• Home
  • Cyber ​​Media Guidelines

Cyber ​​Media Guidelines

Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines

Freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press are human rights protected by Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The existence of cyber media in Indonesia is also part of freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press.

Cyber media has a special character that requires guidelines so that its management can be carried out professionally, fulfilling its functions, rights, and obligations in accordance with Law Number 40 of 1999 concerning the Press and the Journalistic Code of Ethics. For this reason, the Press Council, together with press organizations, cyber media managers, and the community, has prepared the Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines as follows:

  1. Scope

    Cyber Media is all forms of media that use the Internet as a medium and carry out journalistic activities, and meet the requirements of the Press Law and Press Company Standards set by the Press Council.

    User Generated Content (UGC) is any content created and/or published by cyber media users, including articles, images, comments, audio, video, and various forms of uploads attached to cyber media, such as blogs, forums, reader or viewer comments, and other forms.

  2. News Verification and Balance

    • In principle, every news item must be verified.
    • News that can harm other parties requires verification of the same news to meet the principles of accuracy and balance.
    • The provisions in the first sub-item of this section (regarding mandatory verification) are excluded, provided that:
      1. The news truly contains urgent public interest;
      2. The first news source is a source whose identity is clearly stated, credible, and competent;
      3. The subject of the news that must be confirmed is unknown and/or cannot be interviewed;
      4. The media provides an explanation to the reader that the news still requires further verification which is attempted as soon as possible. The explanation is included at the end of the same news, in brackets and using italics.
    • After publishing news under the conditions outlined in the third sub-item of the exclusion clause above (detailing when prior verification is not needed), the media must continue the verification effort. After verification is obtained, the verification results are included in the updated news with a link to the unverified news.

  3. User Generated Content (UGC)

    • Cyber media must include terms and conditions regarding User Generated Content that do not conflict with Law No. 40 of 1999 concerning the Press and the Journalistic Code of Ethics. These terms and conditions must be placed clearly and visibly.
    • Cyber media requires every user to register for membership and log in first to be able to publish all forms of User Generated Content. Provisions regarding log-in will be regulated further.
    • In the registration process, cyber media requires users to give written consent that the User-Generated Content they publish:
      • Does not contain lies, slander, sadism, and obscenity;
      • Does not contain content that includes prejudice and hatred related to ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations (SARA), and does not encourage acts of violence;
      • Does not contain discriminatory content based on differences in gender and language, and does not degrade the dignity of the weak, poor, sick, mentally disabled, or physically disabled.
    • Cyber media has absolute authority to edit or delete User-Generated Content that violates the content restrictions detailed in the user consent requirements above. Cyber media must provide a complaint mechanism for User-Generated Content that is deemed to violate these provisions. This mechanism must be provided in a place that is easily accessible to users.
    • Cyber media must edit, delete, and take corrective action for any User-Generated Content that is reported and violates the aforementioned content restrictions, as soon as possible and proportionally, no later than 2 x 24 hours after the complaint is received.
    • Cyber media that have fulfilled the provisions regarding (i) the inclusion of terms and conditions for UGC, (ii) user registration requirements, (iii) obtaining user consent for published content, and (iv) the timely corrective actions for reported content, are not burdened with responsibility for problems caused by the publication of content that violates the stated content restrictions.
    • Cyber media are responsible for User-Generated Content that is reported if they do not take corrective action after the time limit as stated in the corrective action requirement (i.e., within 2 x 24 hours).

  4. Errata, Corrections, and the Right of Reply

    • Errata, corrections, and the right of reply refer to the Press Law, the Journalistic Code of Ethics, and the Right of Reply Guidelines set by the Press Council.
    • Errata, corrections, and/or the right of reply must be linked to the news that is being rectified, corrected, or given the right of reply.
    • In every news item of errata, corrections, and the right of reply, the time of publication of the errata, correction, and/or the right of reply must be stated.
    • If a particular cyber media news item is disseminated by another cyber media, then:
      1. The responsibility of the cyber media that creates the news is limited to the news published in that cyber media or cyber media under its technical authority;
      2. Corrections to news made by one cyber media must also be made by other cyber media that quote news from the corrected cyber media;
      3. Media that disseminates news from a cyber media and does not make corrections to the news as made by the cyber media owner and/or creator of the news, is fully responsible for all legal consequences of the uncorrected news.
    • In accordance with the Press Law, cyber media that do not serve the right of reply can be subject to criminal sanctions in the form of a maximum fine of IDR 500,000,000 (five hundred million rupiah).

  5. News Revocation

    • News that has been published cannot be revoked for reasons of censorship from parties outside the editorial team, except regarding issues of SARA (Ethnicity, Religion, Race, and Inter-group issues), morality, the future of children, traumatic experiences of victims, or based on other special considerations determined by the Press Council.
    • Other cyber media are required to follow the revocation of news quotes from the original media whose news has been revoked.
    • News revocation must be accompanied by the reasons for the revocation and announced to the public.

  6. Advertisement

    • Cyber media must clearly distinguish between news products and advertisements.
    • Every news item, article, or piece of content that is an advertisement and/or paid content must include a description such as "advertorial," "advertisement," "ads," "sponsored," or other similar words that clarify that the news/article/content is an advertisement.

  7. Copyright

    Cyber media must respect copyright as regulated in applicable laws and regulations.

  8. Inclusion of Guidelines

    Cyber media must include these Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines in their media in a clear and transparent manner.

  9. Disputes

    The final assessment of disputes regarding the implementation of these Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines is resolved by the Press Council.

Jakarta, February 3, 2012

(These Guidelines were signed by the Press Council and the press community in Jakarta, February 3, 2012).