(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is the full text of a letter sent by WPFC to the “Jakarta Post” in response to an article in that newspaper reporting proposals for licensing journalists in Indonesia: 22 July 1998 Editor Jakarta Post Jakarta, Indonesia To the Editor: The government of President B. J. Habibie, according to news reports, […]
(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is the full text of a letter sent by WPFC to the
“Jakarta Post” in response to an article in that newspaper reporting
proposals for licensing journalists in Indonesia:
22 July 1998
Editor
Jakarta Post
Jakarta, Indonesia
To the Editor:
The government of President B. J. Habibie, according to news reports, seeks
to ensure positive news coverage of his administration by offering subsidies
on newsprint to financially strapped publications. The price: submission by
journalists to a system of licensing. But Indonesia’s leaders and citizens
should know — especially in light of the painful economic crisis they are
experiencing — that coloration or suppression of the news is no insurance
for either the longevity or stability of a regime. In fact, as Mr. Suharto
learned so painfully, it was the shrouding of facts relating to nepotism and
corruption within his closed circle of cronies that ultimately led to his
downfall.
Licensing of journalists leads to censorship or self-censorship. It benefits
neither the public nor journalists, and both of these constituencies in
Indonesia should reject it soundly.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights — the highest human rights
tribunal in the Western Hemisphere — confirmed this more than a decade
ago, in a landmark ruling that compulsory licensing of journalists violates
the universal human right of freedom of expression. “It is not enough,” the
unanimous opinion said, “to guarantee the right to
establish and manage organs of mass media, it is also necessary that
journalists, and in general, all those who dedicate themselves
professionally to the mass media can work with sufficient protection for the
freedom and independence that the occupation requires.”
To arguments that licensing is necessary for journalists as it is for
doctors and lawyers, the Court replied: “Unlike journalism, the practice
of law and medicine is not an activity specifically guaranteed by the
(American) Convention (on Human Rights).”
Further, the prestigious MacBride Commission’s 1980 report to UNESCO on
communications issues said that “licensing schemes might well lead to
restrictive regulations governing the conduct of journalists; in effect,
protection would be granted only to those journalists who had earned
official approval.”
The World Press Freedom Committee was among 13 international human rights
and free-press groups that had urged the Inter-American Court to rule
against licensing. At WPFC’s call, journalists from 34 countries —
including Indonesia — met in London in 1987 and approved a Charter for a
Free Press, which sets forth basic press freedom principles. “A free press
means a free people”, the Charter says. And this means, among other things,
that “restrictions on the free entry to the field of journalism or over its
practice, through licensing or other certification procedures, must be
eliminated.”
A free press is good for a country’s development. Steps to inhibit the free
flow of information only impede this development. For those seeking economic
advance and other benefits, actions to limit journalists and news are
counter-productive. In its own interests, Indonesia should avoid any such
measures — including any licensing of journalists.
Sincerely,
Marilyn J. Greene
Executive Director
World Press Freedom Committee
The World Press Freedom Committee, with headquarters in Reston,Va. (United
States of America), is an organization including as affiliates 44 news
organizations on six continents. It is dedicated to news media free of
government interference and a full and free flow of news and information.
