Experience to Covering Investigation Reporting |
In November 2004 a go, I did a cover story about the illegal fees collected along Medan - Banda Aceh road. This coverage is funded by Kippas Foundation (Medan) in collaboration with the Tifa Foundation.
The drivers of freight and passengers, screaming at the cost of the stealth they had to spend along the way. The amount of fees they spend varies, depending on the goods carried and the behavior of the police in each post. Beatings are often accepted by the driver if they refuse.
This covering experience was then presented to journalists in Medan (North Sumatra) and attended by Sherry Ricchiardi, Ph.D. He is a senior writer for the American Journalist Review (AJR), specializing in international issues and professor emeritus in journalism at Indiana University.
In addition to Indonesia, Ricchiardi has conducted media training in developing countries worldwide for the International Journalist Center and as part of a US State Department speaker program.
Before entering the media development, she spent 14 years at the Des Moines Register as an investigative reporter and magazine writer of the week. She later became city editor for Columbia Missourian magazine, a newspaper produced at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, her almamater. In 2003 and 2009, Sherry won the National Press Club's highest award for press criticism over a story published in AJR.
ILLEGAL CHARGES (pungli in Bahasa) on freight, especially goods, has a wide impact for the economy in Aceh. Occurred a domino effect that ultimately harm the small community. The freight forwarders do not want to lose this action so they raise the freight. Then, traders also do not want to lose and choose to raise the price of goods. For transport and food, inflation in Aceh is usually well above the national average of inflation.
A rebuttal from a police officer in Aceh is often conveyed to journalists upon confirmation. For that, it takes concrete evidence in delivering the news about illegal fees. Do not just write a driver complaint, then make confirmation to the relevant officials.
Some are interesting, illegal charges was almost nothing when it rained along the way. So this becomes the starting point for coverage. I traveled from Lhokseumawe - Medan and witnessed directly how the illegal levies were made by police who were generally non-organic Brimob. At a post in Aceh Timur, a truck driver was asked what he was carrying. When it got the answer, palm oil, the policeman asked for Rp100,000.
The driver said he did not have that kind of money. Instead of "making peace" with the amount, the police even raised the levy to Rp200,000. Each driver complaint was greeted with an increase in levies until it finally became Rp500,000. Finally, the driver was instructed to park the truck and make the requested sums.
Time and cost
The first trip, unfortunately, there was no rain down all the way although the weather in Lhokseumawe initially looked cloudy. Likewise with the return journey from Medan - Lhokseumawe. So, it takes an additional trip to prove that pungli does not happen when it rains. Finally, in the second journey from Lhokseumawe - Medan, it is proven that illegal charges is not available when it rains. Police officers just stay at his post a little way from the highway. In areas of conflict, the post is not built too close to the highway to avoid grenade throwing and offenders easily.
This coverage takes a long time and costs higher than making news straight news. It is not enough to just interview the driver and then confirm to the police officer, but it needs observation. Looking directly at the systemic patterns of illegal levies and how some drivers build networks with illegal perpetrators. From several trips, it appears that the levy was sometimes carried out by a number of small children on police orders.
Confirmed
Another obstacle to the coverage is the difficulty of obtaining confirmation from the police in the field. It is impossible to interview perpetrators in the field if they do not want to be stretched. Finally, to make the news so cover both side, interviewed by police officers in Polda (Regional Police) who more rebutted than information.
Anonymous sources
The victim drivers generally refused to be named in the news. There is even a driver who requested the color of his car paint was not written, let alone the license plate number.
This is understandable for security reasons. But because so many restrictions must be obeyed, the report can be considered a not clear, the source is not strong and doubt the truth of the information it provides. There is a belief, the more courage a source shows her identity, the more responsible she is for the information she gives.
The use of anonymous sources in the coverage of these illegal fees is inevitable. No one driver wants his name written, not even for a nickname!
