Where the obligations come from
There are two main sources. First, Law No. 40 of 1999 on the Press: Article 12 requires a press company to announce its name, address and person in charge openly through the media outlet concerned. Second, the Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines (Pedoman Pemberitaan Media Siber), signed by the Press Council and the press community on 3 February 2012.
The guidelines state that a cyber media outlet must display them on its media clearly and visibly. So the guidelines are not enough to keep in an archive; readers must be able to find them easily.
Pages and features that need to exist
From those two sources, this is the work list for your media website:
- Editorial Team (Redaksi): the media outlet’s name, address and person in charge, in line with Article 12 of the Press Law.
- The Cyber Media Reporting Guidelines, displayed clearly and visibly, for example through a permanent link in the footer.
- Right of reply and complaints: how to submit one is easy to find. The Press Council has separate guidelines on the right of reply.
- Terms for user-generated content if you open a comment section: the rules are written plainly, users register and log in first, and complaints are easy to submit.
- Corrections: linked to the original story and showing the time they were published.
- Ad labels: paid content is marked, for example as advertorial, iklan, ads or sponsored, and kept separate from news.
- Working contact details, so that complaints and replies can actually get through.
A deadline that is often missed: 2 x 24 hours
If a media outlet opens comments or user-generated content, the Cyber Media Guidelines ask for reported violations to be handled no later than 2 x 24 hours after the complaint is received. An outlet that does not act within that limit shares responsibility for the content.
That means someone has to check complaints regularly, and the website needs an easy way to edit or delete comments. If your team is small, it is safer to keep comments closed than to open them without supervision.
CMS features that support those obligations
Some obligations are not met with static pages alone. Check whether your CMS can do the following:
- Link a correction to the original story and show the time of the correction.
- Mark paid content with a clear label.
- Moderate, edit and delete comments quickly.
- Keep a record of news withdrawals with the reason, because a withdrawal must come with a reason and be announced to the public.
Press Council verification: what it is and why it matters
The Press Council records press companies in two stages. Administrative verification checks that documents are complete. Factual verification is a field check to confirm that the documents match the company’s reality. As of May 2026, the Press Council had recorded 1,277 media outlets as factually verified since the process began in 2017.
The status has to be maintained: press companies must update their data every five years, and according to a report quoted by ANTARA, 300 media outlets were removed from the list for not passing the data update. Verification is not a publishing licence, but some agencies require it for cooperation, so the status affects a media outlet’s revenue opportunities.
Keep in mind that the website is only one part. Company documents and the condition of the newsroom are checked too, and the rules are in the Press Council’s regulations, not in this guide.
The mistakes that happen most often
Before the website goes live, check whether any of the following mistakes are on yours:
- The Cyber Media Guidelines exist but are hidden and hard to find.
- An Editorial Team page without a clear address or person in charge.
- Comments opened with no rules and nobody moderating them.
- Advertorials left unlabeled and mixed in with news.
- Corrections published without a link to the original story and without a time.
- A contact number or email that never gets a reply.
The limits of this guide
This guide summarizes the rules to help you prepare your website; it is not legal advice. The official text, rule updates and the company verification requirements are at dewanpers.or.id. For company legal matters and editorial decisions, ask the Press Council or your legal adviser.
On the technical side, our media website packages already include an Editorial Team page, the Cyber Media Guidelines, a Right of Reply page and Contact. Their content and validity remain the media outlet’s responsibility. See the media website service page.