Two steps forward, one step back: The media in Indonesia via CIPE Development Blog
Yesterday, I attended a roundtable discussion on the state of the media in Indonesia after Soeharto, held by the Center for International Media Assistance of the National Endowment for Democracy. Some interesting points relating to different types of media:
Print: Janet Steele (George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs; author of a book on Tempo, an independent magazine during the Soeharto years), praised the relatively free regulatory environment instituted by the post-Soeharto government and noting that the last remaining great obstacle is the civil defamation law and its enforcement. Citing a poorly educated judiciary with little understanding of press freedom, she told one story of how, when a rival print news outlet’s conglomerate owner was logging...