JAKARTA, INDONESIA—When I ask Indonesian bureaucrats about the latest proclamations from some group concerned about the environment, I often get the same question: “Why are you journalists so close to the activists?” They complain that reporters view them as “the bad guys.”
Is it true? Perhaps. Environmental journalists here love covering reports from advocacy organizations, with all their strident accusations against the government, as well as most environmental protests. Sometimes, we even become part of the protests, or try to solve environmental problems ourselves.
This is largely a result of desperation. Irvan Riza, a program editor at KBR68H Radio in Jakarta, says the newsroom there is tired of covering environmental problems and waiting the government to act. Deforestation, for instance, is a major, ongoing problem in the country, so the station joined the “Tree Adoption Program” in Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, which aims to stop locals from logging by giving them an alternative livelihood. Managed by KBR68H’s sister station, Green Radio FM, revenues from the program allow villagers to plant trees, purchase livestock, and install solar panels.
“By starting the project, we pushed the government to finally install electricity for the farmers we helped,” Irvan explained. But when I suggested that the station’s involvement made “green activists” out of the journalists there, he rejected the label, arguing that because paid advertisements run during its tree-adoption related programming, it qualifies as a standard commercial enterprise, not a nonprofit advocacy operation.
Kalimantan Review (KR), a monthly magazine on the island of Borneo, accepts the activist label, however. Launched in 1992 by the Institut Dayakologi, KR described itself as “advocacy media” delivering information to the island’s indigenous Dayak people about palm plantations, mines, and other projects that destroy local forests. Under the dictatorial Suharto government, it operated as a form of underground community media. The collapse of the regime in 1998 gave Indonesia greater press freedom, and KR no longer needed to remain underground. While it has moved into the more standard role of government watchdog, however, it continues to reflexively oppose most government actions and policies and is still considered to be “anti government.”
“It’s hard for us, because we want to do what the press should do: cover both sides fairly,” says Dominikus Uyub, KR’s chief editor. During the Suharto regime, most outlets quoted only pro-government sources, so his outlet did the opposite. Because of that, it now has trouble getting those government voices on record, and so continues to give more space to “the people.”
The problem is that KR has a unique double role. The so-called “advocacy magazine” not only informs local about important issues, but also tries to defend and empower Dayaks whom it sees as the abused victims of powerful economic, political, and military interests. Therefore, KR sees nothing wrong in accepting many local activists living in remote areas as contributors and giving them press identification after providing some journalism training.
That practice can lead to problems, however, as it did when contributing writer Vitalis Andi was arrested in February 2010 while covering a public protest and then sued by Sinar Mas, a company opening a palm plantation in West Kalimantan. KR sent Andi to cover the protest as an objective observer, but the police accused him of crossing the line and charged him with vandalism. The problem, as Uyub himself concedes, is that many people know Andi as “an activist who happens to be a journalist.” That label meant KR could not defend him by appealing to the Press Freedom Law, unless they could prove Andi was there as journalist, and while a lower court dismissed the charges against Andi, Sinar Mas has appealed the decision and the legal battle continues.
Aristides Katoppo, a senior environmental journalist at Sinar Harapan, a newspaper in Jakarta, said the strain of activism in environmental journalism is rooted in how the beat grew in the country. Environmental issues were alien to Indonesia until 1972 when President Suharto—inspired by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden—established the Ministry of Development and Environment. He chose economic expert Emil Salim as minister and charged with finding a balance between Indonesia’s fast growing population, development needs, and environmental protection.
i enjoyed reading the article discussing journalism and environment. i do have some factual corrections. salim the minister of enviroment was indeed very open minded to engage with journalists already involved in espousing environmental
issues. however he was not the initiator of hukli (association of enviromental conservation of indonesia). he solicited cooperation with this group, and encouraged the formation of wider based network, known as walhi
#1 Posted by aristides katoppo, CJR on Fri 12 Aug 2011 at 01:44 AM
Thanks for your point of view, Mr. Katoppo. :)
#2 Posted by veby mega, CJR on Sat 13 Aug 2011 at 12:49 PM
"This is largely a result of desperation...." IT IS NOT. IT IS the result of an utter disregard for the basis of honest reporting. And Columbia is responsible for not insisting that a reporter has no business politic-ing on any issue they cover. Unconscious leanings sneak into all honest reporting, but conscious omissions have become the norm. COLUMBIA? what a joke.
suibne
#3 Posted by suibne, CJR on Sun 14 Aug 2011 at 10:11 PM
Thanks Veby for this interesting history of environment journalism in Indonesia.
I would like to know more about the threats that journalists there face when they report on the environment -- and whether or not the situation is improving (see They kill environment journalists, don't they?).
Also, does the government of Indonesia provide any direct support to environment journalists such as with funding for training, etc?
#4 Posted by Mike Shanahan, CJR on Mon 15 Aug 2011 at 07:22 AM
@Mr.Katoppo: pelase find your exact quote, as I write from our interview about HUKLI :..."we called it HUKLI (Himpunan Kelestarian Untuk Lingkungan Hidup) because there’s not only writers in it, but also academics, scientist who said, hey we want to join you too, because we are very keen on environment too. So, we called it HUKLI, and this proceeding with the “lingkungan hidup” department also (lingkungan hidup =environment)….
I can see how this sentence mislead me to assume HUKLI is largely born by Environment Department/Emil Salim. For that, I'm sorry for the mistake, and as journalist I'm very great full for your correction. :)
#5 Posted by veby mega, CJR on Mon 15 Aug 2011 at 01:16 PM
@Mike Shanahan: Thanks Mike. For your question about threats on environmental journalists in Indonesia, I have to say, most happen in remote areas where mostly they caught in the middle of "no man's land", where often related to illegal logging mafia (of course, I can't prove this by hard fact to you). I notice this situation from many colleagues I had, who reported in remote areas, who used to receive threats by text message or phone calls. Sometimes, if the threats is to often, their media use to give them "vacation" outside the island (Indonesia is an archipelago),just to keep them alive and let them back after the situation seems to cool off.
So far, I haven't heard any safety training provided by Indonesia Gov for the journalists in remote areas or in Jakarta. Maybe someone knows difference?
#6 Posted by veby mega, CJR on Mon 15 Aug 2011 at 01:40 PM
Thank you, Aristides. We've changed the text and added a correction to reflect the fact that Salim did not initiate Hukli.
#7 Posted by Curtis Brainard, CJR on Mon 15 Aug 2011 at 02:08 PM