Popular Indonesian media outlet Detik apologized to Indonesian influencer Nora Alexandra for its report on her private life, after the piece sparked online controversy earlier today.
Yesterday evening, Nora took to Instagram and Twitter to protest Detik’s article about her, titled “Nora Alexandra’s sex life questioned after Jerinx went to prison,” which she said was unworthy for publication.
Nora, who has over 1.1 million followers on Instagram and is the wife of jailed Balinese musician Jerinx, told Coconuts that the journalist did not ask for her permission before writing the article, which had been sourced from her Instagram story in response to a question from one of her followers.
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“If [the journalist] had directly messaged me, I would have answered. And I won’t allow for things like that to be an article in such a big media outlet, it’s not worth anything,” Nora said.
Her posts on the matter gained traction this morning, as “Nora” and “Detik” quickly became trending topics on Twitter. Many Indonesian netizens appear to have taken Nora’s side and castigated Detik for what is obviously a breach of her privacy.
Detik responded to the mounting criticisms this afternoon with an apology and took down the article in question.
“Detik will always try to respect privacy that ought not to be public consumption. This is a valuable lesson for Detik to be better in the future,” the statement, signed by Detik Editor-in-Chief Alfito Deannova Ginting, said.
Following the apology, Nora said she hopes that journalists will do a better job in selecting which story to report for the wider audience. She told Coconuts that though the outlet has issued an apology, the journalist in question has yet to do so despite having exchanged messages with her on Instagram.
“Journalists should be able to choose what must be reported, so that they don’t report on good-for-nothing news,” Nora said.
