Guidelines for Cyber Media Reporting
Freedom of opinion, expression, and the press are human rights protected by Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations. The existence of cyber media in Indonesia is also part of this freedom of opinion, expression, and press.
Due to its unique characteristics, cyber media requires specific guidelines to ensure that its management is conducted professionally, fulfilling its functions, rights, and obligations in accordance with Law No. 40 of 1999 on the Press and the Journalistic Code of Ethics. For this reason, the Press Council, together with press organizations, cyber media managers, and the public, have established the following Guidelines for Cyber Media Reporting:
Scope
(a) Cyber Media refers to all forms of media that utilize the Internet, conduct journalistic activities, and comply with the requirements of the Press Law and the Standards of Press Companies as determined by the Press Council.
(b) User Generated Content (UGC) refers to all content created and/or published by users of cyber media, including but not limited to articles, images, comments, audio, video, and other uploads attached to cyber media such as blogs, forums, reader or viewer comments, and other similar formats.
Verification and Balance in News
(a) In principle, every news report must go through a verification process.
(b) News that may potentially harm other parties must be verified within the same news item to meet accuracy and balance principles.
(c) Exceptions to verification requirements may apply if:
- The news is of urgent public interest;
- The initial source is credible, competent, and clearly identified;
- The subject of the report cannot be located or interviewed;
- The media explains to readers that further verification is still required, which will be pursued
promptly. This explanation must appear at the end of the report in italics.
(d) After publishing news under the conditions of
(c), the media must continue verification efforts, and once verified, publish an updated version of the news, linking it to the unverified report.
User Generated Content (UGC)
(a) Cyber media must clearly provide terms and conditions regarding UGC that comply with the Press Law and the Journalistic Code of Ethics.
(b) Cyber media must require users to register and log in before publishing any form of UGC.
(c) In the registration process, users must agree in writing that their UGC will not:
- Contain false, defamatory, violent, or obscene material;
- Contain prejudice or hatred based on ethnicity, religion, race, or inter-group relations (SARA), nor promote violence;
- Contain discriminatory material based on gender or language, nor demean the dignity of the poor, sick, or persons with mental or physical disabilities.
(d) Cyber media has the absolute right to edit or remove UGC that violates point (c).
(e) Cyber media must provide an accessible complaint mechanism for reporting UGC violations.
(f) Cyber media must edit, remove, or correct any UGC reported as violating point (c), as soon as possible and within 2 × 24 hours of receiving the complaint.
(g) Cyber media fulfilling the provisions in points (a), (b), (c), and (f) is not liable for legal consequences arising from user-uploaded content that violates point(c).
(h) Cyber media is responsible for UGC if it fails to act within the timeframe specified in point (f). Retractions, corrections, and rights of reply must comply with the Press Law, the Journalistic Code of Ethics, and the Guidelines for the Right of Reply established by the Press Council. These must be linked to the original report and include the time of publication of the correction/reply.
- If a report is distributed by another cyber media outlet:
1. The responsibility of the originating media is limited to its own publication.
2. Corrections made by the originating media must also be made by those who republished the report.
3. Media that fail to publish corrections are fully responsible for any legal consequences.
4. Under the Press Law, cyber media that fail to serve the right of reply may face criminal fines of up to Rp500,000,000 (five hundred million rupiah).
Retraction of News
(a) Published news cannot be withdrawn due to external censorship, except in cases involving SARA issues (ethnicity, religion, race, inter-group), morality, the future of minors, traumatic experiences of victims, or other special considerations determined by the Press Council.
(b) Other cyber media must follow the retraction of quoted reports from the original media. Retractions must include reasons and be announced to the public.
Advertising
(a) Cyber media must clearly distinguish between news content and advertisements.
(b) Any article or content that is an advertisement or paid content must be labeled as “advertorial,” “advertisement,” “ads,” “sponsored,” or other appropriate terms.
(c) Cyber media must respect copyright laws as regulated by applicable legislation.
Copyright and Inclusion of Guidelines
Cyber media must publish these Guidelines for Cyber Media Reporting clearly on their platform.
Dispute Resolution
Final judgments regarding disputes over the implementation of these Guidelines shall be made by the Press Council.
Jakarta, February 3, 2012
(These Guidelines were signed by the Press Council and the press community in Jakarta on February 2012).