'Jawa Pos' evolves to become conglomerate<\/p>\n
By Sirikit Syah<\/p>\n
SURABAYA, East Java (JP): The Jawa Pos daily which recently
\nmade frontpage headlines in the local media due to its dispute
\nwith the mass organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which was once
\nchaired by Abdurrahman Wahid, has grown from a tiny Surabaya-
\nbased news entity to a major national press conglomerate.<\/p>\n
The daily started publication on July 1, 1949, with the name
\nJava Post, under the ownership of businessman The Chung Sen.<\/p>\n
It has changed names several times -- to Djawa Post, Djawa
\nPos, Java Pos and finally to Jawa Pos -- since ownership changed
\nhands from The Chung Sen, who emigrated to live together with his
\nchildren in England, to PT Graffiti Press, the publisher of Tempo
\nmagazine, on April 1, 1982.<\/p>\n
At that time, its daily circulation was only 6,700 copies, of
\nwhich 2,000 were sold in Surabaya and the remainder in other
\ntowns of East Java.<\/p>\n
Graffiti Press was chosen to continue the business in the
\nhopes that the company, which was then successfully running Tempo
\nmagazine, would manage the daily more professionally.<\/p>\n
Dahlan Iskan, then a 30-year old East Javanese journalist
\nheading Tempo's bureau in Surabaya, was appointed by Eric Samola
\nof Graffiti Press to manage Jawa Pos.<\/p>\n
The history of Jawa Pos's further development can be divided
\ninto several periods. During the initial period of 1982 to 1988
\nthe newspaper was run from a small office in the Kembang Jepun
\narea in Surabaya, manned only by 16 reporters and 25 non-
\neditorial employees.<\/p>\n
The daily raised its profile in 1988, when its editorial and
\nprinting activities were moved into an extensive and modern
\noffice compound in the Karah area, where it stayed until 1997.<\/p>\n
It recorded steady increases in circulation, from 150,000
\ncopies a day in 1987 to 240,000 by the end of 1988 and to 300,000
\nby the end of 1990. The circulation reached a peak of 425,000
\ncopies during the Gulf War period in 1991.<\/p>\n
During this 1988-1997 period, Dahlan introduced some
\nbreakthroughs. For example he made Jawa Pos the first daily to be
\npublished every day all the year round, notwithstanding Sundays
\nand public holidays.<\/p>\n
This succeeded in making the paper on par with radio and
\ntelevision which reach audiences every day. However the workforce
\nwas reportedly not sufficiently expanded to allow for the extra
\nshifts.<\/p>\n
Under Dahlan the Jawa Pos news organization was expanded to
\nbecome a press conglomerate publishing no less than 50
\npublications, including dailies, tabloids and magazines,
\nspreading to almost all of Indonesia's provinces.<\/p>\n
This expansion has indeed given rise to cynicism among the
\npress community, who claim that Jawa Pos has deliberately stunted
\nlocal publications and that it has practiced a monopoly of
\ninformation.<\/p>\n
With the outbreak of the economic crisis in 1997, Jawa Pos
\nfocused on consolidation, while it continued plans to move
\nbusiness activities to Surabaya's main street of Jl. A. Yani.<\/p>\n
It occupied the Graha Pena building adjacent to the East Java
\npolice command and sections of the building are also leased for
\npublic use such as workshops and exhibitions.<\/p>\n
Affected by higher rupiah-based debt repayments on loans for
\nthe Graha Pena building's construction, lower income caused by
\ndecreases in print circulation and higher spending for
\nsubsidiaries, Jawa Pos seems to be on a tight budget nowadays.<\/p>\n
However, Dahlan has claimed that the group, which was
\nafflicted by huge losses in 1998, is once again enjoying an
\nincome approaching the preeconomic crisis level of Rp 6 billion a
\nmonth. Its circulation has also returned to a level of over
\n300,000 copies per day, he said.<\/p>\n
According to the Jawa Pos Group, the conglomerate now has 82
\nsubsidiaries, with publication of local media in several cities;
\nincluding Jakarta, East Java, Central Java, Riau, West
\nKalimantan, East Kalimantan and Maluku. This means that it has
\nbecome the largest media conglomerate in Indonesia, much bigger
\nthan the Kompas-Gramedia Group which publishes the Kompas daily.<\/p>\n
The Group has also cashed in on the liberalization of the
\npress, with permits no longer required by new publications.<\/p>\n
In 1999 alone, the group published 15 local or community
\nnewspapers. Its newspaper affiliate, which has produced the
\nOposisi tabloid since 1997, has now become a press group with its
\npublication of Posmo, Gugat and X-files.<\/p>\n
Technology-wise, the Jawa Pos Group has also introduced
\ndistant-printing for its publication activities.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the business success achieved by the group
\nunder Dahlan's leadership is not accompanied by improvement in
\njournalistic quality.<\/p>\n
As Dahlan has admitted himself several times, the group's
\nstyle is to blow up news. \"Covering both sides\" of one story is
\nnot considered an absolute necessity, as it is assumed that
\nreaders will try to find follow-up reports the next day. This
\nstyle of reporting has proven to sell a lot of dailies.<\/p>\n
Its magazine Liberty with its motto of \"a magazine for the
\nfamily,\" is full of reports on subjects such as mysticism and
\nadultery. X-files is a tabloid which has joined the ranks of
\npublications engaged in information about celebrities.<\/p>\n
When the group was dissatisfied with cooperating with the
\nJakarta-based Merdeka daily, it set up another newspaper, called
\nRakyat Merdeka, using the designs, typography, and even employees
\nof the former.<\/p>\n
The recent \"raid\" of the Banser civilian guards at the daily's
\noffice led to much criticism toward Banser, while it also posed a
\nstrong warning to the large media group about the need to improve
\nand maintain its journalistic quality.<\/p>\n
People will find it hard to trust such a newspaper which
\ncontinues to publish its apology on the front page because of a
\nmistake in reporting. A few of the group's local papers are also
\nfacing lawsuits.<\/p>\n
On the issue of journalists' welfare, management says there is
\nno problem despite protests from distributors when Jawa Pos
\ndecided to publish daily, even on public holidays.<\/p>\n
In response to whether Jawa Pos staff were being exploited,
\nchief editor Dhimam Abror said they were adequately rewarded.<\/p>\n
Several of the local newspapers were doing well, he said,
\nleading to even larger than usual profit shares this year.<\/p>\n
\"I can't tell you the amount but it surprised me too,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"We sell cheap because we produce cheap,\" Dhimam said,
\nstressing the group's efficiency.<\/p>\n
Dahlan has said that a managing editor at Jawa Pos, for
\nexample, earns some Rp 12 million a month, much better than the
\naverage earned by their rivals at other news organizations.<\/p>\n
An editor earns some Rp 5 million to Rp 7 million, he said,
\nwhile reporters say salaries reach only a few hundred thousand.<\/p>\n
Improvement in the group may come from the younger generation,
\nat least in regards to questioning policies.<\/p>\n
Dhimam said the management was rather \"weak,\" given that
\nDahlan \"always says that 'father knows best' and staff from the
\nfirst and second generation are usually very obedient.\" However
\nthe younger members of the staff were more critical, he said.<\/p>",
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