Cool reception for media mergers idea<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications
\nJoop Ave has proposed financially troubled media companies should
\nmerge to survive the worsening economic crisis.<\/p>\n
But top media executives cold shouldered the idea offered
\nduring a seminar Wednesday on multimedia, saying that each media
\ncompany had its own policies and \"ideology\" that were impossible
\nto mix.<\/p>\n
Media sources say 257 of the 287 print media companies in
\nIndonesia are in serious financial trouble due to the economic
\ncrisis that has catapulted newsprint prices sixfold and slashed
\nadvertising revenues since last July.<\/p>\n
Private television stations have also reported sharp drops in
\nadvertising revenues and soaring prices of imported programs.<\/p>\n
Joop advised media owners to \"leave their egos to one side\"
\nand unite to survive the economic turmoil, saying that he was
\naware of differences in policies between companies.<\/p>\n
\"Is there any country with no differences of ideas?
\nDifferences are something normal. But we should not be arrogant,
\nand say 'oh, I want to be different from him',\" he told reporters
\nafter opening the one-day seminar held to commemorate National
\nPress Day.<\/p>\n
Atmakusumah, the director of Dr. Soetomo Press Foundation said
\nmergers along the lines that Joop proposed were impossible
\nbecause media companies have ideologies and political agendas
\nthat cannot be compromised.<\/p>\n
\"The mergers would be very difficult as media companies
\nusually grow up with a certain political stand or ideology,\" he
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Atmakusumah said that what would be possible would be powerful
\nmedia companies taking over weaker ones.<\/p>\n
Jacob Oetama, editor in chief of the mass circulation Kompas
\ndaily, said mergers would only augment production costs but bring
\nabout no significant results.<\/p>\n
\"If we merge, we will have to recruit employees while the
\ncirculation would remain the same,\" he said, pointing out that
\nthe main reason for the crisis in the publishing industry was the
\nsoaring price of newsprint.<\/p>\n
Tribuana Said, chief editor of Merdeka daily, said specialized
\npublications that could no longer survive the current crisis
\nshould close.<\/p>\n
\"There are many publications specializing in beauty, fashion,
\nsport and law but Indonesian readers are not accustomed to such
\nmagazines while the companies are spending a lot of money to
\nsurvive,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Parni Hadi, general manager of Moslem-oriented Republika
\ndaily supported Joop's opinion, saying that problems related to
\nideology should be overcome if the media were concerned only with
\nhumanity.<\/p>\n
\"Merging would be difficult but possible. Media with the same
\nreligious missions, for example, could unite,\" he said.<\/p>\n
M.S. Ralie Siregar, chief director of private TV station RCTI,
\nsaid print and electronic media should consider cooperating,
\nparticularly in the fields of news reporting and marketing, to
\nsurvive. (09)<\/p>",
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