The broadcasting industry still makes rating as its benchmark in creating content. We should move forward to seeing further away from ratings,
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kominfo) has urged media outlets and broadcasters in Indonesia to pay more serious attention to the reliability of their contents instead of just ratings.

To this end, Communication and Informatics Minister Johnny G. Plate appeals to media actors in the country to keep improving their practices of journalism by providing reliable content.

As disclosed in a press statement that ANTARA received here Sunday, Plate highlighted the importance of serving the public with informative content that would bolster Indonesia's cultural values.

He shared his perspectives at a webinar during which he reminded the media actors of the duties of media to not only inform, educate, and entertain the public but also to help promote the nation's culture.

"This important role should become a guideline for all media people in carrying out their commercial activities, in selecting content, and in protecting content producers," he elaborated.

Broadcasting management was stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2002 on Broadcasting that had been amended to be Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation of the Post, Telecommunication, and Broadcasting Sub-sector.

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The law stipulates that broadcasters are defined as mass media that act as a source of information, education, healthy entertainment, as well as social control, and cohesion.

"The broadcasting industry still makes rating as its benchmark in creating content. We should move forward to seeing further away from ratings," Plate said.

The contents of broadcasters should have provided educative entertainment, and if so, those media actors have played an important role in proliferating reliable content, he noted.

Currently, the rapid development of digital technology has dragged old and new media into fierce competition partly due to the presence of over-the-top platforms, he argued.

An easiness that the OTT platforms offer has challenged conventional media to enable them to maintain their existence, relevance, and reliable content, Plate said.

"The OTT platforms have become a game-changer and momentum for our conventional media to keep evaluating the quality and variety of content products offered to the public at large," he argued.

In this regard, the government is ready to collaborate with important media players in Indonesia by providing them with policies that could drive the development of Indonesia's media and TV industry.

The government is also ready to work with related stakeholders by presenting media management in an endeavor to increase the contribution of the economic sector in facing the OTT platforms, he stated.

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Translator: Natisha A, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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