INDONESIA: Megawati campaign team to sue TV stations for discrimination

Presidential candidate's campaign team alleges TV stations broke broadcasting law by refusing to air its advertisements

The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, June 16, 2009

By Dicky Christanto

The campaign team of presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto is considering a lawsuit against several TV channels for refusing to broadcast its media campaign.

A lawyer for the team, Mahendradatta, said Tuesday the TV stations had discriminated against the presidential ticket and breached the broadcasting law.

"Their refusal is not based on a ban by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission. It was the work of an 'invisible hand'," Mahendradatta said.

Only Metro TV and Indosiar are airing the advertisements, which criticize the government for spiraling of food prices, the increasing unemployment rate since 2004 and the difficulty facing people to meet their basic needs. There are 11 stations operating nationwide in the country.

Mahendradatta said the ads material had passed a screening by the Film Censor Institute (LSF).

Date Posted: 6/16/2009