The history of
journalism, or
the development of the gathering and transmitting of news spans the growth of technology and
trade, marked by the advent of specialized techniques for gathering and
disseminating information on a regular basis that has caused, as one history of
journalism surmises, the steady increase of "the scope of news available
to us and the speed with which it is transmitted."
Journalism and the printing press
The invention of the movable type printing
press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1456, led to the wide dissemination of printed books. The
first printed periodical was Mercurius Gallobelgicus; written in Latin, it appeared in 1594 in Cologne, and was distributed widely, even finding its way to readers
in England.
This fact about journalism
history does not have to be understood historically. It is plain enough in our
own era. In what country today do the media evolve in isolation?
The United States may
currently be the major source of forms of communication that wander across
borders. However, the United States is certainly not immune to having its own
borders transgressed. People – Rupert Murdoch and Tina Brown are examples –
have brought strategies here from elsewhere. Corporations – Bertelsmann,
Murdoch’s News Corporation – have made significant incursions. Ideas are
borrowed from foreign publications, foreign television shows, foreign Web
sites. Would, to pick a notable example, NPR be possible without the BBC or
CBC?
Ideally, western
journalists would be impartial or having non-partisan position. They are
reporting and presenting factual news without taking any sides.
While in Indonesia,
journalists had gone through some stages. In the 50s-80s, they were politically
involved, aligned with certain political parties. They were called activist
journalist. In 80s-90s, they were more into business and economic system, and
news media was seen as business organization. In 2000s, activist journalists
are back, and they are adopting western standard.
New Order
The Indonesian Press has
been very closely linked with the political situation and power at the time,
ever since the nation’s declaration of independence through the radio by
Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta in 1945, who became the nation’s first President and
Vice-President respectively. The following year the nation’s journalistic
agency, PWI, was born. The PWI’s main goal is to address the problem of
political bias and provide norms and guidance for professional journalistic
practices. However, in the 1950’s most newspaper could be directly or
indirectly classified as mouthpiece to various political and ideological
parties. To counter this, President Sukarno then abandoned the liberal western
democracy and adopted the guided democracy system and demanded PWI and the
press to act under government direction and to promote Indonesian ‘values’ and
the Pancasila ideology. Various government regulations were issued to eliminate
opposition and to instruct journalists to support Sukarno’s political
manifesto.
Post New Order
After the collapse of the
New Order regime, the political situation is much more hectic, with many
differing political parties vying for power and influence. The Indonesian Press
community, especially PWI, is also busy to adapt with the newly received
freedom and to re-establish its image as an agent of change for the society
instead of as an agent of stability for the government. In October 1998, PWI
elected new executive and senior editors to try to separate itself from the New
Order image. Different ideologies started to emerge and voicing their values
through any media publications willing. Rules and regulations on media
journalistic industry were reviewed, and AJI was officiated. Private tv
channels are now more transparent, not controlled by Soeharto’s family anymore
and media licensing to set up and publish newspaper, radio station and tv
station is more public.
Because of these changes,
though government is more lenient, it is now the community groups (religious
group, ethnicity group etc) that have the voice. Self-censorship comes from
these particular groups.
References : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_journalism
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/International%20History%20page.htm
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