PROFAUNA and Journalism Dept. of Padjadjaran University Propose for More Animal-friendly TV Programs

Protection of Froest & Fauna (PROFAUNA) Indonesia and representatives from the Journalism Department of Padjadjaran University (UNPAD), Bandung, visited the headquarters of the Indonesian Broadcasting Committee (Komisi Penyiaran Indonesia/KPI) Jakarta (12/1/2015).

KPI pusat menerima surat rekomendasi PROFAUNA The guests from PROFAUNA and UNPAD were attended directly by the commissioner of KPI's Broadcast Content Divison, Sujarwanto Rahmat Arifin at KPI's Meeting Room. Rahmat explained that currently KPI has been conducting studies in order to revise the Guidelines of Broadcasting Conduct and Broadcast Program Standards.

 "We also receive many suggestions from different institutions related to broadcasting, which we will consider in revising our national guidelines. The new guidelines will be authorized at the National Coordination Meeting this April," said Rahmat while asking for elaboration on PROFAUNA's recommendations.

PROFAUNA's chairman, Rosek Nursahid, said that the recommendations came from the concern towards our degrading environment. The general public needs to be educated about the importance of wildlife protection, as a part of the general environmental conservation. "TV programs should be a means of education and awareness building related to environmental conservation," added Rosek.

Herlina Agustin, a representatives from UNPAD who also attended the meeting, pointed out that the concept of animal use in TV shows must include animal welfare as a basis. The TV show producers must make sure that the animals are free from hunger and thirst, free from inconvenience, free from illness and diseases, free to express its natural behavior, and also free from distress.

From her observation together with PROFAUNA, Herlina sees that many TV programs that violates those animal welfare values. This happens in both programs that employ animals to perform on stage and also programs that air information about animals. She gave an example of a recent live show where a protected animal was forced to perform.

 "From the example, it is apparent that the animals were taken out from their natural habitat. The worse thing is taht the animals were involved in direct contact with the presenters. That could be dangerous, as many viewers could immitate such treatment," asserted Herlina.

She then broke down on the other examples of such abominable TV programs, that she found during her and PROFAUNA's observation. Their recommendation for KPI should not be a mere prohibitions.

 "We do not want this to be an impetuous action. We would be very glad if there is a TV program that aims to educate the viewers accordingly. With this recommendation, we hope that in there future there will be a protocol that regulates our fellow TV stations in producing animal-related programs," said her.

In response to Herlina's statements, Rahmat thanked PROFAUNA and UNPAD for the recommendation. KPI will surely consider it when they review their guidelines later this year.

The meeting was concluded by a handover of the recommendation document by Rosek Nursahid to Sujarwanto Rahmat Arifin.

Source: http://www.kpi.go.id

 

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ProFauna Indonesia is an Indonesian society for the protection of
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