Freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of the press are human rights protected by Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The existence of cyber media in Indonesia is also part of freedom of opinion, freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
Cyber media has a special character so that it requires guidelines so that its management can be carried out professionally, fulfilling its functions, rights and obligations in accordance with Law Number 40 of 1999 concerning the Press and Journalistic Code of Ethics. For this reason, the Press Council together with press organizations, cyber media managers, and the public have compiled the Cyber Media News Coverage Guidelines as follows:
1. Scope
- Cyber Media is any form of media that uses the internet and carries out journalistic activities, and meets the requirements of the Press Law and the Press Company Standards set by the Press Council.
- User Generated Content is any content created and or published by cyber media users, including articles, images, comments, sounds, videos and various forms of uploads attached to cyber media, such as blogs, forums, reader comments or viewers, and other forms.
2. Verification and “Balanced-News”
- In principle every news must be verified.
- News that can harm other parties requires verification of the same news to meet the principles of accuracy and balance.
- The provisions in item (a) above are waived, provided that:
- The News contains a substantial and urgent public interest;
- The first news source is a source that is clearly identified, credible and competent;
- News subjects that must be confirmed are unknown and / or cannot be interviewed;
- The media explained to the readers that the news still needed further verification which was made in the shortest possible time. The explanation should be included at the end of the same story, in brackets and in italics.
- After uploading the news in accordance with item (c), the media is obliged to continue verification efforts, and after verification is obtained, the verification results are included in the news update (update) with a link to the news that has not been verified.
3. User Generated Content
- Cyber media must include terms and conditions regarding User Generated Content that do not conflict with Law No. 40 of 1999 concerning the Press and Journalistic Code of Ethics, which is placed clearly and clearly.
- Cyber media requires each user to register for membership and log-in first to be able to publish all forms of User Generated Content. The provisions regarding log-in will be further regulated.
- In such registration, cyber media requires users to give written consent that the published User Generated Content:
- Does not contain lies, slander, sadistic and obscene;
- Does not contain content that contains prejudice and hatred related to ethnicity, religion, race, and intergroup (SARA), and advocates violence;
- Does not contain discriminatory content on the basis of differences in sex and language, and does not demean the dignity of the weak, poor, sick, mentally disabled, or physically disabled.
- Cyber media has absolute authority to edit or delete User Generated Content that is contrary to item (c).
- Cyber media is obliged to provide a complaint mechanism for User Generated Content that is deemed to violate the provisions in item (c) Such mechanisms should be provided in a place that is easily accessible to users.
- Cyber media is obliged to edit, delete, and take corrective actions for any User-Generated Content that is reported and violates the provisions of item (c), as soon as possible proportionally no later than 2 x 24 hours after the complaint is received.
- Cyber media that has met the provisions in items (a), (b), (c), and (f) are not burdened with responsibility for problems arising from loading content that violates the provisions in point (c).
- Cyber media is responsible for User Generated Content that is reported if it does not take corrective action after the time limit as stated in item (f).
4. Errors, Corrections, and The Right to Reply
- Errors, corrections and right of reply refer to the Press Law, the Journalistic Code of Ethics and the Guidelines for the Right to Reply established by the Press Council.
- Errors, corrections and / or right of reply must be linked to the news rectified, corrected or given the right to reply.
- In every news of errata, corrections and right of reply, the time of loading of the corrections, corrections, and / or right of reply must be stated.
- If a particular cyber media news is disseminated by other cyber media, then:
- The responsibility of the news maker cyber media is limited to news published in the cyber media or cyber media under its technical authority;
- News corrections carried out by a cyber media must also be carried out by other cyber media which quote the corrected news from the corrected cyber media;
- Media that disseminates news from a cyber media and does not make corrections to the news according to the cyber media owner and / or news maker, is fully responsible for all legal consequences of the uncorrected news.
5. Revocation of News
- News that has been published cannot be revoked for reasons of censorship from outside the editorial team, except for issues related to racial and moral issues, children’s future, traumatic experiences of victims or based on other special considerations determined by the Press Council.
- Other cyber media must follow the revocation of news excerpts from the original media that have been revoked.
- Repeal of news must be accompanied by reasons for withdrawal and announced to the public.
6. Advertising
- Cyber media must clearly distinguish between news and advertising products.
- Every news / article / content which is an advertisement and / or paid content must include the description “advertorial”, “advertisement”, “ads”, “sponsored”, or other words which explain that the news / article / content is an advertisement.
7. Copyright
Cyber media is obliged to respect copyright as stipulated in the applicable laws and regulations.
8. Inclusion of Guidelines
Cyber media must clearly and clearly include this Cyber Media Coverage Guidelines in the media.
9. Dispute
The final assessment of the dispute regarding the implementation of the Cyber Media Coverage Guidelines is settled by the Press Council.