TV
Stations Deny Biased Reporting Say Democrats Crates Own Scandal
Two television stations owned by
political party members denied their coverage was intentionally slanted against
the Democratic Party, saying the scandals within the ruling party demanded news
coverage.
At
a seminar to address the issue, both Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie’s
tvOne and Metro TV, which is owned by National Democrat Party (NasDem) founder
Surya Paloh, blamed the Democratic Party politicians for the groups downward
spiraling popularity, not their broadcast.
“The ones who
ruin the party’s image are not media like us. It is their own officials,”
tvOne editor in chief Karni Ilyas said at the seminar.
The
Democrats have filed a report against both TV stations with the Indonesian
Broadcasting Commission (KPI), accusing them of using their newsprograms to
hurt the party while promoting certain political parties whose leardes own the
TV statios.
Karni said tvOne
had to run stropis about corruption cases implicating many members of President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s party because of their news value.
The
news has attracted public attention because many Democratic Party members, such
as former Miss Indonesia Angelina Sondakh, have been implicated in graft.
Angelina,
the party’s former deputy secretary and its former treasure, Muhammad
Nazaruddin, have been named suspects in a high-profile corruption case.
For
months, the scandals has made headlines in the media, including tvOne and Metro
TV, as it has spun to other high-ranking party members.
Democratic
official Ferry Julianto reported tvOne and Metro TV to the KPI for allegedly
being political machines for Golkar and Nasdem, a change Karni denied.
“There
has been no order from Aburizal Bakrie to corner Democrats. In fact, he has
never been to the tvOne newsroom,” he said.
Metro
TV news director Tomi Suryopratomo said the broadcaster never had a specific
plan to corner the party.
“If
a TV station operates based on a political interest, then I guarantee it won’t
last,” he said.
Democratic
deputy secretary general Ramadhan Pohan claimed that tvOne and Metro TV had not
been balanced in broadcasting graft and political issues.
For
example, he said that tvOne never ran updates on the Lapindo mudflow story from
2006, which implicates one of Aburizal’s firms.
Nama : Deviana Wijaya
Kelas : 1EA19
NPM : 11211940
NPM : 11211940