Jakarta, IO – The Communications and Information Ministry (Kominfo) estimates that this regulation will be completed next year, before the National Press Day on February 9, 2024.
Kominfo director general of information and public communication Kominfo Usman Kansong said the draft has been sent to the State Secretariat, per CNBC Indonesia, Tue (12/12).
“All that remains is for it to be signed,” he said. Kominfo admitted that they had involved relevant digital platforms in the drafting rule but admitted that it was impossible for a piece of regulation to satisfy all parties.
“Yes, there are those who agree and disagree. But do we all have to agree? Even in the media, there are those who don’t agree,” he said.
“But that’s not (the goal). Because regulations can’t possibly please all parties. That’s how it is. If we wait for everyone to agree, it will be dragged out. The important thing is that we have involved them in meaningful participation. We have heard their input and opinion. We have considered them. And we have explained to them,” explained Usman.
Jokowi first mentioned the need for the regulation in a speech commemorating National Press Day in February. At that time, he talked about the sustainability of the conventional media industry which is facing serious challenges.
The reason being around 60 percent of advertising spending goes to foreign platforms such as Google and Facebook. In fact, media companies play an important role in producing the content.
“Conventional media’s financial resources will diminish. The dominance of foreign platforms in taking our advertising spending has made it difficult for domestic media [to survive],” said Jokowi.
The Publishers’ Right rule is deemed capable of saving the media business. In general, it will require platforms such as Google and Facebook to provide monetary compensation to the media companies.
The reason being, Google and Facebook have so far only acted as news distributors. Without media companies that produces news content, they will not have no content to distribute to the public.
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Google has not responded to the plan. But previously the search engine giant proposed that an independent monitoring agency be established to formulate the regulation to ensure that there is a healthy discussion taking into account the interests of various parties.
“The goal is to protect journalists and the survival of domestic news agencies, as well as taking into account the digital reality of users in Indonesia and the global nature of technology,” Google said in its official statement in February. (rr)