"In cases concerned, the identities of all people closely related to victims must be kept secret. However, the media often violate the rule," Chief of the Indonesian Female Journalists Forum (FJP) Uni Lubis stated while giving a journalistic course here on Saturday.
In many cases, media businesses compete with one another to write stories by interviewing people close to victims and even their families to make their stories more exclusive and get many views, she noted.
Most of the people interviewed are laymen who do not realize the consequence of what they had done. By disclosing the identities of the victims, their future could be tarnished, she remarked.
"It is the journalists who know the rule, and they must limit their stories in accordance with the journalistic code of ethics," he added.
However, many journalists ignore the code of ethics on the pretext of being left by their competitors if they do not do the same, she revealed.
"As journalists, we must be consistent with the journalistic code of ethics as the main guidance. It does not matter if the number of viewers is two or three hundred lower than that of competitors," she explained.
Reporting by Miko Elfisha, Suharto
Editing by Suharto
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Yosep Hariyadi
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
