Two TV programs that never allowed being on in my living room are Indonesian sinetron (soap opera) and infotainment. Webster’s Dictionary defines infotainment as “a television program that presents information (as news) in a manner intended to be entertaining”, while The Oxford Dictionary similarly says “broadcast material which is intended both to entertain and to inform.”To entertain and to inform, this is the key phrase. Unfortunately, Indonesian infotainment today has gone too far. It does not just intend to inform people about (mainly) celebrities on positive sides (which offers benefits to the public), but has become amateur detective industry, which investigates and intrudes deeply into personal life. They have treated the celebrities unproportionally and do not respect the privacy, even impudently annoying relatives or families who have nothing to do with their “story”. The worst thing is that most cases that infotainment exposes and blatantly airs through television is not far from awkward personalities, sexual affairs, love triangles, divorce or some other rubbish from which we actually take no benefit at all.
If we know an actress does have affairs with an actor, so what? If we know an actor divorced with his wife, so what? If an actress or actor feels like being intimate and walks closely with someone, so what? What is the benefit of knowing other people’s personal lives? We may complain about infotainment but unfortunately there are some actresses and actors who too love being headline infotainment news.
These days we have the hot issue of actress Luna Maya. She was reported to police by infotainment journalists (backed by PWI — Indonesian Journalist Association) who felt offended by her twitter comments, which said infotainment journalists are worse than prostitutes and murderers.
Luna became infuriated with the journalists when she was hounded during a trip to the mall with Peterpan band front man Ariel and his daughter. When Luna was surrounded by the journalists, Ariel’s daughter’s head was accidentally knocked by a journalist’s camera causing the child to cry out. That incident was the reason for the “tweets” that day. However, infotainment media has repeatedly exposed intimacy between Luna and Ariel, and even published several gossip related pieces related to them.
Luna is lucky because this time she is not alone. She has support from the Press Council, Independent Journalist Alliance (AJI), a group of journalists who lambasted the infotainment program, and also the support of the public. Public support today is considered to be a frightening voice. No one should belittle the public’s power, it has proven itself a very important tool in winning battles. We should remember the publics support for the KPK deputies Bibit & Chandra and for Prita Mulyasari against Omni international hospital, Tangerang.
The Muslim community has also reacted to the case. Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Hasyim Muzadi declared infotainment programs haram (forbidden under Islamic law) because they contain gossip, character assassinations and relishes in family breakups. The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) also echoed the same voice, so did the Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali who asked the infotainment to be discontinued.
The stance of both NU and MUI is good for society but it seems to be a little too late. The decision should have been made a long time before infotainment became a daily staple in our family rooms. We actually have so many other hazardous programs in television which have no educational value. Programs which contain magic, superstitions, sadism, tacky teenager dating shows and a bunch of sinetron that show a lifestyle full of absurdities have to be reviewed and kicked off our televisions.
Who should be responsible for this? We don’t see any real actions taken by Information and Communications Minister so far. Is the only dangerous thing for our society pornography?
We surely have concerns about television programs since television is the easiest, cheapest and most pervasive media that can reach our families and children in our homes. Most parents cannot control every minute of what their children are watching on television, can they? If we let such programs air on our TVs it is the same as letting rubbish scatter across and pollute our homes. Such dirty “pollution of the mind” is more dangerous than physical rubbish, because it contaminates our mind, our children’s minds, and ultimately damages our nation’s mind.
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Serpong, 27 Dec 2009
Titus J.
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