Freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of 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 the freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press.
Cyber media has special characteristics that require guidelines for its management to be carried out professionally, fulfilling its functions, rights, and obligations in accordance with Law No. 40 of 1999 on the Press and the Journalistic Code of Ethics. Therefore, the Press Council, together with press organizations, cyber media managers, and the public, has formulated the following Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines:
1. Scope
Cyber Media is any form of media that uses the internet platform and engages in journalistic activities, while meeting the requirements set forth by the Press Law and the Standards for Media Companies established by the Press Council. User-Generated Content (UGC) refers to any content created and/or published by users of cyber media, including articles, images, comments, audio, videos, and other forms of posts attached to cyber media, such as blogs, forums, reader or viewer comments, and other forms.
2. Verification and Balance of News
In principle, all news must go through verification.
News that could harm other parties requires verification to meet the principles of accuracy and balance.
Exceptions to the above include situations where:
- The news truly concerns urgent public interest;
- The primary source of the news is clear, credible, and competent;
- The subject of the news cannot be located or interviewed;
- The media provides an explanation to the readers that the news still requires further verification, which will be pursued as soon as possible. This explanation should appear at the end of the news article in parentheses and italicized.
After publishing the news according to the points above, the media is obliged to continue the verification efforts. Once verification is completed, the results of the verification should be included in an updated news article with a link to the original unverified news.
3. User-Generated Content (UGC)
Cyber media must clearly specify terms and conditions regarding User-Generated Content that does not contradict Law No. 40 of 1999 on the Press and the Journalistic Code of Ethics.
Cyber media must require users to register as members and log in first before publishing any User-Generated Content. Specific rules about the login process will be outlined separately.
As part of the registration, users must provide written consent that the User-Generated Content they publish:
- Does not contain false information, defamation, sadistic, or obscene content;
- Does not contain prejudices or hate speech related to ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations (SARA), or encourage violence;
- Does not contain discriminatory content based on gender or language, and does not degrade the dignity of the weak, poor, sick, mentally or physically disabled people.
Cyber media has the absolute authority to edit or remove User-Generated Content that violates the above terms. Cyber media must provide a mechanism for complaints regarding User-Generated Content that is deemed to violate these terms. This mechanism must be easily accessible to users.
Cyber media is obliged to edit, remove, and correct any User-Generated Content that is reported and violates the above terms promptly—no later than 2 x 24 hours after receiving the complaint.
Cyber media that complies with the above conditions (a), (b), (c), and (f) will not be held responsible for issues arising from the publication of content that violates these terms.
Cyber media will be held responsible for User-Generated Content that is reported if no corrective action is taken after the time limit mentioned in point (f).
4. Corrections, Clarifications, and Right of Reply
Corrections, clarifications, and the right of reply follow the Press Law, the Journalistic Code of Ethics, and the Right of Reply Guidelines established by the Press Council.
Corrections, clarifications, and/or the right of reply must be linked to the news article being corrected, clarified, or to which a right of reply is given.
The date of publication of the correction, clarification, and/or right of reply must be included in each of these items.
If a news article from one cyber media outlet is republished by another, the responsibility of the original media outlet is limited to the version published on its own site or on sites under its technical authority.
Corrections made by one cyber media outlet must also be made by other media outlets that republish the news.
Media outlets that republish news and fail to correct the news as done by the original media outlet are fully responsible for any legal consequences arising from their failure to correct the news.
According to the Press Law, cyber media that does not accommodate the right of reply may be subject to a criminal fine of up to IDR 500,000,000 (five hundred million rupiahs).
5. Retraction of News
Published news may not be retracted for reasons of external censorship, except in cases involving SARA issues, decency, the future of a child, traumatic experiences of victims, or for other specific reasons as determined by the Press Council.
Other cyber media outlets must follow the retraction of news quotes from the original media outlet if the news has been retracted.
The retraction must be accompanied by a reason for the retraction and announced to the public.
6. Advertising
Cyber media must clearly distinguish between news content and advertising.
Any news/article/content that is an advertisement or paid content must include a clear label such as ‘advertorial’, ‘advertisement’, ‘ads’, ‘sponsored’, or another term that explains that the news/article/content is an advertisement.
7. Copyright
Cyber media must respect copyrights as stipulated in applicable laws and regulations.
8. Inclusion of Guidelines
Cyber media must clearly and prominently display these Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines on their platforms.
9. Disputes
Final assessment of disputes regarding the implementation of these Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines will be resolved by the Press Council.
Jakarta, February 3, 2012
(This guideline was signed by the Press Council and the press community in Jakarta on February 3, 2012.)