9th Feb 2010. Palembang, S. Sumatra (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here Tuesday witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the opening of an Indonesian School of Journalism. The MoU was signed by Indonesian Journalists (PWI) Chairman Margiono, Education Minister Mohammad Nuh, South Sulawesi Governor Alex Noerdin and a senior UNESCO official.
The MoU`s signing was part of several events here to mark the 64th Indonesian Press Day. Speaking to reporters after meeting with President Yudhoyono in Jakarta late last January, Margiono said Indonesian schools of journalism would be set up in six cities. The cities would be Jakarta, Semarang (Central Java), Makassar (South Sulawesi), Samarinda (East Kalimantan), Palembang (South Sumatra) and Pekanbaru (Riau).
In the future, every province would have at least one school of journalism to help improve the professionalism of its journalists.
As part of the Press Day anniversary, a number of Indonesian journalists were presented with tokens of professional appreciation. Among the tokens were a "Number One Press Card", the Adinegoro, Spirit of Journalism, and Gold Pen awards. According to Priyambodo RH, a committee member, the "Number One Press Card" token was given to journalists who had dedicated their lives to the pursuit of press freedom.
"This award is meant to show to the public media people with high achievement which can inspire young journalists to follow their professional footprints," he said. Among the Number-One Press Card recipients were Rosihan Anwar, Jakob Oetama, Herawati Diah, Dahlan Iskan, Karni Ilyas, Pia Alisyahbana, Ismail Djalili, and AJ Muaya. Meanwhile, the Adinegoro award was given to M. Fitrah (Singgalang newspaper for photo journalism category) and Malela Mhargasari (Koran Tempo for editorial category).
"The Spirit of Journalism Award is given to Rosihan Anwar (Indonesia`s veteran journalist)," he said. Since coming to power, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has regularly attended National Press Day functions. In his address on the occasion, he reminded media people to prioritize what he called "big truths" rather than "small truths". If a journalist just reported factual facts in a conflict-hit area without filtering them so that, as a result, the situation became worse, it meant that he/she just chose a "small truth".
Instead, if a journalist exercised self-censorship by reporting the facts that would not worsen the situation, he/she had prioritized a "big truth", President Yudhoyono said. At that time, the PWI also awarded the head of state with the Press Freedom Gold Medal for his strong support and respect for press freedom in asking for media`s response to his complaints. President Yudhoyono was recorded as an individual who had most frequently used his rights to get media responses to his complaints of news reporting from 2005 through 2008. The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) was noted as an institution, which was the most frequent use of rights to get media reply to its news complaints in 2008. (*)
