, objects or facilities from other parties that affect independence.

Article 7

Indonesian journalists have the right to refuse to protect sources whose identity or whereabouts are not known, respect the provisions of the embargo, background information, and off the record in accordance with the agreement.

Interpretation

1. The right to refuse is the right not to reveal the identity and whereabouts of the informant for the safety of the informant and his family.
2. Embargo is a delay in loading or broadcasting news according to the request of the source.
3. Background information is any information or data from a source that is broadcast or reported without mentioning the source.
4. Off the record is any information or data from sources that should not be broadcast or reported.

Article 8

Indonesian journalists do not write or broadcast news based on prejudice or discrimination against someone on the basis of differences in ethnicity, race, skin color, religion, gender, and language and do not demean the weak, poor, sick, mentally disabled or physically disabled.

Interpretation

1. Prejudice is an unfavorable assumption about something before knowing it clearly.
2. Discrimination is the difference in treatment.

Article 9

Indonesian journalists respect the rights of sources regarding their private lives, except for the public interest.

Interpretation

1. Respecting the rights of sources is an attitude of restraint and caution.
2. Private life is all aspects of a person’s life and his family other than those related to the public interest.

Article 10

Indonesian journalists immediately retract, rectify, and correct false and inaccurate news accompanied by apologies to readers, listeners, and or viewers.

Interpretation

1. Immediate means action in the quickest possible time, either because there is or is not a warning from an outside party.
2. The apology was delivered when the error associated with the main substance.

Article 11

Indonesian journalists serve the right of reply and right of correction proportionally.

Interpretation

1. The right of reply is the right of a person or group of people to provide a response or rebuttal to the news in the form of facts that are detrimental to his good name.
2. The right of correction is the right of every person to correct the wrong information reported by the press, both about himself and about other people.
3. Proportional means equivalent to the news section that needs to be repaired.

The final assessment of the violation of the journalistic code of ethics is carried out by the Press Council. Sanctions for violations of the journalistic code of ethics are carried out by journalists’ organizations and or press companies.

Jakarta, Tuesday, March 14, 2006

(Kode Etik Jurnalistik ditetapkan Dewan Pers melalui Peraturan Dewan Pers Nomor: 6/Peraturan-DP/V/2008 Tentang Pengesahan Surat Keputusan Dewan Pers Nomor 03/SK-DP/III/2006 tentang Kode Etik Jurnalistik Sebagai Peraturan Dewan Pers)