Press Release: CIVIL COMMUNITY COALITION FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS ENCOURAGES THE FORMATION OF AN INTERGRITY PUBLISHER RIGHTS COMMITTEE
Tifa Foundation - The Civil Society Coalition for Press Freedom consisting of LBH Pers, SEJUK, AMSI, PPMN, Tifa Foundation, SAFEnet, FPMJ, ICW, IDA and Internews encourages the Press Council, the Ministry of Communication and Information and the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia to establish a Publisher Rights Committee in an open, participatory and accountable manner, emphasizing the integrity of the process and results.
It is important to realize that the implementation of Presidential Regulation No. 32 of 2024 on Corporate Responsibility of Digital Platforms to Support Quality Journalism (Publisher Rights) requires participation and oversight from various stakeholder sectors and civil society groups at large. For this reason, the Press Council and relevant ministries must ensure that the task force formed to select committee members works in a transparent and accountable manner.
The Presidential Regulation on Publisher Rights, which was passed at the end of February 2024, departs from the spirit of encouraging quality journalistic products and ensuring fair compensation from digital platform companies for press companies. One of the mandates of this regulation is the establishment of a committee that will be tasked with carrying out supervisory functions and facilitating the fulfillment of the obligations of digital platform companies; providing recommendations to the minister who organizes government affairs in the field of communication and informatics on the results of supervision; and facilitating arbitration or alternative dispute resolution between digital platform companies and press companies in accordance with statutory provisions.
Therefore, the formation of the committee is one of the crucial stages of the overall implementation of PR 32/2024. This committee has an important role in ensuring that press companies and digital platforms find a fair compensation formula, as well as overseeing the monitoring and reporting process when there is information dissemination that violates the journalistic code of ethics and laws and regulations on digital platforms.
To ensure that the spirit is aligned in its implementation, the committee formation team must ensure the transparency of the committee selection process. The transparency of this selection process is to ensure that the entire process is carried out by prioritizing the rights of civil society, especially the right to information disclosure. In addition, the task force formed by the Press Council to formulate the operational rules of the Perpres Publishers Rights must ensure that this regulation applies to all digital platforms, and does not target certain digital platform companies only.
On this basis, the Civil Society Coalition for Press Freedom encourages:
- The Press Council and the Committee Selection Team to ensure that the entire selection process is participatory and transparent by prioritizing the rights of civil society, especially the right to information disclosure.
- The Press Council and the Committee Selection Team must prioritize candidates with integrity and alignment with quality journalism, press freedom and the realization of an equitable compensation formula for media companies and journalists from all digital platforms that have a significant presence in Indonesia.
- The Press Council and the Task Force Team must ensure that all drafting of the committee's working rules is carried out in a participatory manner by actively engaging independent experts, civil society organs that have a special interest in press freedom, quality journalism and other related sectors.
Jakarta, March 07, 2024
Civil Society Coalition for Press Freedom: LBH Pers, SEJUK, AMSI, PPMN, Tifa Foundation, SAFEnet, FPMJ, ICW, IDA, Internews
Contact Person:
Ade Wahyudin (LBH Pers)