Old Tricks in a New Era: Self-Censorship in Indonesian Journalism

Date

2012

Authors

Tapsell, Ross

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Carfax Publishing, Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract

Even though Indonesia has entered a new era of democracy and press freedom, self-censorship still exists in the professional practice of many Indonesian newspaper journalists. Indonesia has a long history of censorship, particularly pressure from the government encouraging journalists to self-censor their work. As such, self-censorship has been encouraged and promoted through the institutionalised and internalised values of many Indonesian newspaper publications. Through interviews with journalists who work for new and reestablished newspapers in Indonesia, this article will explain how the practice has evolved, and how it persists today. While the main agent of pressure during Indonesia's New Order regime was the government, today the owners of newspapers are powerful figures who exert their influence and hinder the autonomy of Indonesian journalists.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: Censorship; Democracy; Indonesia; Journalism; Media ownership; New Order government; Newspapers; Press freedom

Citation

Source

Asian Studies Review

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

Restricted until

2037-12-31