The Jakarta Post, Saturday, February 11, 2006
There are many ways teachers can get an auditorium full of high school students to sit up and pay attention.
Showing teenagers shooting up or making out, or scenes of abortion, suicide and murder is sure to do the trick — even if the scenes are taken from the television drama Akibat Pergaulan Bebas (Result of promiscuity).
One of SCTV’s highest rated dramas, Akibat airs Saturdays at 9 p.m.
“It’s true that some high school students indulge in these kinds of activities, but they’re not as common as TV dramas suggest,” 17-year-old Diah Wahyu Larasati told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Diah’s school, State High School (SMU) No. 1 in Central Jakarta, is one of five state high schools visited by communications students from the University of Indonesia’s School of Social and Political Sciences as part of their campaign to increase the media literacy of teenagers.
“I don’t like watching TV dramas, but other people like them, even when they know the stories are outrageous,” another student, Fedy Satriawan, said.
Storylines that shock seem to be the norm for local TV dramas these days, with typical showings of occultism, promiscuity and, invariably, death.
“Negative things like that are popular on TV because they’re the easiest way to catch people’s attention. If there’s an accident on the street, for example, you can bet that people will gather out of curiosity,” local actor David Alexandre, who was a guest speaker at the school, said.
“Esthetically pleasing movies also draw crowds, if only producers would take the trouble to make them. But no, sensational stories are easiest to do, so that’s what they produce in abundance,” the 20-year-old said.
It takes only a hint of sex or violence for channel surfers to go easy on the remote; and more of the same keeps them coming back.
Unfortunately, once a station hits on a recipe for high ratings, other stations follow suit. There is little room for originality.
“On the other hand, TV stations are beholden to advertisers who want prime-time slots. So TV stations keep producing high-rating, low-quality programs to draw advertisers,” the president of film school Hello;Motion, Wahyu Aditya, or Waditya, said.
He said formulaic shows were produced for mainstream audiences who watched free-to-air television.
“In other countries, programs with sex and violence are shown on pay television, so viewers make an informed choice to pay for these sorts of programs,” Waditya said.
Producers and stations are capitalizing on the passivity of Indonesia’s television audiences, he said, but audiences can fight back by questioning what they see.
Media literacy campaigns, such as the one organized at SMU No. 1, are among efforts to create more critical audiences.
“We want viewers, especially teenagers, to become aware of the influences of what they’re watching on TV so they can decide which programs to watch, and which to avoid,” the event’s project officer, Nadia Flo Tobing, said.
The presenter of Metro Kampus (Campus metro) on MetroTV said she hoped the campaign would encourage other such events, eventually leading to the establishment of a media literate society.
The next stops for the road show are State High School No. 28 in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta; SMU 112 in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta; and SMU 34 in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta. It will end in March with a talk show and seminar in cooperation with the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission.
