Covering Elections in Indonesia

AIBD and Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) jointly organised a workshop on election coverage in the week leading up to the 10th Asia Media Summit. The AIBD/TVRI In-country Workshop on Election Coverage was held in Manado, Indonesia, from 25–27 May 2013. It was particularly helpful because, as Indonesia’s public service broadcaster, TVRI has to cover national, regional or city elections somewhere in the country several times every year.

AIBD and Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) jointly organised a workshop on election coverage in the week leading up to the 10th Asia Media Summit. The AIBD/TVRI In-country Workshop on Election Coverage was held in Manado, Indonesia, from 25–27 May 2013. It was particularly helpful because, as Indonesia’s public service broadcaster, TVRI has to cover national, regional or city elections somewhere in the country several times every year.

Dr H. Farhat Syukri, President Director of TVRI, and Mr. Yang Binyuan, Director of AIBD graced the opening ceremony of the workshop at TVRI’s regional station in Manado on 25 May. The Director-General of Information and Public Communication at Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), Mr Freddy Tulung, gave away the certificates at the end of the workshop on 27 May.

The workshop focused on improving election programming and laid particular emphasis on the media’s role in a democracy and how to achieve high quality coverage that encompasses the ideals of accuracy, fairness and balance. It was attended by 13 participants from TVRI’s regional stations in different parts of Indonesia. The participants all held substantive responsibility for election coverage, and many of them were heads of news or current affairs departments for TVRI stations.

The workshop was designed to ensure engagement and participation. Interactive scenarios were used to ensure deeper understanding of the issues. Practical exercises were undertaken by the participants, and they also made several presentations to the whole group on the codes of conduct and programming plans formulated by them.

The workshop was conducted by Mr. Savyasaachi Jain, an international media consultant and trainer. Following the workshop, the participants attending a one-day workshop on media ethics in the age of social media, before going on to attend the 10th Asia Media Summit.