TVRI in hot water over Dems on TV issue

JAKARTA. The Democratic Party leadership has called on the General Elections Monitoring Body (Bawaslu) to be lenient on the party for forcing state-owned television station TVRI to air its convention.

“Let us first hear what TVRI has to say,” said Democratic Party deputy chairman Max Sopacua, a former TVRI anchor.

Bawaslu said it would launch a probe to find out if the Democratic Party had breached any election regulations.

The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) has reprimanded state-owned television station TVRI for broadcasting the Democratic Party's (PD) convention, which was held to choose the party's 2014 presidential candidate.

During a plenary meeting on Friday, the KPI said TVRI had violated Law No.32/2002 on broadcasting for broadcasting the event without going through the editing process.

“The violation is for broadcasting material without upholding journalistic principles, which is the principal of balanced [coverage],” KPI commissioner S. Rahmat Arifin told a press conference at the KPI building in Jakarta.

TVRI also failed to adhere to the notion that state media should protect public interest by broadcasting neutral and unbiased content. “Therefore, the KPI has asked TVRI give equal opportunity to any political party [in receiving TVRI coverage],” Rahmat said.

TVRI aired a re-run of the convention on Sunday from 10:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m., which drew further public criticism.