My aspirations upon entering University the first time was to become a journalist. Spasmodic travelling put pay to that idea and I eventually ended up studying languages and cultural Anthropology. Although, even now, I still harbour thoughts of attaining a degree in Journalism.
Good journalism is hard to find these days as most write crap to appease their editors or suck the life out of somebody or what they are doing. There really are very few true journalists in the world. A lot of them are prone to receiving gifts for favours and especially in Asia but that's not to say it doesn't happen in the rest of the world also.
This is why Vice President Jusuf Kalla is supporting a campaign spearheaded by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) to ensure journalists reject gifts from their news sources.
AJI chairman Heru Hendratmoko said Kalla would order government officials not to give journalists money.
"The vice president will order all government officials to omit funds allocated specifically for journalists as gifts" said Heru after meeting with Kalla.
In a recent AJI survey, 68 percent of journalists said a gift or favour from a news source could influence their reporting in favour of the source.
The AJI campaign is failing to garner support from most journalists covering Kalla who argue receiving gifts from news sources is acceptable as long as there is no quid pro quo involved.
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