From Paragraphs to Prison: Criminalization Against the Democracy of Journalism in Indonesia

Abstract

The issue of criminalization against journalists in Indonesia has become an issue, so this study aims to portray that the issue of criminalization affects journalism in Indonesia. This research tries to capture a picture of what kind of criminalization of journalists in Indonesia and reveals why these journalists were treated that way. The role of laws and regulations concerning the multi-interpretative press in Indonesia is crucial in this issue. This research used a cultural studies approach regarding mass media theory, especially democracy in the press world. In this case, the journalist's freedom and awareness in reporting something should be guarded with the journalistic ethics that synergize with the law of press in Indonesia. Qualitative data collection and descriptive analysis will be used in this research. The data collection includes a research library on historical documents written in books, articles, and personal journals of an Indonesian journalist and case data from journalist associations in Indonesia. One of the cases that became the focus of the research is a murdered journalist in 1996 named Udin that is still unclear till today and to support it. This research also provides the data of the journalists arrested, in order to become a background case of the short story titled “From Paragraph to Prison” that tells about a journalist named Amri who is criminalized after writing a news about an irregularities in a murder case solving.