JAKARTA : The Alliance of Independent Journalists, AJI, has said it regrets the government's role in the cancellation of an investigative report titled Sex Business Behind Prison Bars, which was to be aired on a local TV station Wednesday.
The report, which was part of the SCTV's news program Sigi Liputan 6, was scheduled to air on Wednesday Oct. 13 at 11 p.m., but according to the AJI, SCTV's management canceled the show in compliance with a request from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.
"This is a gross violation of the journalistic code of ethics because the management and the government's interference has desecrated the sanctity of an editorial room," the AJI's advocacy division coordinator, Aditya Hery Wardhana, said Thursday.
The AJI said SCTV's editorial department had spent a long time on the report, which showed that sex was being exploited as a commodity in the country's prisons.
The AJI said the ministry had refused to comment on the program.
The alliance also reported that one of the SCTV's producers had tried to interview officials from the ministry, who then demanded to see the footage.
SCTV refused the officials' request for fear of censorship.
On Wednesday, the producers insisted on airing the program despite a request from the ministry to postpone it. But the Sigi Liputan 6 editorial team was forced to drop the feature after management stepped in and ordered them to cancel the show, the AJI said.
Meanwhile, Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said the ministry had never called or asked SCTV to cancel the program.
"This is an insult. There is no way that I can interfere with the news in the media," Patrialis said. - The Jakarta Post/Pacific Media Watch