Attacks Against Indonesian Journalists on the Rise: Types of Attacks

Data from the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) shows that attacks against journalists increased in 2022, reaching 61 cases. This figure is up from 43 cases the previous year.

There were 97 victims, comprising journalists, media workers, and 14 media organizations.

The types of attacks included digital attacks (15 cases), physical violence and destruction of equipment (20 cases), verbal violence (10 cases), gender-based violence (3 cases), arrest and criminal reporting (5 cases), and censorship (8 cases).

"This situation could worsen if digital attacks are not anticipated and resolved," AJI wrote in its report.

Regarding perpetrators, AJI stated that 24 cases involved state actors, including police (15 cases), government officials (7 cases), and the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) (2 cases).

In 20 cases, the perpetrators were non-state actors: mass organizations (4 cases), political parties (1 case), companies (6 cases), and civilians (9 cases). However, the highest number of cases (17) involved unidentified perpetrators.

These findings were obtained through daily direct monitoring with 40 AJI branches, surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs), and media monitoring.

Daily monitoring documented attacks against journalists and media organizations and included reports from the public. Each report was verified by the AJI branch and published in real-time via the advokasi.aji.or.id platform.

This report is included in the book *Serangan Meningkat, Otoritarianisme Menguat. Laporan Situasi Keamanan Jurnalis Indonesia 2022* (Attacks Increased, Authoritarianism Strengthened. Report on the Security Situation of Indonesian Journalists 2022), December 2022.