Yuli Ismartono - Independence and reporting violence and disaster - Manila 14 Oct 2011
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Transcript of Yuli Ismartono - Independence and reporting violence and disaster - Manila 14 Oct 2011
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REPORTING ON VIOLENCE AND EMERGENCIES
ICRC Regional Media Conference for Southeast & East Asia
Manila, Philippines 14 October 2011
Panel 1: Reporting on violence and emergencies: opportunities and challenges
Yuli Ismartono, Deputy Chief Editor, Tempo (English edition)
Independence in Reporting Violence and Disaster
My first education in reporting on conflict situations was when I was posted in Bangkok,
Thailand in 1983. It was then the height of the refugee influx from the civil war in
Cambodia, which had broken out following the fall of the Khmer Rouge. From the
jungles of the border area between Cambodia and Thailand, the Khmer Rouge who
refused to be beaten -- waged a guerrilla war against the Heng Samrin regime in Phnom
Penh, who came to power with the support of Vietnamese troops. Two other groups at
that time loyalist followers of King Sihanouk and the Khmer Peoples National
Liberation Front (KPNLF) led by republican Minister Son Sann further confused the
battlefield. This civil war albeit a low intensity one -- was to last for close to 10 years,
before a United Nations-organized general elections after endless peace talks
sponsored by ASEAN brought an end to the fighting.
In the meantime, a humanitarian problem had developed as a result of the civil war inCambodia. Refugees streamed out of the country heading towards the Thai border
where they joined the armed or political group they related or identified with. So, five
main refugee clusters turned into huge camps almost as big as villages. At its peak, the
total number of Cambodian refugees stranded in the Thai-Cambodian border was more
than 250,000 people. It overwhelmed the Thai government, both in terms of its national
security as well as resources, despite the help from aid agencies, international
organizations and NGOs.
It was overwhelming for a reporter like me who had never seen such a scenario: an
armed war on the one hand and its massive humanitarian fallout. The media headlineswere either about the fighting on the battlefield or the suffering of the thousands of
homeless refugees.
Looking back, it was a great reporting opportunity for journalists, just looking at the
variety of angles to write. Yet, in hindsight, I now realize the lack of depth of our
reporting, of how some of our more careless headlines could have jeopardized the peace
talks, or caused the combatants to cause mistaken attacks. And always, at the end of the
totem pole, were the long-suffering refugees.
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The experience of those years at the Thai-Cambodian border and the complexity of
covering conflicts were to follow me later, when I was assigned to cover Afghanistanafter the Russians left in the late 1980s and the tribal warlords were fighting among
themselves to grab power, only to be beaten by the Taliban.
The need to look at so many facets of a conflict beyond the body-bag count -- also
confronted me when I covered the Tamil Tigers long war against the Sri Lankan
government, and the coup detats in Thailand. And of course, there was the struggle of
the Burmese opposition on the border areas.
Today, I am an editor and I oversee the reports of my journalists out in the field and in
my own country, we have no shortage of conflicts and emergencies. They are right in
our own backyards. And they are different from the conventional wars -- moreinsidious, more difficult to comprehend and more potential for damage if we are not
careful, if we do not fully understanding the origins, the process and the effort towards a
solution, of those conflicts. I refer to communal strife, religious-based attacks and, of
course, acts of terrorism. And given the humanitarian dimensions of conflict, of course,
I include in this portfolio of oversight, the impact of natural disasters of which I have
experienced quite a few since I began my task as editor in 2000.
I dont know whether I should consider myself to be fortunate or not, coming from a
country where everything seems to happen - least where conflicts and emergencies are
concerned -- man made conflicts and natural disasters. You name it we have them.
In just over a decade, we went through a war of independence in East Timor, deadly
communal strife between different ethnic groups in Kalimantan between the
indigenous Dayak tribal people and the migrants from Madura Island, between
Christians and Muslims in the spice island of Ambon, once known as Moluccas or
Maluku, or even between Muslims and the Ahmadiyah a sect considered by
conservatives to be deviant. Of course, I dont have to tell you of the prevailing threats
of terrorism, the Bali bombings and others.
