Cyber media guidelines
Panen77 News follows the Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines (Pedoman Pemberitaan Media Siber) drawn up by Indonesia's Press Council (Dewan Pers) together with press organizations, cyber media operators, and the public. The guidelines were signed by the Press Council, press organizations, cyber media, and press figures in Jakarta on 3 February 2012, and ratified by Press Council Regulation No. 1/Peraturan-DP/III/2012 of 26 March 2012. As point 8 of the guidelines requires, we publish the full text below.
This is an unofficial English translation by Panen77 News. If it differs from the Indonesian original, the Indonesian original prevails. How we apply the guidelines is explained in our Editorial policy and Corrections and right of reply.
Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines
Freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press are human rights protected by Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The existence of cyber media in Indonesia is also part of freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press.
Cyber media have a special character and therefore need guidelines so that they can be managed professionally and fulfil their functions, rights, and obligations in accordance with Law No. 40 of 1999 on the Press and the Journalistic Code of Ethics. To that end, the Press Council, together with press organizations, cyber media operators, and the public, has drawn up the following Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines:
1. Scope
a. Cyber media are all forms of media that use the internet, carry out journalistic activities, and meet the requirements of the Press Law and the Press Company Standards set by the Press Council.
b. User Generated Content is any content created and/or published by users of cyber media, including articles, images, comments, audio, video, and any other form of upload attached to cyber media, such as blogs, forums, reader or viewer comments, and other forms.
2. Verification and balance of news
a. In principle, every news story must be verified.
b. A story that may harm another party requires verification within the same story to meet the principles of accuracy and balance.
c. The provision in point (a) above may be waived, provided that:
- The story genuinely concerns an urgent public interest;
- The first source of the story is clearly identified, credible, and competent;
- The subject of the story who must be asked for confirmation cannot be located and/or cannot be interviewed;
- The media explains to readers that the story still requires further verification, which will be pursued as soon as possible. The explanation is placed at the end of the same story, in brackets and in italics.
d. After publishing a story under point (c), the media must continue its efforts to verify it, and once verification is obtained, the result is included in an updated story with a link to the unverified story.
3. User Generated Content
a. Cyber media must publish terms and conditions on User Generated Content that do not conflict with Law No. 40 of 1999 on the Press and the Journalistic Code of Ethics, placed clearly and visibly.
b. Cyber media require every user to register as a member and log in before publishing any form of User Generated Content. Provisions on logging in will be regulated further.
c. As part of that registration, cyber media require users to give written consent that the User Generated Content they publish:
- Does not contain lies, slander, sadism, or obscenity;
- Does not contain prejudice or hatred related to ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations (SARA), or incite violence;
- Does not contain discrimination based on gender or language, and does not demean the dignity of people who are weak, poor, sick, or who have mental or physical disabilities.
d. Cyber media have absolute authority to edit or delete User Generated Content that contravenes point (c).
e. Cyber media must provide a complaint mechanism for User Generated Content considered to violate point (c). The mechanism must be placed where users can easily access it.
f. Cyber media must edit, delete, and take corrective action on any reported User Generated Content that violates point (c), as soon as possible and proportionately, no later than 2 x 24 hours after the complaint is received.
g. Cyber media that have complied with points (a), (b), (c), and (f) bear no responsibility for problems caused by the publication of content that violates point (c).
h. Cyber media are responsible for reported User Generated Content if they take no corrective action after the deadline in point (f).
4. Errata, Corrections, and Right of Reply
a. Errata, corrections, and the right of reply follow the Press Law, the Journalistic Code of Ethics, and the Right of Reply Guidelines set by the Press Council.
b. Errata, corrections, and/or replies must be linked to the story that was corrected or replied to.
c. Every erratum, correction, and reply must state the time it was published.
d. If a story from a particular cyber media outlet is disseminated by other cyber media, then:
- The responsibility of the cyber media that produced the story is limited to the story published on that cyber media or on cyber media under its technical authority;
- A correction made by a cyber media outlet must also be made by other cyber media that quoted the story from the corrected outlet;
- Media that disseminate a story from a cyber media outlet and do not correct it in line with the correction made by the outlet that owns and/or produced the story bear full responsibility for all legal consequences of the uncorrected story.
e. Under the Press Law, cyber media that do not serve the right of reply can be subject to a criminal fine of up to Rp500,000,000 (five hundred million rupiah).
5. Withdrawal of News
a. A published story may not be withdrawn because of censorship from parties outside the newsroom, except in matters related to SARA, decency, a child's future, a victim's traumatic experience, or other special considerations determined by the Press Council.
b. Other cyber media must follow the withdrawal of quotations from a story that its original outlet has withdrawn.
c. The withdrawal of a story must be accompanied by the reason for the withdrawal and announced to the public.
6. Advertising
a. Cyber media must clearly distinguish between news products and advertising.
b. Every story, article, or content that is advertising and/or paid content must carry the label "advertorial", "iklan" (advertisement), "ads", "sponsored", or another word that makes clear that the story, article, or content is an advertisement.
7. Copyright
Cyber media must respect copyright as governed by the applicable laws and regulations.
8. Publication of the Guidelines
Cyber media must publish these Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines clearly and visibly.
9. Disputes
The final assessment of disputes over the implementation of these Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines is made by the Press Council.
Jakarta, 3 February 2012