Lesson learned from Kompasiana's case

I've learned a very good lesson from Kompasiana. After the meeting with Jacob Oetama, Kompasiana had various of postings (also read my blogpost "Kompas and Kompasiana"), but one posting seemed to make the administrator felt uncomfortable. Then that post became unaccessible, and the writer was banned from the community. Yet, the writer had the post written in his own blog.

The writer was not the only one who posted his own post. The post was also quoted or discussed by several other writers (you can read it here, or here, in a forum like this, or googling for more) when giving their comments on the freedom of writing in public blogs like Kompasiana. It is understandable that a case like this happened in Kompasiana as it is unedited. OMNI, Wikimu, Panyingkul, and Kabar Indonesia are all having their edited version. May it be with a minimum editorial change as in Wikimu, or with consultation and editing like in OMNI and Panyingkul. Kompasiana is really your own blog; you write and then you can publish it directly.

I remember that in the introduction to the interview with Wikimu's CEO for OMNI
I wrote this:

Multicultural and multiracial Indonesia certainly presents some interesting challenges for citizen journalism Web sites. Some delicate matters need to be watched really carefully in order to sustain national stability. With that in mind, how would any citizen journalism Web site provide a free forum to write down one's opinion while at the same time guarding the public and national safety?

First hand coverage openly showing the real situation sometimes adds flames to a mass anger caused by prejudice and miscommunication. I refer to showing the real situation as it stands as transparency. Once an article is published it can be forwarded anywhere. Readers can comment directly, without being edited, the chances of miscommunication will always be in the air.

It was the reason why I keep my eyes on Kompasiana. Actually I don't really have enough free time to watch all the growth of citixen journalism in Indonesia. But it does evolving, and I hope that it will keep growing as a foundation for demcracy, not to destroy our unity in diversities.

From this story I can pick an important lesson from the web 2.0, as once you have your story published it doesn't really belong to your authority anymore. And it is really showing the freedom of expression as writers can look for any outlet to share his views. Being banned in one public blog, you can still share your voice in other outlets.