Civil court is the fairest way to settle disputes over media coverage without putting press freedom in danger, an alliance of human rights activists says.

Agung Putri of Elsam, among the NGOs grouped under the National Alliance for Criminal Code Reform, told The Jakarta Post on Friday while some news coverage might inconvenience certain people, it did not necessarily mean the journalists had committed a crime.

"We'd better call it a dispute between the media and the public, which is better off settled using the Civil Code," she said.

Her words come amid a growing tendency among law enforcers and judges to charge media workers with defamation under the Criminal Code over disputed reports.

Critics have said the Criminal Code tends to curtail press freedom, suggesting disputes over media reports be resolved under the Press Law. The legislation stipulates that people or institutions unhappy with media reports are entitled to the right to respond.

The dispute between Time magazine and former president Soeharto set a precedent of dispute settlement through the civil court.

Soeharto demanded the U.S.-based magazine pay US$105.2 million in compensation for its report, titled "Soeharto Inc.: How Indonesia's Longtime Boss Built a Family Fortune" in its May 1999 edition, which the former dictator deemed insulting Soeharto lost the case at the Central Jakarta District Court and on appeal at the Jakarta High Court. However, the Supreme Court overturned the lower courts' verdicts and ordered the magazine to pay $105.2 million.

Time challenged the Supreme Court's decision, but before the case review was heard, Soeharto died. National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto told the Post the police would continue investigating offenses involving the press under the Criminal Code, saying it provided protection and justice to victims.

"The Press Law does not contain the provisions of the Criminal Code, while we see that the offenses fall within that category," he said. JP Online/Pacific Media Watch, 11/02/08.