And dont forget, Indonesia has all the natural disasters too the devastating tsunami
which killed more than 100,000 people in Aceh, the massive earthquakes in Sumatra and
Central Java and last years volcanic eruption whose ashes covered a whole village and
sent thousands of residents to emergency camps.
Now, as journalists, the question is did we -- do we -- do a good job in covering conflicts
and disasters? Critics will say no. They complain the general media exaggerate, blow
up the situation, focus only on headline grabbing features, show only the gory details and
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use inflammatory language, that we are biased that we dont cover both sides that we are
inconsiderate when we interview victims of disasters. The list is of grievances against
journalists is a long one. That bad journalism like in the case of the genocide inRwanda and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, as some have charged actually worsen
the situation. To many who are distrustful of the media, the media often becomes part of
the problem.
The biggest criticism to our coverage of conflicts and emergencies is that we are like
parachute journalists. In one day, look around, file your story, gone the next. Even local
journalists because the conflicts and disasters are often a distance away from where
mainstream journalists are based have been faulted for failing to do in-depth reporting
on conflicts. Journalists covering conflict have been criticized for not being factual, for
not being neutral, for reporting only for the moment at hand and not being holisticenough to get a comprehensive picture of the situation. Its not just what we write that
gets us into trouble, but what we dont put in print.
Are journalists violating ethical and professional standards when they report on conflicts
and emergencies?
As a practitioner, who has had my share of conflicts and emergencies, I admit at times to
be in a dilemma, to have to choose between humanity and professionalism especially
in emergencies and disasters. Should we have revealed the identity of victims before
notifying the families, should we respect privacy and let the interview go for another
time?
Good reporters on the ground will do their job professionally and following ethics they
have been taught: to be balanced and fair, to look at all sides and avoid advocacy. We
try our best, but there can be issues, one of the biggest being time. The word
DEADLINE looms large to every journalist. Getting the story on time, means
exclusivity, the biggest prize for a journalist. Often, in the interest of speed facts and
truth gets blurred. The tight competition between the media is often the reason why
reporters resort to shortcuts. It is also tight competition that compels sensationalheadlines and photographs of victims beyond decency and good taste, sometimes. At
times, in the race to get the best quote, not only is privacy forsaken, also confidentiality.
Often, when the reporter has no other choice but to go along with a military unit, or an
armed group or any party who will then pressure the reporter to look at their perspective
and not the reporters independent view. The biggest challenge is when the reporter is
part of the conflict whether its his or religious beliefs involved, How does one stay
detached? In some cases, the result can be tragic, in the communal strife in Ambon
between Christians and Muslims, the situation became so polarized that after stability
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was restored, there evolved a Muslim press separate from the Christian press. I
understand from the National Press Council, however, that efforts are being made to
break the barriers.
The question is whether the media is able to report independently on conflicts and
emergencies.
As a practitioner, I would say yes, we can.
The reporter goes out to the fields to do his job to report what he sees, getting accurate
information that can be accountable, getting the facts, the right information from a
multiple of sources mindful that some of the sources might exert pressure, have theirmanipulative slant, remembering to avoid propaganda, not report on second-hand
information he cannot back up and to avoid stereotyping.
Given the complexities of conflicts, editors should not expect his reporters to cover
everything. Good editors will usually make sure there is a back-up team of researchers
mapping the conflict/disasters being covered, seek confirmation or verification or denial
from official or other sources to balance reports from the reporter on the field.
Essentially, it is to present all sides of the story and allowing the audience to make up its
own mind. This is not that much different from good basic journalism.
Of course, the biggest challenge is faced by the electronic media, whose pictures are
more impactful than words. Particularly with the challenge of what is called citizens
journalism.
Now that handphones can record pictures, the new journalism can be anyone, and they
can be famous in You Tube. They have no editors, no censorship, no time limit.
Actually, they do us a great service in times when us journalists cannot be there, as
evident in the case of the monks uprising in Burma a few years ago, and most recently,
of course, in Libya, Syria and in the Middle during the Arab Spring.
Let me conclude by saying that the best policy for independent journalism, is always
preparedness. This means touching all bases, and most importantly, that is to maintain
networks, regular communication with the credible sources in the case of conflict and
violence it is with third-parties like the ICRC.
Covering conflicts and emergencies independently, just means good journalism.