absence of good deed or safety enjoyed by our neighbour could diminish our claim of faith to Allah. This is truly a very strong Islamic assertion
of how necessary it is to be ethical with neighbours. Wallahu a’lam bisshawab.
6.7 References
Anderson, Benedict.2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London and New York: Verso.
Farid, Miftah. 1997. Sunah Sumber Hukum Yang Kedua. Bandung: Pustaka Meloni, Gabriella. 2007. “Who’s my Neighbor?” in European
Political Economy Review No 7, pp 24-37. Ilyas, Yunahar dan Mas’udi, M. 1996. Pengembangan Pemikiran
Terhadap Hadis. Yogyakarta: LPPI.
7
MEDIA ETHICS IN INTER-RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATION
Alois A. Nugroho
7.1 Introduction
In the opinion of many social researchers, the age we are currently living in is often referred to as an “informational era” Castells,
2004:28-76. In this informational era, communication technology plays an important role. More and more communications between human,
cultures, civilizations, and religions are conducted through communication technology. Our communications are often times in a
form of communication which is technically called mediated communication. There are many forms of communications which had to
be done face to face are now conducted through a media by utilizing communication technology. Communication technology offers various
communication media which grows sophisticated more and more. Transistor radio which was a trendy medium in Indonesia in the 1960s
had been accompanied by television in the 1970s, and now people could chat through the internet with their cellular phone that is light and
handheld or pocketable. Each medium has their own characters, and consequently,
communicators select whatever media suits the messages they would
like to convey to the public. An expert in communication named Marshall McLuhan stated “the medium is the message” McLuhan,
1964: Federman, 2004. Media have an effect on interpersonal human relations and collective human relations. While television is already a
product owned by people from all levels of society, a concern arises that children now spend more time sitting in front of the television and less
time mingling, playing, and running around with their peers. Cellular phones and the internet are currently under concerning eyes regarded as
a tool that “brings closer things that are distant”, but “distances things that are close”. Human, both young and old, does not have time to
socialize with close neighbours or even people at home because they are busy communicating, be it sending text messages or emails to their
distant friends. Advancement in communication technology does not only “bring
distances closer” or overcome distances, but it overcomes the difference of time as well. The tsunami disasters which happened in Aceh in 2004
and in Japan in 2011 could be followed second by second live as it unfolded in Aceh and in Sendai, Japan. We could follow these incidents
through the radio, television, or internet in real time at the exact second where the real incident is happening. Even more, news story of this real
time tsunami disaster is commonly repeated by television stations throughout the world and it could even be accessed through their
websites years later after the real event has passed. In short, the capacity of technology in overcoming space and time
has rendered the world to be deemed small. An occurrence which happened on the other side of the globe has the impression of happening
in the “neighbouring kampong”. McLuhan defines this impression with the term “global village” McLuhan, 1964. The world with a
circumference of 40,076 kilometres along the equator is experienced as a village whenever we watch international news on television or the
internet. Labour demonstrations in Bekasi and labour demonstrations in
Athens, Greece, are equally distant, they are merely the distance of your television set to the sofa or mat that we are sitting and watching it on.
7.2 Global Paradox
Nevertheless, the unification of the world into one global village in the arms of communication technology, which gives the impression that
intercultural distances are decreasing gradually, does not alter mankind to show more likeness between one another. In fact it is on the contrary,
in which striking differences and diversity arise. This is what John Naisbitt calls the “Global Paradox” Naisbitt, 1994. On the one hand,
the world is unified by communication technology into a global village. On the other, diversity becomes more emphasized. Differences that did
not arise in the past are now stepping more into the spotlight. Communication technology which unifies, in reality, also drives the
strengthening of differences. These differences indeed beautify the world which could be likened to a flower garden. Diversity in the world
is as the growth of various flowers, in various forms, various colours, various scents, and possibly various uses. Not too long ago, names of
streets in Yogyakarta were written solely in the alphabet, however today, aside from the Greek alphabet, those street signs are also written
in the Javanese script. This step is followed by Surakarta where offices and schools also write their names in the Javanese script. In Jakarta,
there is a television station that has a special program in Mandarin. Even in remote areas of Central Java there is a radio station broadcasting in
Mandarin. In Surabaya, a Portuguese speaking soap opera is voiced over with the East Java dialect. In the Purwokerto area, there is a social
movement called “Serulingemas” an acronym for Seruan Eling karo Banyumasane which means a call to remember using the Banyumas
dialect. These are just symptoms of what is occurring in Java and they are just to name a few. It is similar in the expressions of the various
existing religions, as in Muslim attires, Shariah banking system, DAAI
TV Buddhism or “Family Channel” Christianity, and Bali TV Hinduism is an important identity in Bali. However, these varieties are
also a cause for concern when these differing symbols do not bring people closer. In a global village, where a distant incident occurring is as
though it is happening in the neighbouring village, these differing symbols sometimes create distances instead, they even lead to physical
conflict. Taken to a global scale of conflict, Samuel Huntington has shocked the world with his book better known as the Clash of
Civilizations 1993. Many experts consider Huntington’s analysis to be unjustified.
However, the most important issue is whether diversity of culture and religion would be beautiful as flowers in a garden, or would it turn into a
clash of civilizations, is not the iron law of history something which must be accepted be it willingly or not? Both of the above are
possibilities which could happen on the global chessboard. It depends on us, do we want to live in a beautiful garden or do we want to drench
ourselves into a “global street fight”, a fight at regional, national, and local level which is increasingly showing in media report.
Communication is one of the important factors in creating conditions of peace or, contrarily, conditions of conflict.
7.3 Communication in Diversity
The lively diversity found in societal life today, be it locally, nationally, regionally, or internationally, must be supported by social
communications based on morals or ethics in accordance with the aspiration to create peaceful relations among communities with various
religious and cultural backgrounds, an aspiration which by the founding fathers of Indonesia is formulated as “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” unity in
diversity. Hence, social ethics serving as foundation to interreligious and intercultural communications is gaining importance to be revisited
and practiced in actual daily life. The advancement of communication
