The text below is a slightly edited version of the author’s remarks to the M20 Media Freedom Summit held online in Delhi on September 6, 2023 by the M20 Organising Committee, which comprises 11 editors from India and a former judge of the Supreme Court.
It is an honour and a privilege for me to speak on behalf of Indonesian media in this forum.
I immediately agreed to speak on this forum when the Indian M20 Organising Committee invited me a few weeks ago, not only because I wish I had had the same idea when Indonesia was the chair of G20 last year, but because I believe we need this kind of exchange in this very critical moment for news publishers and independent media all over the world.
We need this kind of conversation to ensure we are on the same frequency in identifying the most challenging threats to journalism and learn from each other on what is the best strategy to address those threats.
All of the previous speakers have talked about how the news media ecosystem is facing great challenges from many fronts; our audience is changing, our distribution platform is changing, the workflow in our newsroom changes, but the principle of journalism to serve the public interest has to stay the same.
For some time, we have talked about the rise of misinformation and disinformation that found a fertile ground on social networks. Now, most of us talk about how AI will change our audience behaviour and prevent users from visiting news websites.
Therefore, our utmost priority is to find a new way to engage our audience and make sure this latest technology helps the public to understand the realities around us, instead of bringing harm to everyone.
Also read: Why M20? To Remind G20 Leaders That the World’s Problems Can’t Be Solved Without Media Freedom
I believe the role of journalism is really crucial no matter how technology changes and modifies our information ecosystem. Even the most sophisticated AI still needs data from journalists and news publishers, to be able to operate by learning the ever evolving events that happen around us every day.
However, the biggest question for us now is how to make sure journalism has a sustainable business model in this digital landscape.
In Indonesia, many independent media face attacks – DDOS or digital flooding attacks that increase the cost of their servers – if they publish critical news or expose the wrongdoings or scandals of the elite and powerful.
Commercially, publishers are also struggling, because many are not equipped to operate in a digital landscape. Many news publishers are forced to trim their sails by their own advertisers, preventing them from reporting critically on the government who are their main clients – and source of advertising revenue. If they dare to expose wrongdoing, they will lose their advertising contract.
This is a new kind of censorship in the digital age. By increasing the cost of news production via flooding bad traffic to independent websites and forcing them to pay for higher server cost, and by silencing critical news media with advertising that is tied to the obligation to not criticise their clients, independent publishers are forced to do self-censorship.
This is very dangerous to our own existence. Because if we choose to follow these new rules of the game, we will lose the trust from our own audience and we will lose our relevance to the public. We are killing ourselves and we cannot allow that to happen.
Therefore, we need to make sure our information ecosystem gives incentives to independent news publishers. Big tech that operates different platforms and tools that act as intermediaries for news, have to share their revenue with independent news media publishers.
Since February this year, in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo has been preparing a new regulation that will open the door for direct negotiation between publishers and platforms to discuss fair compensation. This is something that we need to welcome and share with other countries.
Ensuring independent media is sustainable is really important for us, especially now. Indonesians are today gearing up towards our presidential and legislative elections in February 2024. And just like in every democratic country, it is the time for the news media to perform its civic duty – informing the citizens about the candidates and their vision for the country.
However, without a sustainable business model, we will not have independent media. And without independent media, we will not be able to serve the public, to make sure everyone exercises their political rights democratically.
Wahyu Dhyatmika is CEO PT Info Media Digital (Tempo Digital) and Chairman of the Indonesian Cyber Media Association (AMSI)