Press Council Explores Director Of JAKTV News Spreads Narratives Against AGO Violating Code Of Ethics

Chairman of the Press Council, Ninik Rahayu (front right), together with the Head of the AGO, Harli Siregar (front left) gave a statement at the AGO's Main Building, Jakarta, Tuesday (22/4/2025). (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Press Council is investigating the alleged ethical violation of the Director of News (Dircem) of JAKTV Tian Bahtiar (TB) who is a suspect in the alleged obstruction of handling cases at the Attorney General's Office (AGO).

In the case of alleged obstruction to case handling, TS was named a suspect along with Marcella Santoso (MS) and Junaedi Saabih (JS) for spreading negative narratives through reports related to the handling of tin corruption cases, corruption in sugar importation, and corruption in the provision of export facilities for crude palm oil (CPO) in the AGO.

"We will collect the news that has been used, which according to the Prosecutor's Office was used to engineer malicious conspiracy," said Chairman of the Press Council Ninik Rahayu after an audience with Attorney General Sanitiar (ST) Burhanuddin at the AGO Main Building, Jakarta, Tuesday, April 22, which was confiscated by Antara.

The news, he said, would be assessed whether substantially or procedurally using the parameters of the journalistic code of ethics to ensure whether or not there was an ethical violation.

"We want to make sure first. So, in the context of the examination, we may call the parties later," he said.

Regarding the obstruction case of the investigation that ensnared TB, Ninik said that the institution he led respected the legal process carried out by the Attorney General's Office. He also conveyed this in an audience with the Attorney General.

"The Press Council certainly does not want to be an institution that is fussy about the legal process. However, it is related to the news, to assess whether a news paper is categorized as a journalistic work or not, this is the authority of ethics and the one conducting the assessment is the Press Council," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Legal Information Center (Kapuspenkum) of the AGO, Harli Siregar, said that the Adhyaksa Corps also respects the investigation process for alleged ethical violations that will be carried out by the Press Council.

Harli emphasized that the obstruction case of the investigation that ensnared TB was a personal act and did not represent the institution. He also ensured that the Prosecutor's Office was not an anti-criticism institution.

However, what the Prosecutor's Office is questioning is the existence of an evil consensus between suspects to spread a negative narrative that affects the case handling process.

"But what is being questioned is the criminal act of conspiracy between these parties so as to challenge the ongoing legal process," he said.

It is known, in the case of alleged obstruction to the investigation, the suspects MS and JS ordered the suspect TB to make negative news that cornered the Attorney General's Office.

The news is related to the process of handling the corruption case of tin commodity trading in the mining business permit (IUP) area of PT Timah Tbk. In 2015-2022, corruption in sugar importation activities on behalf of suspect Tom Lembong, and corruption cases in the provision of CPO export facilities.

Director of Investigation at the Jampidsus Attorney General's Office Abdul Qohar said that the suspect TB received a reward of Rp478,500,000.

The money, said Qohar, went into the suspect TB's personal pocket.

"The suspect TB then published it on social media, online media, and JAKTV News so that the Prosecutor's Office was considered negative," he said.

In addition to news, suspects JS and MS also finance demonstrations and seminars, podcasts, and talk shows that corner the Prosecutor's Office.

The three suspects were also subject to Article 21 of Law (UU) Number 31 of 1999 as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code.