The Implications of Press Regulation Towards the Citizen Journalism Phenomenon in Indonesia

Abstract

This research will discuss citizen journalism which is currently expanding in Indonesia and also criticism related to the Press Law No. 40 of 1999 and the Journalistic Code of Ethics, the contents of which is not relevant with the technology growth, thus making several aspects of society related to the press unregulated that can certainly cause ambiguity in the regulation. The analysis carried out will focus on using the principle of freedom of speech as a guide. In Indonesia, freedom of speech has been regulated in the 1945 Constitution article 28E paragraph 3 and Law No. 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights Article 23 Paragraph 2. All citizens in Indonesia have the freedom to express their opinions, but in delivering their opinions the community must pay attention to the prevailing norms and consider whether their opinions do not contain ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations issues (SARA). The case raised in this article deals with citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is an ordinary citizen who seeks an event and then covers, records, collects, writes, and broadcasts it on online media. Citizen journalism in Indonesia is a phenomenon that expands along with the development of communication technology. However, in the delivery and processing of news, citizen journalism is not bound by a journalistic code of ethics and is not even regulated in the Press Law No. 40 of 1999. Citizen journalism does not have the protection given to journalists since citizen journalism is considered different. There are a No. of examples of cases that will be discussed in this scientific article; the first is the case of Acho with Green Pramuka Apartment. Initially, Acho wrote his concerns about the facilities and promises which were not kept by the developer on his website, but by the Green Pramuka Apartment developer, Acho was reported for defamation. Then the second case is Augie Fatinus case reported by the members of the police for disturbing video contains hoax. These cases will be discussed further in this scientific article.