JAKARTA: When the media covers a conflict, accusations of bias can land on its doorstep. The debate following the three-week Israeli offensive into Gaza is a case in point. The BBC received more than 11,000 complaints when it decided not to broadcast an appeal by aid agencies for victims of Israel’s assault on Gaza. Yet BBC Director-General Mark Thompson denied he had been subject to the lobbying of pro-Israel interests and maintained that the corporation had a duty to cover Gaza in a “balanced, objective way .
When covering conflicts, journalists could be influenced to take sides, especially when they witness such outcomes as children left homeless and parentless. However, this would render their impartiality hostage to the events they are covering.
Every journalist should follow his or her own conscience, but must also exercise the ultimate obligation of their profession: reporting the truth.
In Elements of Journalism, which delineates the core principles shared by journalists across media and cultures, authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel state that after assembling and verifying the facts, “journalists [should] try to convey a fair and reliable account of their meaning.
Journalists should also attempt to present an accurate portrayal of all constituents involved in the conflict. For example, during the conflict in Gaza a Palestinian grandmother waving a white cloth was still shot at by an Israeli soldier who maimed her grandchild. The BBC reported the incident and cited two independent witnesses. It then sought a response from the Israeli military – to which an Israeli Defence Force spokesman replied that the matter was under investigation.
It is this approach to reporting, covering all pertinent sources, that sustains the credibility of the journalist. By providing credible reporting, the journalist tried to convey a fair and reliable account and the coverage purposefully attempted to provide an accurate depiction of what happened.
It is not easy to cover conflict or tragedy and not be affected by it. Journalists can – and do – express emotions. However, to get the most out of an assignment, journalists must exert self-control. Favoring Palestinians when covering the fighting in Gaza may have advocated for their cause but also stirred resentment and led to accusations of media bias, fomenting an “us versus them mentality.
In Indonesia, the communal conflict in the Maluku Islands provides one example of the media taking sides in reporting. More than 8,000 people died from 1999 to 2001 in the violence that started in Ambon, the provincial capital, and spread to north and southeast Maluku. The local media in Ambon split along communal lines; local outlets, including radio stations, became the trumpets of the contending communal groups and succumbed to carrying provocative news during the escalating conflict.
It was only after the February 2002 peace agreement between conflicting religious communities in the South Sulawesi hill town of Malino that reporting became less biased. The establishment of the Maluku Media Center by journalists concerned with unbiased and non-provocative reporting helped restore this peace.
While reporters in Indonesia generally abide by the international code of journalistic ethics as outlined in Elements of Journalism, since the conflict in the Maluku Islands they have gone the extra mile to assure that bias does not reappear in their reporting. As a result, in March 2006, 29 Indonesian journalists and media organizations drafted the Journalistic Code of Ethics (KEJ), which was approved by the Indonesian Press Council.
At the forefront of the Code, Article 1 asserts, “Indonesian journalists are independent in producing accurate, balanced and malice-free news stories.
Hopefully, this document will continue to be a working guide for balanced, unbiased reporting by Indonesian journalists, as the Elements of Journalism is for journalists worldwide.
Warief Djajanto Basorieis a journalism instructor at the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute (Lembaga Pers Dr. Soetomo, LPDS) in Jakarta. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from The Jakarta Post.
