Press Freedom in Indonesia - Essay Example

The ban of press influence in the 1990s was a political move directed towards incapacitating the medias role in addressing the formidable autocratic system that was paralyzing the sectors of the economy (49). The media was a conduit addressing massive corruption, impunity, and aggression to the media apparatus by the system, in an effort to suppress their growing authority. The importance of the press goes beyond a conduit of information or a catalyst for action (54). The media retains a central role in preserving and writing history; in the contemporary world, the journalists are faced with channeling information that has led to revolutions that have corrected social and political ills, as seen in Indonesia after the ban on Tempo newspaper (57).

The press is a particular kind of history agent: it has led to several special moments in Malaysia, the Arab world (the recent Arab Revolution), and the political tectonic shifts in the U.K. (Secessionist Politics) that has revolutionized modern politics. Currently, the historical role has been fossilized in the names of newspapers like Times Newspapers, Voice of People, and People’s Thought, among many other globally (58). The juxtaposition of the Danish Cartoon and the Indonesian press evolution sprouts several questions about the authority of the press, and whether it is morally justifiable for the government to stem its operations.

The Danish cartoon was seen as an insult to the Islamic religion, and in effect spawned widespread protests among the believers. However, the cartoonist and the media house had a different opinion: the imagery was a manifestation of freedom of expression (59). The scene breeds the question: why was the media defense so evasive and persuasive to the European audience and not others? The imagery representation was over an insult to the Islamic religion, and the authors were quite averse with the impact it would generate.

In a general opinion, the cartoonists ought to understand the cultural and religious boundaries of the global audience because once information is publicized; it becomes accessible to every reader in the world. The press freedom can also be analyzed as part of a secular semiotic ideology; the pictures and words used are mere vehicles filled with distinct information that stands apart from persons and their actions (61). The press should be a channel of allowing the largest possible flow of information, regardless of what passes through it.

Understanding the words and images used can simultaneously express and reinforce understanding of social action, moral support, and political consequences. The two cases from the perspective of semiotic ideology, form points of convergence; both cases have disproportion between cause and social effect. With power comes responsibility. The responsibility should come in the nature of understanding the nature of the conflicting views. Currently, the media has wielded massive social power, which varies from information dissemination to commercial interests.

Press freedom has given rise to anarchy. Presently, there are several media materials available from every source that is full of slander and abuse, which diverts from the primary mandate of the media entity (63). Not so long ago journalism was so cowed suddenly emerges with rhetoric that knows no bounds. Mass media that grows like fungus in the rainy season provides no hope for the development of culture, but instead facilitate destroying it. The phenomenon has been perverse in the current mass media, and the ethical tithes that govern journalism have been banished in favor of political, and other egocentric interests (67).

This has led to racial and cultural hatred that has further propelled the concept of inferiority complex in some nations. Sparked racial transgressions in the form of genocides as witnessed in World War 2 Germany, some African countries like Rwanda, and the current xenophobic attacks in South Africa.