A day with a TV newscaster<\/p>\n
Nova Poerwadi, 27, began his career in the newsroom of TVRI in
\nhis native Surabaya, from where he moved to SCTV in Jakarta. He
\ncan currently be seen on RCTI's morning news program Indonesia
\nToday. Having just returned from a stint at CNN's Atlanta center,
\nhe's setting his sights on further developing his skills. Nova
\nlives with his parents in Cipayung, East Jakarta, and spoke to
\nThe Jakarta Post's contributor William Furney.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"My day is usually pretty twisted as it starts
\nabout midnight. I spend a while reading and sending e-mails and
\nget to work between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. As well as being a
\nnewsreader, I'm also assistant producer of the program, so I have
\nto do a lot of the editing, writing and everything else. Thursday
\nand Friday are my days for presenting.<\/p>\n
I come in and look at what we have in terms of material and
\nalso what's on the (news)wires and help mould it into a show,
\nwhich is about 25 minutes long, plus ads. Fortunately, it's only
\nfive days a week.<\/p>\n
In terms of ratings, our viewership is pretty stable and is
\nmainly made up of expats. We limit our content to what's going on
\nin Indonesia and make a point of explaining things that maybe
\nIndonesians already know, such as acronyms. We go out of our way
\nto explain (them). Before the whole reform thing, English news
\nhad an added edge: it could get away with more, as the viewing
\naudience is of a particular education (level). But even today, we
\ncan say a lot of things that may rub people the wrong way on
\nother programs. In terms of sectarian conflicts, we mention the
\nreligion of the warring groups, whereas Indonesian-language
\nprograms wouldn't mention them, as it would cause problems.<\/p>\n
I still feel there is a lot of aftertaste from the Soeharto
\nera. There are a lot of paradigms that should have been washed
\naway with the regime that are still there. So in terms of
\nreporting on conflicts, people prefer suppression of information
\nrather than showing that suffering is actually universal, whether
\nyou're a Christian or Muslim in Ambon. When people kill your
\nfamily, it hurts, whether you're a Christian or Muslim. But the
\ntendency here is always to suppress the information, and that's a
\nparadigm of the old era. But we're just beginning the conversion
\nprocess to democracy as it's really about introducing a new set
\nof beliefs. And there's a vast improvement now in people being
\nable to report without looking over their shoulder. I think,
\nthough, that the Indonesian media needs to move away from sound
\nbite reporting to human-oriented reporting. But Indonesian
\nreporters, I think, are still reluctant to ask questions. We have
\na special word for it that isn't really in the English
\nvocabulary, sungkan -- fear of offending someone.<\/p>\n
On days I'm presenting the show, other people will take care
\nof the dubbing, writing and so on. Half an hour before the
\nprogram airs, at 7 a.m., I go to make up. This is a time for me
\nto disconnect, because the adrenaline of the production process
\ndoesn't really sit well with the calm and collectiveness I need
\nto anchor. I think the nervousness has left me now. I tend to get
\nmore nervous if the script or a package is not ready, and I'll
\nhave a look at the script one last time.<\/p>\n
The whole presentation aspect for me is that I'm going to talk
\nto the home audience about what's just happened. So I treat it
\nlike a conversation of sorts. When the show is being counted
\ndown, I'm thinking that I'm knocking on the door of someone's
\nhome. When the intro music is playing, I'm moving into the living
\nroom. And when I'm on air, I'm in the living room and say,
\n'Hello, good morning,' and take it from there.<\/p>\n
A few times when I've been presenting, the autocue restarted
\nand I had to read from the script. At some stations I worked at,
\nthe script wasn't ready because it was the midday news and news
\nitems kept being slotted in all the time. So I had nothing to
\nrefer to. It was a case of winging it, keeping the 'conversation'
\nwith the viewers going. They're not going to accept any excuses.
\nBut reading the news is easy as the studio is a sterile
\nenvironment. You need to have a degree of make-belief, though.
\nYou have to know you're talking to someone, as opposed to a cold,
\nsteel camera.<\/p>\n
After the show, the production team and I go to the cafeteria
\nand have breakfast, or rather lunch. I'm overweight right now, so
\nI'll just have vegetables. But they've just installed an ice
\ncream machine, so it's an uphill struggle. Then there's some
\nplanning for the next day's program, which can involve going out
\non interviews. It can sometimes be a 20-hour day.<\/p>\n
Usually I get home at about 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. One of the good
\nthings about working at nighttime is that you can use the day for
\nerrands. I'm very big on sitcoms. Murphy Brown is one of my
\nfavorites. It's one of the things that really excited me about
\nTV. I've found out that the TV news industry is exactly like what
\nit is on Murphy Brown. There are people who are perky for the
\ncamera one minute and the ultimate nightmare the next. You have
\nto learn to be centered in this business or you'll go crazy. My
\nafternoons are taken up e-mailing, watching TV and making phone
\ncalls. But I get very tired. Sometimes I feel I'm missing out as
\nI've been doing nothing but work. Right now, I'm doing what I
\ncall \"reclaiming my social life,\" because as much as I'm
\npassionate about my work, I need to become more than my job. So
\nI'm making the effort to go out more.<\/p>\n
What I'd really like to do in a few years is have my own talk
\nshow, preferably in English because you can get away with more.
\nBut I'm happy for now.<\/p>\n
Sometimes I'm so tired I fall asleep in front of the TV. But
\nthen I wake up angry, because I'm a very regimented person -- my
\nfather was in the Navy. I always find things to tinker with
\nbefore I get to bed. I have aquariums and I'll tinker around with
\nthem. I'll watch some sitcoms and then sleep about 4 p.m. I'm
\nvery drained at that time but oddly fulfilled.\"<\/p>",
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