Censorship in Indonesian TV has gotten so ridiculous in the past that we have wondered if there would come a time when censors blur out people in their entirety for “moral” reasons.
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Well, this latest case of censorship-gone-too-far came pretty damn close. Check out the photos below, which went viral on social media over the weekend.
At first glance, you may think that these screenshots are from a porno that had to be censored so that it could be broadcast on television. But actually, these are screenshots from a CNN Indonesia news report about a swimmer preparing for the ongoing 2016 National Games (PON).
While the report is no longer available on CNN Indonesia’s Youtube channel, the images from it have nonetheless made their way around the internet for the amusement and shock of netizens.
As a horny nation, news reports about swimmers in PON must be censored.
PON’s swimmers were censored… Maybe swimming athletes should wear the gamis so they won’t get censored.
Netizens quickly laid the blame on the Indonesian Broadcast Commission (KPI), whose stringent censorship regulations have led to some of the most ridiculous censorship in the past. However, KPI denied they had any direct input with the TV station in blurring out the athlete.
“In broadcast standards and regulations article 18, it’s mentioned that TV stations are forbidden from ‘exploiting and/or showing specific body parts, such as thighs, behind, breasts, in a close-up or medium shot,” said KPI head Yuliandre Darwis, as quoted by Liputan 6.
“[Showing] athletes is not exploitative.”
But then, KPI rather hypocritically tweeted this in response to the public criticism about the censorship of the swimmer.
Shouldn’t the filming process be done in a way that the subject be asked to wear a towel first [before the interview]?
Perhaps this lack of certainty regarding broadcasting regulations is the reason why TV stations choose to play it safe by becoming overzealous censors themselves rather than face warnings or fines from KPI.
In any case, we have identified the swimmer as Margaretha Herawati from Papua. For comparison, here’s a similar news report about her preparation for PON shown on Metro TV recently:
Do you think her body should’ve been blurred out there?
