Is the Press Always Right ?

Three months ago, M. Nazaruddin was dismissed from his position as Treasurer of the ruling Democrat Party and runaway to Singapore after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) alleged that he was involved in the misappropriation of fund for development of athlete housing in Palembang, South Sumatera.

Since then, the mass media in Indonesia has been reporting about him, about the people around him and about all the bad things he said about the Party's top officials, including President SBY, via SMS and BlackBerry Messenger every night and day.

All that have seemingly made top officials of the Democrat Party very angry and conflict among them. Due to which fact President SBY as Chairman of the Parrty's Advisory Board blamed the mass media for not being fair in reporting about the case.

But according to the Chief of the Indonesian Press Council i.e. former Chief Justice Bagir Manan, the media has so far not violated the Press Code of Ethics in reporting the Nazaruddin Case.

Two TV stations i.e. TvOne owned by Golkar Party boss Aburizal Bakrie, and MetroTV owned by National Democrat Party boss Surya Paloh, frequently broadcast live interviews with Nazaruddin, during which he once again made very serious allegations against top officials of the Democrat Party, KPK leaders, Directors of State owned companies, etc.

In reaction to Nazaruddin's allegations, the Chairman of the Democrat Party Anas Urbaningrum has reported Nazaruddin to the Police for false allegations. And recently, President SBY urged Nazaruddin to come home to prove all his allegations.

The above shows that the Mass Media in Indonesia has now become a powerful entity in our society and they would do anything to make people read/hear/see their news reports including sensational ones, so that companies want to place advertisement on their media.

Therefore, I felt that the public should be very careful in taking any news reported by the mass media,. especially those that are owned by politicians or have connections with them.