For all those hypersensitive folk out there, this is not a personal attack on any one publication or editor or publisher in Bali. It is about editorial integrity versus advertorial avarice. The latter being the rule rather than the exception.
What is the responsibility of a publication to its readers?
This question was posed to me sometime ago at a dinner with friends by an inebriated lady who loudly proclaimed that most publications (glossies in particular) in Bali pandered to advertisers by succumbing to the lowest form of journalism; publishing blatant advertorials poorly disguised as editorials.
“They endorse products, services and the hospitality business in connivance with their advertisers. This they do to gain revenue to pay the wages of their staff and to make a profit. The publications institute awards for excellence in various fields presenting them to their ‘own’ writers, clients and people not associated with competitors’ rags. The whole thing is one big incestuous affair”, she said.
A week following the dinner with this immensely forgettable woman, I received a mail from a reader whose message mirrored her point of view. So taking the cue, I surveyed the market and collected a number of brightly printed sleek publications, each jostling for space on restaurant counters, hotel lobbies, warungs, bookshops, supermarkets etc. They resembled a bouquet of flowers presented to tickle the senses of those most likely to use the various products on offer from a bowl of pasta to a villa.
The editorial content centered on hotels, restaurants, villas and social gatherings in Bali with ‘photoshoped’ recycled images, most far removed from reality. The ‘informative’ articles were written by self proclaimed scribes, many of whom at best could be termed, in a charitable way of course, merchandisers. Two well known magazines had ‘pretty’ pictures of nubile nymphets and copy so lightly written that they (the articles) could barely be passed off as hors d’oeuvres.
Wouldn’t it be edifying to run a regular column by the inimitable Julia Suryakusuma whose utterances in The Jakarta Post lays bare the hypocrisy of a social set up? Or, to translate the works of struggling Balinese writers and poets into English so that they can be read by the foreign bourgeois class and their limpets that nest on the isle?
Editorial content reflects the integrity of a publication. The world over advertorials have been used successfully to ply brands and promote issues for one reason or another. However, in most cases it has been observed that when advertorials have been published the editorial staff has ensured that the word advertorial is printed under the article. Of course, there have been transgressions by well known international publications. But these are few and far between unlike their counter parts in Bali; the glossies here have over 90% advertorial content.
It has been overhead that these publications exist solely for promoting business in all its avatars. If this is true then why aren’t the editors ensuring that this is clearly presented to the unsuspecting reader instead of pathetically camouflaging this with poorly written copy. They are not only misleading a reader but also doing a disservice to their clients/advertisers.
Sometime ago I attended the launch of a Dining Guide published by one of the glossies. It covered the ‘dining diaspora’ of the island. At the ceremony, some well known restaurateurs spoke eloquently about their business and extolled the virtues of the guide. However, one essential ingredient was missing – the grading of the outlets based on unbiased food reviews. The indignation that was voiced when I had the temerity to ask this question was puzzling. So how would a first time discerning tourist from the blue yonder know which restaurant is of an acceptable international level etc.? This Dining Guide should be called a Dining Directory not Guide!
Flip through the pages of the glossies and read the food reviews and then ask the question: How can an objective food review be written if the reviewer is being paid in the food that one is eating? Editorial integrity is at stake here.
An honest and realistic mutual survival link between the print media, industry and government is vital for the protection of the fragile culture that breeds on the isle of Bali. Therefore, editorial integrity for sale should not be the preferred path for this would distort the readers’ perceptions and further intrinsically corrupt a vibrant society.
So listen up folks…gird up your loins…sit on your haunches and sink your fingers into the earth. Feel the truth among the critters that co-exist in it and understand that you have a responsibility to the people of Bali.
Then, act on it.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om
