Director General of Information and Public Communication at the Communication and Informatics Ministry Usman Kansong noted that the draft of publishers' rights had recently been completed and is currently in the process of submission to President Joko Widodo for seeking the initiative right.
"So we, the Communication and Informatics Ministry, are waiting for a response from the president. We have submitted this draft (to the president) and are waiting for his approval on the initiative right for journalistic copyrights," he noted during a seminar on Digital Disruption and Sustainable Media Ecosystem Restructuring on Tuesday.
In the event of it being approved, the ministry will follow up with an in-depth discussion on adopting the journalistic copyrights as regulation with relevant stakeholders.
Two main aspects will be covered in the regulation, with the first being cooperation among digital platforms, such as Google, Meta, Twitter, and the national mass media.
If the digital platforms are looking to use the content of media outlets, then they would have to forge partnerships with media companies through a negotiation process that would lead to an agreement equivalent to a Business-to-Business (B2B) contract, he stated.
The second aspect to the regulation pertains to a distinct agency that would function as an entity that will oversee, control, and mediate both parties, those being digital platforms and media outlets.
"This agency will function as a mediator, so that if there is a disagreement between the platform and the media outlet, then it can be resolved," he explained.
The ministry recommended for the Press Council to serve as the said agency, considering the fact that it had been overseeing, regulating, and controlling the national mass media since its inception.
Once the regulation of the publishers' rights is passed, the Press Council will function as mediator between the digital platforms and mass media in terms of media content utilization from a business perspective.
"I agree that this journalistic copyright regulation is needed. Therefore, there needs to be collaboration and cooperation between the media (mass media), so that they adopt one perspective on the journalistic copyrights. Thus, platforms will be properly regulated," he concluded.
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Translator: Livia K, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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