KPI Circular Letter as Influence Filtering for Broadcasting Media
By: Dede August *)
Jakarta, CIDISS – Who has not ever watch television? While, it may sound strange if there are still Indonesian who had never watched television. Even though there are some of our friends who live in the interior and never watch television, but it is almost certain that the majority of Indonesian would answer that they have ever watch television.
One benefits of watching television is that we will get the information from a variety of Indonesian and foreign sight displayed in audio visual. For example, some time ago, the Indonesian people can see the modern music culture of South Korea that we called K-Pop. However, due to lack of screening against broadcasting, K-Pop became a trend in Indonesia and lots of Indonesian teenagers who went along K-Pop style. Then, the presence of K-Pop successes to put aside the understanding of indigenous Indonesian culture among teenagers. It showed that in addition to providing a variety of information, content in the broadcast media can also affect a person’s culture and style.
A broadcast that is now considered to be alarming is the broadcast featuring the actors or artists who are not dressed according to gender. For example, a man who likes cultured and styled like a woman. This broadcast would also tend to increase the influence of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender (LGBT) behavioral phenomena which are reaping the pros and cons of community Indonesia. LGBT behavior in Indonesia is regarded as an aberration because it does not comply with the norms in force. However, there are some NGOs that supports the LGBT presence.
As one way to tackle these problems, on February 23, 2016 ago, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) published the Circular numbered K/KPI/02/2016 which forbade all over broadcasters, media images, sounds and graphics, featuring men dressed or behave like a lady. There are at least seven points were forbidden to broadcast, including a man with a feminine dress style; female make up; female body language, (including but not limited gait, style sitting, hand gestures, or other behaviors); stylish talk femininity; featuring justification or promotion of a man to behave femininity; featuring greeting to the man with the title that should be reserved for women; and displays typical terms and phrases that are often used among men femininity.
The Circular was basically a filter that aims to protect and direct the Indonesian people, especially children and adolescents from the negative influence of broadcast media. Moreover, today many parents who do not pay much attention to the consumption of broadcast received by their children so that they could be persuaded to follow the behavior of the LGBT. Therefore, with the Circular, the expected negative effects of the broadcast media will be reduced. As a result, the norms that had been firmly held by the people of Indonesia will remain intact. [DA]
*) CIDISS Contributor