`Gatra' finally obtains its publishing permit<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A group of former employees of the defunct Tempo
\nweekly announced yesterday that they have obtained a publishing
\nlicense for their new weekly magazine, Gatra, which will hit the
\nstreets in mid-November.<\/p>\n
Mahtum, business manager of Gatra's publishing company, PT Era
\nMedia Informasi (EMI), said his group received the publishing
\nlicense only yesterday.<\/p>\n
He said the publishing license, dated Oct. 13 and signed by
\nthe Ministry of Information's Director General of Press and
\nGraphics Soebrata, was presented to the company's president
\ndirector, Budiono Kartohadiprojo.<\/p>\n
"We obtained this license through normal procedures," Mahtum
\nassured journalists at the company's new office in Wisma Kosgoro,
\nJl. Thamrin.<\/p>\n
Gatra's general manager is Lukman Setiawan, who is also deputy
\ngeneral manager of Bisnis Indonesia daily, and the chief editor
\nis Herry Komar.<\/p>\n
Fifteen thousand to 20,000 copies of a trial edition with a
\ncover story on former President Sukarno will be distributed to a
\nselected readership free of charge.<\/p>\n
The magazine's cover design bears an uncanny resemblance to
\nthat of the former Tempo. Herry said, however, that "Gatra is
\nGatra, and any resemblance to Tempo is simply because Tempo was
\nin fact our school of journalism".<\/p>\n
Since the government revoked Tempo's permit last June for
\n"failing to heed the government's warnings on editorial content",
\nemployees of the magazine have been trying to obtain a new
\nlicense.<\/p>\n
Gatra was founded by former Tempo employees who accepted
\ntimber tycoon Muhammad (Bob) Hasan as its major investor. Those
\nwho refused to join tried to start their own weekly, Opini, which
\nthey have since renamed Berita.<\/p>\n
Copies of the trial edition of Opini circulated this week, but
\nthe Association of Newspaper Publishers (SPS), which issues
\nrecommendations for new publications, asked its managers to
\nrename it because a newspaper carrying the same name already
\nexists.<\/p>\n
Bambang Bujono, chairman of the foundation that will publish
\nBerita confirmed that SPS has approved the proposed name.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, SPS asked the management to also rename the
\nemployees' foundation by scrapping the word Tempo and dropping
\nGoenawan Mohammad from its board of supervisors. Goenawan was
\nTempo's former chief editor.<\/p>\n
"We have asked him (Goenawan) whether he approves of the
\nchanges, and he has agreed," Bambang told The Jakarta Post. While
\nthe required changes are being made, Berita's prospective
\njournalists can only sit and wait, he added.<\/p>\n
"SPS officials promised to issue the recommendation once we
\nmake these alterations but insisted that the government will
\ndecide whether to reject or accept the application for the
\npublishing permit," he said.<\/p>\n
Staff<\/p>\n
Gatra magazine will employ over 170 former Tempo staff, but
\nonly 30 of these are journalists.<\/p>\n
Mahtum, who is also a manager of the Matra magazine, said he
\nexpected this number to increase and called on other ex-Tempo
\nemployees "who were still outside" to join in.<\/p>\n
But Bambang said that it was unlikely that any more former
\nTempo employees already committed to joining Berita would move to
\nGatra only because the latter gained a license. "Those left at
\nBerita are the ones whom had already gone through natural
\nselection", he said.<\/p>\n
Mahtum said that Gatra, which means word, form or angle, will
\nappear every Tuesday in 112-page form, priced at Rp 4,300
\n(US$$2). Early circulation will total 125,000 copies.<\/p>\n
Forty percent of Gatra's shares belong to the Jakarta
\ngovernment-owned Jaya Raya Foundation, which once had shares in
\nTempo, another 35 percent to Bob Hasan and the remaining 25
\npercent are held by employees.<\/p>\n
"We guarantee that the investors will not interfere with the
\nmagazine's editorial content," Herry said, adding that Gatra
\npromises "healthy, objective, high-quality and balanced" news
\nreporting.<\/p>\n
He assured that Gatra would not serve as the instrument of any
\nparticular group. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gatra-finally-obtains-its-publishing-permit-1447893297",
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