Indonesia seeks stronger protection for media industry

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid has called for stronger protection for the national press industry through policy measures and cross-media collaboration to safeguard quality journalism amid the dominance of digital platforms.

Meutya affirmed the government is working to uphold the implementation of Presidential Regulation No. 32 of 2024 on the Responsibilities of Digital Platform Companies to Support Quality Journalism, also known as the Publisher Rights regulation, as a key instrument to protect the press ecosystem.

"Even amid requests from countries close to us questioning why this regulation is still in place when they don't have one yet, to this day, we are still enforcing it," she said at the launch of news outlet Swara Indonesia Raya in Jakarta on Friday.

In addition to upholding the regulation, the government is also pushing for legislative deliberations in the House of Representatives (DPR) on policies governing major tech companies.

According to Meutya, the effort faces hurdles due to pushback from global tech giants.

"After just one or two meetings, big tech companies, the world's major corporations, are indeed pushing back. But we must continue our efforts to protect our information ecosystem, including the media and journalism," she said.

The minister noted that strengthening the press ecosystem is essential to ensure newsrooms retain editorial control over the information delivered to the public, rather than relying entirely on the algorithms of global tech companies.

According to her, information distribution algorithms should take into account the public interest, humanitarian values, local culture, and national laws.

She added that artificial intelligence systems are not yet fully capable of replacing human judgment in assessing the societal impact of news coverage.

While highlighting the shift in public information consumption patterns toward social media, she reassured that this trend does not mean conventional media, including print outlets, have lost their opportunities to grow.

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Translator: Devi Nindy, Raka Adji
Editor: Bayu Prasetyo
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